Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 2: Dutch GP (Left) After failing to score a single point . al lhe series opener In Spain , Belg ian Stefan Everts came back In Holland to win bolh molos. (Above) Spanish GP winne r Donnie Schmit finished fourth overa ll . Vohland was passed m idrace b y Albertyn, as they both tried 10 move forward, but the champion was a very distant 10th at th e flag , having bent the bars on his bike wh en he crashed after 20 minutes. A host of big names had gone down in a big heap just a few hundred yards into the race. First 10 get dragged d own as the pack hit the first ru ts were Miska Aaltonen and [oa kim Karlsson . Trampas Parker, Paul Malin a nd Rob Herring slamined into the melee in rapid succession . Restarting a long wa y behind the pack, after extrac ting thei r bik es from soft, glutinous mud, they all retired long before the halfway point. Another to follow them was a sad Edwin Evertsen on the factory Honda. "I was mid pack o ff the s ta rt, but I missed a gea rshift on the first lap and flew over the bars onto my sore shoulder," said Eve r tsen, who had ba d ly injured the sho ulder the pr evious week in Spain. "I tried to continue, but I was in too much pain. I can 't start in race two." By Alex Hodgkinson ..... ~ 0.. ~ 30 VALKENSWAARD, HOLLAND, MAR 27 HK Kawasaki 's Stefan Everts put his d isastrou s opening GP in Spain behind him to bounce back in to con tention for the 250cc Wo rld Motocross tit le with an overw helming doublemota win at the Dutch GP. "I wasn't nervous that I was so far behind in the points," sa id Everts. "I proved last week that I am the fastest and I did it again here. I got to the front quickly in both races and kept on the gas all the wa y. That helped me not to lose my concentration and crash. " Marnicq Bervoets of the Johnson / Bieffe Suzuki team and Werner DeWit of the Dibo Suzuki team completed an all -Belgian podium, but Yamaha 's Donny Schmit seemed every bit as delighted as Everts about his own results. "If so m eon e had offered me the chance of fourth place if I didn't ride, then I would have grabbed it," sa id Schmit. "I had to work really hard for it to day, thoug h. I bent the gear s hift around the footrest on the fifth lap of the first race ; I th ink it was just sheer determination wh ich saw me through . I didn't rid e so good in the second race as th e t r ack got even r o u gh er - I jus t couldn't find my rhythm, but I end ed up fourth overall." Schmit also maintained his points lead . Defending champ Gr eg A lbertyn, also of the Johnson/Bieffe Suzuki team, had a nightmare of a day. "I just got out of the gate bad in the first race, and then I got sand in my goggles and crashed a few laps from the end," said the reigning champ. "The second race was even more frustrating. I got up to second and then I made a big mess of a step-up jump; I gassed it when my feet were off the foo tpegs a nd it went away. I felt like a beginner making such an elementary mistake." The sun came out on race d ay to attract a big crowd and the track was raceable, but several days of rain during the week meant tha t the go in g was incredibly heavy. Only th ose r iders whose sand technique was impeccable, and those who were incredib ly fit would be prominent. Schmit fit the latter catego ry and got the starts he needed to give him an even chance of d efen d ing h is p oints le ad against the local sand experts. Bervoets and De Wit led the field into tum one with Schmit close behind, but Everts was soon past them all and the Belg ians rode to a 1-2-3 finish, as the American battled with his damaged shiftlever. A pack including Yves Demaria, local hero Ton Van Grinsven, Kurt Nicoll and Peter Iven closed Schmit down at one poin t, bu t his strength prevailed and in the closing laps he was almost able to again catch De Wit, whose thum b was hurting from a morning crash . Demaria showed determination to fin ish six th, while Californian Tallon Vohlan d came through from a bad start to take eigh th from Nicoll, even though he was troubled throughout the day by his goggles. Pepsi team advisor Roger DeCoster could also see other problems with the U.S. member of the team. "Tallon is riding too aggressively in the early stages of the races, and making mistakes which lose him places, rather than settling down before he attacks," said DeCoster. "Yves is riding well - that was a good result for him on this track ." Everts holeshot race two, while Schmit, DeWit, Karlsson and Albertyn at least provided the crowd with a more entertaining race than the opener. Bervoets had started badly, and a crash on the first lap made it a hard race for him to finish fifth. "I had to take a lot of risks to get there, but I could never have won anyway. Stefan was too quick for me today," said Bervoets. Nicoll was happier with his racing this time. "I ha ven't been riding again for long enough and I was afraid to find new lines as the track changed in race one," said Nicoll. "Race two was better." Demaria again started well, in fourth, but had already crashed on lap two and rode dazed back to the paddock, while Vohland was again well back early on and had to battle along without goggles for most of the race. Parker had been amongst the points scorers in the early stages, bu t dropped back and eventually out. ' .Alessandro Puzar twice rode bravely into the points, after a big crash on Saturday had left him with internal bleeding and great pain in the groin, while Frederic Bolley twice dropped ou t because his knee, damaged in the open-' ing round in Spain, made it impossible for him to use his foot in left turns. D

• Cover