Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Joban Boonen (6) holeshot the opening moto ahead of Joel Smets (4) and Jo Martens (14). Eventual winner Jacky Martens (11) started poorly but raced into the lead with ease. Jacky Martens posted 1-2-1 finishes aboard his factory Husqv~a four-stroke. Jorsen Nilsson (7) finished 13th overall in Fmland, but leads the series point standings. Martens thumps to victory in Finland By Alex Hodgkinson SAW, FINLAND, MAY 23 acky Martens thundered around the rugged Salo track in southern Finland aboard his factory Husqvarna 633 and rode into the record books as the first four-stroke rider to win a 500cc Grand Prix in over two decades. Dave Nicoll was the last rider to successfully campaign a four-stroke, doing so a t the Luxembourg Grand Prix in 1%9 aboard a factory BSA. At Salo, no one could doubt the superiority of the 29-year-old Belgian and his Italian thumper, as Martens raced J 14 through the pack after three ninth-place starts to win two motos and finish second in the other. Jorgen Nilsson charged hard on the first lap of the opening moto and gained control of the race early on. Martens started ninth and completed lap one in seventh, but put forth a charge that carried him towards the front of the pack and into second behind Nilsson. But on the halfway-point of the 3O-minute-plus two-lap moto, Martens' works bike began to sputter. "I must have gotten water on the air filter," said Martens. "I lost some acceleration out of the turns, and I decided to wait until the last lap to make a charge." Martens didn't have to wait to make his charge, however, as Nilsson's bike also began to sputter and he coasted to a halt at the side of the track. "It must have been the ignition," said a disappointed Nilsson, who hoped to keep his string of first-moto wins alive. Martens cruised across the finish line with an easy win and accomplished the day's first milestone. He was the first rider to win a GP moto aboard a four stroke since Bengt Aberg had done so in 1977 aboard a H&E Yamaha thumper. Marcus Hansson came home second ahead of Gerald Dilepine, while Darryl King raced up to fourth after a terrible start. For the fourth time this year, King had turned in the fastest qualifying time and prepared his starling area well before the start of the opening moto. But when he lined up to begin the race, he found that the track workers, "had been over it with a bulldozer! I got so much wheelspin that I was down about 30th at the start." Title hopefuls Joel Smets and Johan Boonen had disastrous luck. Smets spent much of the race in fourth dicing with Dilepine, but crashed hard and scored no points. "They did a'good job of keeping the dust down with water," said Smets. "But they had no business watering the sandy parts of the course. I hurt my knee bad in the whoops." Boonen, meanwhile, finished ninth after riding poorly and making a costly last-lap mistake. "I'm just riding to keep the title in sight," said Boonen. "I hurt my foot practicing last week and just can't get on with the track today. Then, on the white flag I thought the race was over and pulled off my goggles. By the time I realized my mistake, two riders had gone by." Pekka Vehkonen grabbed the holeshot in moto two but had Smets, Hansson and Nilsson on his tail. Nilsson crashed out of contention after taking a few too many chances, while Hansson successfully passed Smets, who couldn't use his left leg, and set out after leader Vehkonen. Hansson made short work of Vehkonen and took over the lead. "I just controlled the race from there," said Hansson. "But I was keeping my eye on Martens, he was coming up fast." Indeed he was. After suffering another ninth-place start, Martens worked up to second just past the halfway point of the race. At the finish, Martens was right 0!l Hansson's tail, but came up a bit short at the finish. Another lap, though, and things might have been different. Smets held on to third, ahead of Dirk Geukens and a conservative Boonen. Vehkonen finished sixth, and barely held off a hard-charging King. "I got a good start, but Vehkonen brake-checked me and I stalled," said King. "Then I caught back up to him at the end and he tried to take me out again. I chose to stay in seventh." Smets grabbed the lead at the start of the third and final moto ahead of Boonen, Hansson and Nilsson. Martens again started ninth, but charged through the field like a champ and into fifth. It wasn't until the closing laps that the action heated up and passes were made. Boonen hounded Smets throughout the race and on several occasions pulled alongside the leader. But everytime he did so, Smets would ruthlessly cut across the track to block him. Three laps from the finish, Boonen swapped hard in the whoops and nearly crashed as the rear end of his Kawasaki kicked too far to one side. Hansson was right behind Boonen when he swapped, and crashed hard when Boonen's rear wheel wiped out his front end. "I tried to go around him, but my front wheel clipped his rear and I went down," explained Hansson. And Hansson's troubles weren't over yet, as Nilsson plowed into him and his downed machine. "I was nailing it through the whoops and I couldn't miss him," said N"Ilsson, who flew over the handlebars. ' With Hansson and Nilsson out of the way, Martens found himself trailing only Smets and Boonen. Sensing a possible victory, Martens put forth a classic charge and quickly reeled in the two front~runners. As they took the white flag, all three riders could have been covered with a blanket. Martens passed Boonen with ease and sailed past Smets over a fast jump, but as they entered the following righthander Smets kept his four-stroke Husaberg pegged and ran Martens over the berm. Martens kept his thumper pinned wide open, though, and railed the outside berm and went on to take the lead back in the next tum. At the finish it was an exhausted Martens over Smets, Boonen, a recovered Nilsson and JoMartens. "I had settled back because I was making a few mistakes," said Martens. "But when I saw that I could win I picked up the pace. I was so tired, the track was really rough." elf Results MOTO 1: 1. Jacky Martens (HuS); 2. Marcus Hansson (Hon); 3. ~aJd Delopin. (Hon); {. Darryl

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