Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127595
used jus t once a year, so it was covered with grass as the teams pulled into the paddock fo r Saturday's open practice sessions. "There's not a lot of stuff to sepa rate g uys, bu t it ' s ge tting rougher," said Kied ro ws ki du ri ng Su nday mornin g's p rac tice. " It reminds m e of a cross betw een Stee l City and Una d illa. It has grass and rocks in so me places, but clayish di rt tha t gets those real deep-bu t-fla t berms in the comers." The fastest man on the trac k in prac. tice was Italy's Alessa ndro Puzar, who carried a winning strea k of his own into th e Sc hwa ne ns ta d t circuit: Th e Ch es ter field-Rin al di Yama ha p ilot has won at least one mot o at every GP he . has en tered here. New Zeala nd's Dar ryl King, a surp rise contende r on this year's 500cc GP circuit, was fastest of the 500cc rid er s, wh ile Puza r's co mpatrio t Andrea Bartolini had the lowes t clocking in the 125cc class. But practice times coun t for n o th in g bu t br a g g in g r ights at this eve n t; starting ga te position s are drawn for.by team representa tives . This policy caused the first controve rsy of the weekend when Team USA d rew the 27th of 29 possible sta rting positions, mea n ing they would have to ta ke the position second-closest to the inside in all three motos. However, after all the positions we re drawn for, the cockeyed gate - which was closer to the first turn on the outside than 'on the inside - was realigned to allow for a more equal getaway. This FIM ju ry decision enraged Johnny Strijbos, the e mbattled Belgian team manager, who bera ted officials righ t up to the start of the race . Ironically, the rid e r on the far out side, Swedish 500cc pi lot Jorge n Nilsson, snapped up the holeshot when the firs t mot o of 500 and 125cc riders left the tw o-row-deep, 29~man starting ga te. Kiedrowski was squeezed o ff o n th e insi de, which in turn slo wed the ea rly progress of Emig , who sta rted directly behind his fellow American. "They held the ga tc for such a lo ng time tha t it made me lose my concentration ," ad mit ted Kied rowski. " I tried to start rea lly smooth and then ge t eve ryone when I shifted from second to third, bu t they all ca me over on me. I was pretty far back going ou t of th e first turn." "I did not th ink that it was possible to make the ho lesho t fro m the outside," said the 29-year-old Ni lsson . "I got a very good jump from the gate and I made it around the corner while everyone got together on the inside. It was really a surprise." Nilsson recen tly los t the '93 500cc World title by just three points to Belgian four-stroke ace Jacky Martens, who was surprisingly left off of the Belgian team by Strijbos. Whi le Nilsson led the freight train of Bcrvoets, Austrian he ro Siegfried Bauer a nd French Open bike rider Frederic Via lie , Kiedrowski was back in 15th position. (Surprisingly, he was beh ind the 125s of Bar tolini a nd French star Yves Dema ria, the former havi ng started on the fro n t row) . As for Emig, he wou ld hav e to start worki ng forwa rd fro m 30 th positio n in the co m bi ned field, trailin g at least seven othe r 125cc rid er s af ter one lap. Dewit nea rly took Emig ou t on the first lap, and then the Am erican cam e cl o se to s u ffe ring a major crash whe n he went sideways off the top of a steep, rutted uph ill tha t leveled off into a spectacular jump. " I ca ug h t the top lip trying to prejump the hill, and it thr ew my bike totally s idew ays, like a BMX free-style r, " said Emig later. "l 'rn off the side of the bike, my right foot is barely on the seat, and I'm loo king at the rear fender. 1 was thinking about ju st throwing it away The winning U.S. squad is flanked on the rost rum by the ru nner-up team of Belgium (left) and third-placed Sweden (right). T wo row s of bikes made up th e nearly 6Q-rider-strong starting line in each of the three 3Q-minute-plus-two-lap motos. befo re I hit the ground . It was so close! I was thi nk ing to m ys e lf, 'Th is one is going to hu rt.''' Emig somehow saved it, and the close call see med to inspire him to push even harder towards the front. " I was taki ng it really easy off the start, looking things over and all," said Kiedrowski, who was making his th ird appea ra nce at the MX des Nations for Team USA. "I even got passed by a cou p le of 500s. Then I sta rted picking guys • off and looking to the front. My mecha nic was keeping me posted on wha t was going on with everyone else." By th e h alfway poin t, Kied ro w ski ha d begun h is attack o n th e leaders. With 10 minu tes to go he passed Bau er, then s tarted look in g for a wa y around Nilsson and Bervoets, who were within a few b ike leng ths of each othe r fro m the drop of the ga te on. Kied row ski too k Bervoet s at the 24-minute mark, and immedi atel y began pressing Nilsson . He made the pass for first jus t before a spo t on the track wher e Nil sson's Sw ed ish fans had ga thered along the fence with their flags and air horns. As Kawasaki raced by with the lead, he looked over the fence and he ld up his index finger in the "number-one" sign al for the Swedes. Mike Kiedrowski helped giv e th e U.S. team the win with an amazing final moto ride. 9