Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bader Manneh (18) got the holeshot and won the third moto, his first-ever GP win . Alessandro Puzar (3) was the overall winner. Stefan Everts saw his championship lead shrink to one poin t after 9·13·9 fin ishes . Puzar sets the pace in Astr u ia By Alex Hodgkinson . SCHW ANENSTA A DT, USTRIA, APR. 26 ader Manneh was th e American hero at the Au strian 250cc MX Gran d Pr ix, as the 25-year-old southern Californian joined Italian Alessandro Puzar and Englishman James Dobb as a rnoto winner, and finished second overall behind winner Puzar. Manneh's victory in the last of three 25-minute plus two -lap mo tos was hi s first -ever GP mo to success. Manneh came close to winning last year when B 18 he lost a last-l ap th rill er to compatriot Mike Healey in San Marin o. Italian based .H o n da r ider Ma n ne h a lso recor ded a second overall fin ish , also to P uzar, in Fran ce last year. Puzar's overall victory esta blished him as the most successful Ital ian motocross racer of all time. H is 14th career win surpassed that of hi s mentor and Chesterfield Yamaha T eam Manager Miche le Rinaldi, the 1984 125cc World Champion. But more impor- tantly , the 48 GP points Puzar earne d in the three mot os lifted the 1990 250cc World Cha mpio n within a singl e po int of series leader Stefan Everts. Defending 250cc World Cha mpion Trampas Parker of Lou isian a, is j us t five points away in th ird, and he joi ned Puzar and Manneh on the ros tru m by fin ishing third overall. All seven Amer icans wh o started the G P scored points for finishi ng in th e top 15 in at least one of the th ree rnotos, bu t no one was happy with th e hillside track which will host the 1993 Mo tocross des Nations. . "This track sucks," declared even the norm all y m ild-ma n ne red Mi cky Dymond, a two-time l 25cc National Ch ampion. " I went down o n th e opening lap .of two rnotos, and 1 had to push virt ua lly every rider 1 passe d out of th e'way." It was a similar story for 125cc Wor ld Champion Everts, who accumu lated j ust 17 cham p io nsh ip points from three finishes . Ca liforn ian Bo b Moor e's rid e from last place to sevent h in the first moto demanded an aggressive effort fro m the Yamaha rider, as he was ano ther to go down in the first turn in two motos. Whi le the first-turn fa llers were salvag ing what they could, the front. ru nners were generally settling for the positions they had rather tha n risking a collision whi ch could cost them dear ly. There was litt le battling in the second moto as there was j us t o ne cha nge of posi tio n among the top seven , and that was due to a crash . It was clear before the first moto go t underway that a good sta rt would be vital on the du sty, rock hard trac k wi th its polished surface and one-line turns. Ital ian Michele Fanton made the best getaway in the opening mo to but he drifted wide in the first turn and in a flash Parker and Puzar were through. P uzar set up hi s World Ch ampionsh ip successor for the pass on the . second lap when he built up momentu m throug h a turn and powered past Park er on the fastest part of the track , act ua lly nosing in front as th e two flew over a fast j ump. Puzar immediately opened "up an advantage, but at the halfway point Parker charged again and was a constant threat un til he fin ally accepted defeat half a lap from th e finish and backed off to cross the line eigh t seconds behi nd Puzar, Dym ond and Heal ey also pa ssed Fanton on th e first lap, but Dymond . hi t troubl e with arm pump after te m p or a ril y closi ng up o n th e Em mepi H onda teammat e Parker, an d had to ease hi s pace. H eal ey took o ver th ird just before th e h alfway point and rep ell ed a cha lle nge from Fanton in th e closin g stages of the race to cross the li ne five seconds beh ind Par ker. Fa nton was fourth wh ile Dobb also demot ed Dymon d to fin ish fifth . . Minnesotan Do nn y 'Sch mi t went down in the first- turn and quit immediately , but Chester fie ld Ya maha team mate Moore got bac k up after' runni ng into the fallen Edwin Evertsen just a little furthe r do wn the track. Moore was one of three riders to make progress, th e o thers being Everts and Rob H erring After movin g up to eig ht h beh ind Manneh, Everts lost his mo mentum and was passed two laps befor e theend by Moor e, who also go t by Man neh to finish sevent h . Manneh was eigh th a n d Everts n in th , whil e ,H err in g tan gled wi th a rider in m idair and was for ced to retire following th e ensui ng crash. . The second moto saw Dobb get the holeshot and he only lost the lead for 'a few yard s on the first lap when Manneh dove insi de of him on a hillside turn. Dobb quickl y sho t for th e insi de lin e exi ti ng the turn and nosed ahea d before the next corner. By the halfw ay po int Dobb had opened up a six-second lead wh ich he held up to th e last lap wh en he missed a rut and suddenly let the chasi ng Americans Manneh and Schmit onto h is tail. Dobb did n't pa nic, however, and scored the win one second ahead of Manneh , with Schmit followi ng ano ther second behind. Aside from th e brief exch ange of the lead on lap o ne, there was only one cha nge on the top seven. T ha t came three la ps from the end wh en Swede Peter J ohan sson tr ied to di ve under Schmit for third and spu n around. Befor e he cou ld recover Belg ian Marn icq Bervoets and Puzar got past and they fin ished fourth and fifth, respectively. J ohan sson recovere d for sixth wh ile Parker remained in seventh the entire distance. Fanton , Healey and H err in g rou nded out th e top 10. A host of potential cha llenge rs had gone do wn in the first tu rn , incl uding Everts, Moore an d Dymond. All three were q uickly back to the tail end of the to p 15 but they didn 't get much further. Everts took a long time to pass Wern er DeWi t and Max Gazza rata, th en he fell on the last lap and they bot h go t back by to finish l l th and 12th , respec tively. Everts was 13th with Moor e a few seconds behin d, wh ile Dymond had crashed o ut tryi ng to ma ke up mo re places whil e he was ahea d of Moore. T he th ird mo to was th e best of the day as the en tire pack made i t through th e first turn without anyone fall in g. H owever, Dymond fell in th e second turn and faced a fru itless cha rge back to 17th. Manneh, Paul Malin and Puzar were a t the front of the pack while Dobb , who entered th e race tied with Puzar for the overall , started seventh but didn't co m plete the first lap. Dobb , wh o was unable to walk upright after straining ba ck muscles in practice on Saturday and again on Sunday morning, pulled off the track after a rock gave him a painful blow on the right thumb. Puzar quickly passed Malin for second, and he stood to take the points lead as Everts languished in 15th where he was involved in a bar-clashing duel

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