Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

" It was a good ra ce fo r me, a lot of fun : ' Eve r ts s a id .- "I rode fa st and sm ooth a nd I d id not m ake any m istakes. I had fun leading so many good riders." "I don' t mean any d isrespect towards h im , but Jeremy ' s obviously a better supercro sser than he is a rnotocrosser," sa id Nicoll , wh o h a d a r u n-i n with McG rath at the Ll.S, GP in Jul y. "A tra ck like this is not suited to his style; there a re no ju m ps for him to use h is grea t techniq ue on . It's just fast and natural h e re . I guess there a ren 't too m any tracks left in th e States th at are like that. M ay be Unadilla , but a n Eng lish m a n (Iarnie Dobb) wo n the Nati on al there." " I was really nerv ous a nd up tight the first rnot o," M cGrath s a id. " I k n ow I wasn' t rid in g as good as I co uld ha ve bu t lu ck ily Mi ke an d Jeff ea ch won a race. My arms were pumped u p when Nicoll passed me. I could have fought it ou t with him, but I wa s more concern ed with a good fin ish for th e team than ris king it a ll for myself." Before th e la st 250 / 500cc m ote , Jan son w or ked o u t the scores. "The best of three scores are really all that matters right now:' figured Ja nson. "We ha ve four poin ts, Italy has seven, Sweden has se ven and Bel gium ni ne . If Italy or Sweden w ins both classes, we would lose even if w e took two seconds. And we can't for get a bo u t Belgium." Th e last and eas ily th e bi ggest co ntro versy o f th e da y to ok pla ce just before th e s ta r t o f the final m oto . Pu zar's bike wa s abo ut 15 seconds late in arrivin g at the p arc fe r me. ( Ea ch rid er's motorcycle must be in the s taging area 10 minutes before the. s ta rt of each race .) Th e FIM barred the Italian access to the starting ga te, disquali fyin g him from the mot o. The Italians argued that the extremely cro wded pit area wa s the ca use o f their sho rt delay, but ra ce of ficials would not make an exception. This prompted a near-riot by the Italian team per sonne l at the parc fe r me entrance. But the race went on w ithou t them, dashing the h igh ho pes they had a fter the fine r id es of Bar toli n i a nd Pu zar had pu t th em in co n ten tio n for thei r firs t-ever MX des Na tion s wi n. O n the sta rting gate, Fra nce, England and Sout h Africa p ut their 250cc riders Belley, Nico ll and Albertyn, respectively - on the front row, rath er than their Open bike rid er s. Team USA and Team Bel g ium wen t with th e co nv en tio na l stra tegy of big b ikes first. After so me initial sh uffling, the pack sorted itself o ut, with N icoll and Bolley ou t front . Bcrvoe ts wa s the top Open b ike rid er in th ird place, with Bel gian teammat e Eve rts a few positi on s back . Kied rowsk i was just ou tside the top 10, but teammat e McGr a th was deep in the pack. "M ike w as a lit tle late off th e ga te, and I came int o the first corner behind him ," sa id McGrath. " But so meone fell in fro nt of me and I got caught on h is bike and I couldn't go . By the time I got free I was a lmost last. T h e n after I passed about 10 gu ys I crashed back again." McG rat h was ou tside the top 50, bu t he im proved to 35 th after two laps . Ho w ever , it soon became obvious that bar ri ng a n un e xp ecte d disas ter for Kiedrowski, McGrath 's final -mot o score w ould be the one that w ould not count for Team USA. McGr ath never s topped tr yin g to advance to the fron t, but the on e -lin ed co nd itio ns prev ent ed him fro m climb ing an y higher than 17th in the field, ninth-best 250cc rid er . Meanwhil e Kiedrows ki w as ha vin g p robl em s of hi s own . The n ormall y fla w less Kawa sa ki pil ot fell off three tim es in the openi ng s tages of the race, leaving the door wide open for the rest Italian Alessandro Puzar was DQ'ed for gridding late for the second 250cc mota. of th e team s to us e th e third moto against Team USA . Kiedrowski finall y se ttled d own just insid e the top 20, but he was s till ninth in the Open class. Up front, Nicoll and Bo lley sta rted stre tching out their early lead on the rest of the h uge fiel d , each ho ping for h is first moto victory of the year. The ir rele n tless perso na l duel carried them far away from Berv octs, Nilsson, Albertyn and the rest of the field, and would later prove costly to Belgium'S hopes of final ly beating the American team. At one point Nicoll slipped and Bolley took the lead, but the British Honda pilot retaliat ed with three la p s remaining, controlling the race once and for all. With the Ital ian team shu t out of the race and Sweden's 250cc rider (Marcus Hansson) outside th e top 10, Belgium sud d enly found itself to be the one team positioned to upset th e Am ericans . Bcrvoets was pulling away from Nil sson as the 500cc lea d e r and Ever ts soon muscled past the struggling Albertyn for thi rd. "I came down the hill here an d went wi de just as Eve rts wen t in tight," said A lbertyn af ter the fina l moto. " It w as my fa ult for leaving the d oo r ope n, but I' ll ge t him back." If th e race had en ded at tha t point, n e ar th e 15-minut e ma rk, Belgi u m would have claim ed the tea m championship. " I had a good start from the second row, but too many guys in my cla ss s tarted on the fron t row and go t away from us," .s a id Ev ert s after wa rd s. " Nic oll and Bolley had suc h a big lead tha t I could not see them, which made it d ifficult to catch th em . In the end they became tired but it was too late for me to do an ything . Just one more lap..." Kiedrowski overtoo k Nicoll's teammate Jared Sm ith when th e Brit fell at the bottom of the lon g d ownhill. A few moments later Kiedrowski wa s able to o ve r ta ke Kin g a nd Fin land 's M iska Aaltonen. That still left him si xth with three laps to go, three places lower than he need ed to fin ish for Team USA to win. Se nsing an imminent American defea t, Team Belgium personnel starting ga thering arou nd the start-fin ish area in a n ticipation of their f irst MX d es N a tions wi n since 1980 (the last ti me anyone ot her than Team USA won). With 10 minutes to go, Kiedrowsk i's m e chan ic h eld o u t th e b oard th at inform ed Kiedrowsk i of w ha t he had to do. Needing three p laces, Kie drowski p ick ed up h is s peed cons id erabl y to ov ertake Au stria's Bauer, South Afr ica's Du gmore and D ani sh s ta r So re n Morten son befor e the white flag flew. "I knew it wa s tim e to w in it or lose it, so I go t my head ba ck together, started rid in g s mooth and smart, and ju st d id it:' sai d Kiedro wsk i a fter h is cool charge. American Jeremy McGrath and his tuner Skip Norfolk p repare for the 125/250cc m ota . As th e Bel gian contingent watched helplessly from the p its, Everts went on a frantic se arch for N icoll and Bolley, but their own pitched battle had carried them w ell clea r of the Bel gian . He missed cat ch ing th e Ch e st erfield Yama ha of Bo lley - and along w ith it the elusive MX des Nations vic tory - by just three seconds. Eve rts stopped to watch Bervoets come across as the O pen class winner, then rode off over the hill w hen Kiedrowski's arrival a short time later (beh ind Nil sson) signalled yet another American win. "Thi s wa s the toughest one of all 13," sa id Janson, as Te a m USA stepped to th e top of th e podium. "It's just unbelie vable the way our guys ca me back a nd won . But I have to tell you, m y hero is Kurt Nicoll . By him winning th at third moto, he knocked the Belgians ba ck another spot. That was the one sp ot we n eeded to win this thing again." "I wa s w atching the las t rno to from th e fence and it looked like Belg ium p retty much had it w o n : ' a d mi tted Emig. " I started to wa lk back to the p its and then the announcer shou ts, ' M ike Kie d rowski third!' I figure d I'd better stay there and keep cheering him on." " I'm really relieved w e w on ," ad ded McGrath. " I know that fou rth ain't th e best sco re, bu t I'm glad it he lped . I was thi nking, 'Man, I don't w ant to be one of the guys who loses this thing.:" "This is a nice wa y to en d the year:' said Nicoll, whose 3-1 p e r for m an ce earned him top indi vidual honors in the 250cc division. " Bolley wa s rid ing very fa s t a nd to g ether we g o t away from everyone . He passed me after I fell, but o nce I passed h im ba ck I knew I had w on the race." Nicoll added that had his team been a b le to start Dobb a n d Rob H erring (bo th of whom are inju red) England w ould have fared bette r . "England w ould have won. We don' t have the depth of America, where you have any number of riders to step in." "We are very happy to be th ird overa ll: ' said Sweden's Karlsson, secondbest 12Sec rider on the day. "We had the worst starting pick on the ga te and our 250cc rider Marcu s (Ha nsson) was sufferi ng fro m an inju ry. The result of third was very good for our country." "I don't kn ow what w e hav e to do to win thi s tr oph y : ' sa id a humbl ed Strijbos, the Belgia n team manager. "We are un lucky agai n, b u t w e are happy w ith the wa y our three rid ers rode. We b rou ght the three best riders tha t we cou ld. We just need to be lucky once." 1.-'; Results TE A MS : 1. USA (11) ; 2. Belgium (12); 3. Sweden • (I S); 4. Eng land (29); 5. New Zea land (34); 6. Cermany (36); 7. So uth Africa (36); 8. Au s tri a (40); 9. Den mark (45); 10. Norway (61) ; J 1. Ceeehc Republic (63); 12. Sw itzerland (72 ); 13. Australia (72); 14. Spain (73) ; 15. Finland (78); 16. Estonia (80); 17. Latvia (99); 18. Russ;' Even track-s ide security finds time to capture the moment at the MX des Nations. (100); 19. Hungary (102); 20. Uk raine (104); 21. C roa tia (119); 22. Luxe mbourg (120); 23. Ital y" (14); 24. Holland (23); 25. France (26); 26. Ireland (65); 27. Slov en ia (74); 28. Greece (95); 29. Lith uan ia (95). (- Less than five scores registered} M aTO S 125/500: 1. Mike Kiedrowski (Kaw) USA/500: 2. Icrgen Nilsson (Ho n) Sweden/500; 3. Mamicq Bervoets (Kaw) Be lg iu m /SOD; 4 . Edwin Ev ertse n (Ka w) Ho lland /500: 5. Siegfried Bauer (Kaw) Aus tria /500; 6. Darryl King (Ka w) N ew Zealand /SOD; 7. Mi chele Fa n to n (Ka w) It aly / SOO 8. And re a Bartolini (Hon) ; Ital y /125; 9. Jefl Emig (Ya m) USA/ l 25; 10. Jared Smith ( Kaw ) Engla-nd /SOO; 11. Frederic Via lie (Kaw) France / SOD); 12. Joakim Karlsson (Suz) 5weden /125; 13. Werner Dewit (Suz ) Be1 hium/ 125; 14. Soren Mortenson (Ka w) De n m a rk /SOO; 15. Bernd Ecke nb ac h (Ya m) GennAny /500 ; 16. Gle n IWII (H on ) AustTa lia / 500 ; 17. Christian Chanton (Yam) Switzerland /SOO; 18. Andreas Kentsinger (KTM) Grrma ny/ 12S; 19. Roy Snell engen (Suz) No rwa y / 12S ; 20. D arryl A tk in s (Han) N ew Zea land /I25; 21. Pau l Cooper (Yam) Englan d / I25; 22. Ja n Mra ze k (Ka w ) Czecho /500; 23. Mi kkel Capra ni (Ka w ) Denmark / I25); 24. Coli n Dugmo re (Suz) So uth Africa/SOO; 25. Mis kA Aa ltonm (H on) Fin1.lnd/ SOO. s Ti me: 35 minutes , 13.956 second. . 125 /250: 1. Stefa n Eve r ts (Suz) Belgium /250 ; 2. Alessand ro Puzar (Yam) ltaly / 2.c;Q; 3. Kurt Nicoll (Ho n) England /250; 4. Je re my McGrath (Hon) USA / 250 ; 5. Frederic Bolley (Yam) Fra nc e / 250; 6. Dietmar Lacher (Su z) Germa ny / 250; 7. Emig; 8. G reg Albertyn (Han) Sout h Africa /250; 9. Pedro Tragter (H on ) HoUand/250); 10. Karlsson; 11. Shayne King (Yam) New Zealand /250; 12. Strijbos; 13. Bart olini; 14. Marcus. Hansson (Hon) Sweden /250; 15. Jerome DuPont (Ha n) Sw itzerland/ 250); 16. Dewit; 17. Petr Kuch.u (Kaw ) Czecho/I25; 18. Atki n s; 19 . Lee Hogan (Y.lm) Au stralia /250; 20 . Snellengen; 2 1. Coo pe r; 22. Karl S ulzer (KTM ) ; Au.

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