Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eMOTOCROSS e 500cc M XSeries:Round9 Srnets ' tit le dreams d isappeared for th is year when the fro n t brak e caliper was damaged in a firs t tum collision. Th e th ird race prod uced the mos t passing o f the day, with Mar tens and Nilsso n grabbi ng firs t and second, respectively, out of the gate. Hansson , who faltered in the second rnoto, suddenly refo und his sparkle to chase thr ough from 15th, passing compa triot Nilsson up the long climb in the woods three laps fro m the end to pull back 20 seconds on Martens in the next two laps. H is charge e nded w hen Marten s r ea li zed h e w as th ere a nd upped his tempo to the flag. Smets los t his cool at the start of this race and wiped ou t half the pack in the first tum. Amongst those downed were Boonen, Weusten raed and Jared Smith. Wh ile Smets climbed back to sixth, Boonen went ou t on lap four after landin g heav ily on hi s left s ho ulder a nd Weustenraed was already in th e pits after two crashes in the wood s on lap on e. Smith la ter sna p pe d off th e gea r pedal in a collision. . Results Jacky Martens (11) battled with Jorgen Nilsson for second place in m ~t o three until Nilsson crashed in th e woods. Rid ing a four-stroke Husqvama, Martens reassumed the points lead at the Belgian G P. Martens takes over at the C itadel By Alex Hodgkinson NAMUR, BELGIU AUG. I M. he tit anic st ruggle for supremacy for the cham pi o ns hi p title too k another twist at the Citadel track in the southern Belgian city of Narnur, as home country hero Jacky Martens sco red his second Belgian Grand Prix win in three years at the facility to move into a 10-point lead over Sweden's [orgen Nilsson with three rounds of the series still to run. It was the fourth successive GP at which the lead in the standings had changed hands, and the pattern of the day was reminiscent of the Dutch GP two week s previously. Nilsson, renowned for his rapid starts, had doubled his points cushion to six in the opening moto, which he led all the way on a track where passing was T 4 extreme ly d ifficu lt. Martens had fallen after the two rivals made contact three .comers from the finish but was able to remount quickly to retai n his sec ond place. Neither title candidate gated well in race two, as Be lg ian Ronny Weu stenraed soloed ou t in fron t, bu t Nilsson and Martens were di sputing second pl ace after 20 minutes until Nilsson lost it in the woods. His pipe filled with mud and the Swed e dropped to 10th before he could rejoin the race, and his points lead was gone. It was then Martens' tum to lead the final moto throughout, while Nil sson, initially second, was passed late in the race by fellow Swedish rid er Marcus Hansson. Hansson, w ho ha d sta r ted in 15th, worked his way up and almost caug ht Martens also . Husqvarna four-stroke rider Martens sa id , " I was cr uising all ra ce. I had a lead of more than 20 seconds with tw o laps to go and I never realized Hansson was coming so fast. Halfway round the las t lap I no ticed the cr o wd goi ng berserk, so I looked round and saw him. That lap was my fastest of the race!" Nilsson acce pted defeat gracefully, but was biller over the wa y he had been trea ted by the Belgian sp ectators. "The crash was my ow n fault, but someone in the wo od s ha d already thrown a rock and hit me on the nose on the seco nd lap of that seco nd race," said Nilsson . "In the last race they wer e th row in g bee r in my face every lap at the trackside cafe." It was no surprise to see N ilsson holesh ot the opener, but Martens was in his wheeltracks. "We knew how importan t the s ta r ts wo ul d be he re," sai d Marten s. "My mecha nic has been at the fact or y si nce Holland and they have worked round the clock making rad ical chan ges to the trans mission. The re was no time to test extensively, but we had to take the r isk. For tunately it ha s worked." The only man to keep pace with the two title candidates was Belgian [o ha n Boo nen, bu t he drop ped off th e pace with rear wheel trou bles during the last two laps and gave Ma rtens the breathing s pace he needed to rem ount after the last-lap collision w ith Nilsson. There was little m ovement downfield, the only man gaining places being another Belgian, Joel Smets. "Two rid ers collided in front of me at the firs t tum and I stalled," said the Husaberg rid er after ha ving ad vanced from last to seventh in the 30 minute moto. Weu st enraed and Gera ld Delepine disputed the initial lead, while Nilsson came round fourth and Martens 10th. Delepine took the lead on lap two, but he was down to third before a damaged front brake forced him out. Weu stenraed was then unchallenged for the w in, jus t three weeks after he returned to action from a broken wrist and still handicapped by a broken finger. Martens caugh t up to Nilsson at half di stance and put on tremendous pressure until the Swede finally fell. O /A : 1. Jack y Martens {H us ): 2. Jorgen N ilsson (Han); 3. Ma rcu s H a nsso n (Ho n ); 4. Jo ha n Boo ne n (!

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