Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

;MOTOCROSS~dQ~~~~_~_OC_C~ ~S_~_~:_R_oo_nd_8~~~~~~~~ ~ Jorgen Nilsson reclaimed the series points lead by scoring the overall victory. It was h is th ird win of the series. Jacky Martens won the first mota, but a broken motor mount held h im to th ird overall. Nilsson scores D hGP victo!}' utc By Alex Hodgkinson MILL, HOLLAND, JULY 18 18 he see-saw struggle for supremacy in the World Championship 500cc MX Series continued in the Dutch sand at the Ben elu x track, and it was Swedish Honda rider Jorgen Nilsson , T the one man who stands in the way of a four-stroke title win, who moved back into the series points lead with his third overall victory of the season. By defeati ng the Bene lux s and experts on th eir home terrain, Nil sson turned a four-point d eficit int o a thr eepoi n t a dva n ta g e over Bel g ian Ja ck y Martens, who w a s ha mpe re d b y a mechanical problem in the first m oto, Martens, who is campaigning a fours troke H u sqvarna, had extend ed h is points lead toll in the openi ng mot o wi th a winning charge out of the p ack, as Nilsson, struggling to find his lines as he battled the pain fro m his thr ee-weeko ld colla rb o ne inju ry, d ro p ped b a ck from a midrace lead to fourth . Nilsson p ulled the deficit bac k to two in the second mo to, as Martens nursed his factory Husqvarna hom e wit h a broken engine mo unt, an d then the Swede moved ahead again in the po ints with a final-mote victory, as Martens aga in had tomake up for a miserable start to finis h third. Joel Smets, the th ird title candi da te going into the Du tch GP, lost ground in the title chase as a migraine headache restricted the Belgian Husaberg rider to sixth place on the day. The rugged sand track, which h ad become extremely rough by the end of the day, was ready-made for the sa nd experts and the only vlst torsto b eat them were Nilsson and fellow Swede Marcus Hansson. And it was the slick-starting Nilsson who holeshot the opener, w hile Martens languished outside the first dozen. Smets had also started moderately and came off worst in a brush with fellow countryman Gerald Delepine to actually end the first lap behi nd Martens, as the fou r-s troke ace carved his way through to sixth. Nilsson, meanwhile, was p ulling away up front, as fas t qualifier [oha n Boonen, from Belgium, so ught a way round fellow cou n tryma n Rud i Va n Leeuwen and Holland's Carlo H ulse n. With Mar tens s tarting to p us h from beh in d, Boonen eventua lly made it to second on lap four of 15, when Hulsen made a slip. At the 2D-minu te stage, the Belgians both forced their way past Nilsson, who said, "My collarbone wa s hurting and I was missing all the good lines." With just over a lap to go , Martens went to the front, but he could no t relax to the flag. "I lost power in the closi ng lap s after. a rock damaged th e spark pl ug cover," said Martens. However, Martens got an unexpected bonus in the final 200 yards, as Hulsen s u rp r is ed Nilsson with a la te e ffo r t which pushed th e Swede down to fourth. It was Boonen 's turn to run away and hide in the second rac e a fter grabbing th e hol eshot , a nd he was soo n ou t of sight of a se v en- ma n freigh t tr a in in which Nilsson led Belgian [o Marten s, H ansson , Fin la nd's Pekka Veh kon en , Smets, Jacky Martens and Hulsen . Th e first man to mak e a move w as Hansson, w ho go t past Io Martens to put the p ressure on Nilsson. It was the halfway s tage of th e race when Jac ky Martens d ecided to make his move. Within a lap Jacky Mart ens stormed pas t Smets, and was then gifted the next p lace when Vehkonen c rashed out. Jacky Ma rtens then began doggi ng [o Ma rtens before hitting trouble. . "I s truck a rock as I landed hard when I jumped too far, and one of the tita n iu m engine bolts sheared," said Jacky Martens.."The vibration was terri ble and I had no option but to slow and salvage as many points as 1 could." The four-stroke Husqvarna rider dropped back to eighth, taking a risk to 1!P his tempo again in the last half a lap to h old off English sa n d expert Jared Smith . There was no other movement on the leaderboard, as Nilsson suc cessfully fended off his com patriot Hansson . Bo onen lo oke d se t for h is second o v erall win of th e ca m p a ig n at this stage, but it was not to be. Nil sson, who sai d afterwards that his co lla rbone d id n 't tr ouble h im in th e later races, took over th e p ace on the third lap of race three over [o Martens an d Boon en, who was making no hea dway aft er p ass ing Ha nss on. Need ing a third to clinch the overall, Boon en fina lly tried too hard at ha lf distance and a fall drop ped him to seventh . _ Ja cky Martens ha d star te d w ors e than ever and was down in 10th at the e n d of th e fi rst lap . W i th th e fiel d s pread ing o ut on the now- tor tuo us track, he could only advance one p lace a la p an d was over 10 se co nds behind sixth after having passed Van Leeuwen for seven th on lap four . The Husqvarna ace continued his drive fo rward, b ut so d id loca l he ro Hu lsen, who was starting to make a move from an initial sixth. - With two laps remaining H ulsen and Mar tens were seco nd and thir d, respective ly, an d Hulsen started the final lap in N ilsson 's wheeltracks. " I didn't realize that 1 would Jose the overall to Boo ne n if Carlo (Hulsen) passed me," said an elated Nilsson after he upped his tempo again to win the ra ce . "I was just th in king a bout the championship and wanted to score as many points as possible. Of cou rse it is nice to win GPs as well ." Hulsen held on for second, while Jacky Martens had to settle for third. Boonen's second overall carried him back to fourth .in points, but his title (X hopes are slender. Results O/A: 1. Jorgen Nilsson (Hon ); 2. [ohan Boonen (Kaw): 3. Jacky Martens (Hus ); 4. Carlo Hulsen (Hon) ; 5. Ma rcus Hansson (Hon) ; 6. Joe l Smets (Hbg); 7. Jo Martens (Hon); 8. Jared Smith (Kaw); 9. Rudi Van Leeuwen (Hon); 10. Chris Jacobs (Hon); 11. Soren Mortensen (Kaw); 12. Peter Herli ngs (Hon); 13. Warren Edwards (Hon) ; 14. Pekka Vehko ne n (Ho n); 15. Siggi Bauer (Kaw); 16. Merv yn Anstie (Ho n) ; 17. Jeremy Wha tley (KTM); 18. Claus Nielse n (Kaw); 19. Anders Svensson (Hon); 20. Gerald Delep ine (Hon); 21. Ronny We us ten raed (Kaw); 22. Ha ns Berendsen (Hon); 23. Christian Burnha m (Hon). MOTO 1: 1. Jacky Marten s; 2. Boone n; 3. Hulsen; 4. Nilssoru 5. Han sson ; 6. Van Leeuwe n; 7. Smets; 8. Smith; 9. Vehkonen; to .Wha tley; 11. Svensso n; 12 Mortensen; 13. Delepine; 14. Herlin gs; 15. Burnham. MOTO 2: 1. Boonen; 2 Nilsson; 3. Hansson ; 4. Jo Martens; 5. Sme ts; 6. Hu1sen; 7. Jacobs; 8. Jacky Martens ; 9. Smi th; 10. Anstie; 11. Nielsen ; 12. Weustenraed; 13. Herlings; 14. Van Leeuwen; 15. Morte nsen . MOTO 3: I. Nilsson; 2. Hulsen; 3. jacky Martens; 4. Smets ; 5. Jo Martens; 6. Boonen; 7. Smith; 8. Hansson; 9. Edwards; 10. Bauer; 11. Van Leeuwen; 12. Mortensen; 13. Herlings; 14. Delepine; 15. Berendsen.

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