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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127582
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Other Americans also had little joy.
Liles retired with his radiator spewing
water after nmning into the fallen Jaimy
Scevenels in turn one, and Moore got Jess
than a third of the way round the lap
before Frenchmen Frederic Bolley and
Yann Guedard collided in front of him
and took the Bieffe Suzuki rider with
m
them.
Marnicq Bervoets (7) relied on consistency to win the Belgian 250cc MX GP. A 3-2·5 tally did· the trick for the Belgian.
Former champ Trampas Parker broke his wrist as a result of this crash with Stefan Everts (standing).
Bervoets reigns in Belgium
By Alex Hodgkinson
WMMEL, BELGIUM, JUNE 13
n pain from an injury incurred to his
left wrist in moto one, Team Johnson
Kawasaki's Marnicq Bervoets still
managed to grit his teeth and end the day
as the overall winner at Lommel in his
native Belgium. But it was once again
South African Greg Albertyn who was for all intents and purposes - the man·
everyone had to chase.
The Team Honda star - Albertyn - ran
away with the first two motos and extended his series points lead to 75 despite a
DNF in the last moto. Defending champ
Donny Schmit and !:tis Chesterfield
Yamaha team had a nightmare day at the
sandy track the locals call "Sahara." The
Minnesota native slipped from second to
third in the series point standings.
Belgian Stefan Everts, of the Bieffe
Suzuki team, also failed to finish one
moto, but still ended up fourth on the day
behind Belgian Werner De Wit and
I
28
Albertyn, and moved into second place in
the standings. The title fight has now
boiled down to just three men, as
American Trampas Parker, rid.ing the
Farioli KTM, suffered a broken wrist in a
second-moto crash with Everts.
Only eight of the 25 scorers on the day
were not from Holland and Belgium.
Behind Albertyn, the next best-placed visitor was England's Kurt Nicoll who tallied 14 points on the day for 11th overall.
Tallon Vohland was the top-scoring
American with 10 points for 13th overall;
Parker picked up nine in race one for 15th
overall; Schmit eight points in the last
moto for 16th, and Bob Moore a total of
six points for 20th.
American Billy Liles failed to score a
single point after a series of collisions and
crashes.
The challengers simply never saw
which way Albertyn went in race one. He
led by the length of the main straight after
a lap; was 10 seconds ahead after two,
and 23 seconds by the fifth of 14 laps.
On the sixth lap Everts, who was
involved in a first-turn pileup, took over
second place from fellow countryman"De
Wit, and the gap between Everts and
Albertyn was reduced to 15 seconds, but
that was it.
"I was happy with 15 seconds and
controlled the race from there," said
AIbertyn. '1 had to ride harder again later
in the race, because I started to have serious suspension problems as the track got
rougher."
It had been a hard race for Everts,
however, and he was looking over his
shoulder at Bervoets.
"I got trapped behind the crash with
Stefan at the first tum and was chasing
him throughout the race," said Bervoets.
"I couldn't push harder at the end,
because I jumped too far in the middle of
the race and sprained my left wrist."
Parker ended up finishing seventh,
but Schmit, who ran as high as second
early in the race, dropped back to 17th
without falling once.
'1 just had a bad ride," said Schmit '1
haven't got my suspension sorted all
weekend."
Vohland started well but crashed over
a berm, then quit after landing heavily in
a big hole after a jump.
The second race was a repeat for
Albertyn, despite not getting off the line
as well as he had in the opener. Everts
again went down in turn one, this time
along with De Wit, Holland's Charrel
Sweebe and Belgian Peter Dirkx.
De Wit quickly got back up and
climbed to third before a last-lap slip
dropped him two places, while Sweebe
eventually finished eighth.
Everts quickly worked back up into
the points-paying positions, but he
crashed hard a t the back of the track
heading into the third lap. He dove inside
of Parker and the two rivals went down,
and the American was trapped between
the two bikes with Everts' Suzuki at the
bottom of the pile.
In reckless abandon, the 20-year-old
Belgian began throwing Parker's KTM to
one side in a desperate attempt to retrieve
his own bike, while Parker laid there in
pain.
A lap Jater, Everts was out after another big crash at the back of the track, while
Parker was on his way to the hospital
with a broken right wrist
Bervoets, with his sprained wrist, had
a heroic ride from a terrible start to second, and Nicoll was the only visitor apart
from Albertyn in the first dozen.
Moore finished 14th after a bad start;
Vohland beat Guedard to the line for
15th; Liles crashed out while also in midfield, and Schmit ground to a halt 50
yards out of the gate with a fouled plug.
It was Albertyn's tum to chase in the
finale after a first-lap crash. Within 10
minutes he was up to 11th place, which
would have clinched the overall, but then
he fell again.
"I only lost one place, but the suspension wasn't working properly and I
didn't feel confident in my bike anymore.
I decided it was safer to stop before I hurt
myself," said Albertyn.
Everts took the moto win after an
early battle with De Wit and Sweebe,
while Bervoets clinched the overall with
another strong ride to fifth.
Schmit gritted his teeth this time and
moved forward three places in the final
laps to score eight points after seeing
Albertyn go out.
Vohland, who had holeshot the final
moto, hung in well to finish one place
ahead of the defending champ for seventh, while Moore circulated steadily
from another poor start for 12th. The
front brake cable of Liles' Kawasaki had
been ripped off when he had been taken
down by Albertyn's first-lap crash.
m
Results
MOTO 1: 1. Greg AIbertyn (Hon); 2. S"'fan EVer1lJ
(Suz); 3. Mamicq Bervoets (Kaw); 4. Womer De Wit (Suz);
S. 01arteI Sweebe (lion); 6. Gert Jan Van Doom (lIon); 7.
Trampas Parkor (I