Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~' !9~!~~ Ro_ nd _ _w_ss _ _ d _ rix _ u__1: S i_ _Gran_ P_ _ an Doorn.pulls off Swiss win By Alex Hodgkinson PA\'ERNE, SWITZERlAND, APR 10 t was "Rookies' Day" in Switzerland as Holland's GertJan Van Doom and New Zealander Shayne King shared moto wins at the opening round of the 500cc World Championship 500cc MX I -"....'. ' 0.. <: 22 Series. A 1-4 day also gave Van Doom, who has switched from the 250cc series, the overall win, his first at GP level since 1988, and the series lead on his Sarholz Honda after the rival FVM team of King and Ronny Weustenraed had miscalculate ed. They finished 1-2 in the second moto, and 2-3 overall. "I didn't know I had won until 1 stopped after the race," admitted a delighted Van Doorn. "I thought Ronny (Weustenraed) had it in the bag ." Weustenraed, the 23-year-{)ld Belgian who had been victorious on his 500 GP debut at the same venue three years previously, was mentally drained after he realized the bitter truth. "I didn't fight Shayne (King) when he came up on me, because 1 thought it made no difference for the overall. 1 didn't realize Hansson had been caught and passed by Van Doorn." Onlookers had already suspected Weustenraed's miscalculation as he punched the air with his fist on crossing the finish line. . But if there are no team orders in the FVM squad, there are apparently none in the Sarholz team either, for Van Doom had to pick up his pace again in the final half lap to fight off his own teammate, Peter Dirkx. A pass would have given Weustenraed the contingency bonuses from his 3-2 finishes. King was relieved to be on the podium. "It was a big mistake to ride 125s last year," said King . "I weigh 170 pounds and the stock Yamaha had no chance of pulling that around, particularly with all those sand GPs they had on the schedule." The Kiwi had scored just one world championship point in 1993. While the rival dealer teams had disputed the overall, the big names all had a bad day. Defending champion Jacky Martens was eighth after two troubled rides on his works Husqvama; fellow four-stroke contender Joel Smets on the Vertemati could only muster six points after posting fastest qualifier in the morning; five-time champ Georges [obe was never on the pace at the first race of his comeback campaign, and Billy Liles had a knock-out second moto to add to his tearaway second place in the opener. Fellow American Ron Lechien, contesting his first-ever European GP, was 11th overall via 12-11 moto finishes. It was a typically unpredictable series opener - but it nearly had not happened at all. "It (the race) will only be cance1led if there are more than four inches of snow," declared AMC Payeme president Antoine Rebeaud on Friday as the teams arrived to find a thin covering of snow on the Combremont track. The question of possible cancellation seemed academic on Saturday afternoon as brilliant sunshine saw perfect track conditions, but the bad weather returned on Saturday evening and the club's own limits were almost reached. The race would go ahead, however. There were renewed cries for cancellation from some quarters, but Martens spelled out what was needed at a midday press conference: "If they leave the track as it is, . then we will all be stopped wi thin six laps because the ruts are getting nearly as deep as the bikes are tall. But if they bulldoze the comers, there will be no problem. It will be difficult to pass, of course, but not impossible to race." The organizers got on with it and did their bit, as well as one can on a hillside track, anyway, and the first moto burst into action w ith Belgian Joel Smets in front . The Vertemati's lead was to last only one lap before Van Doom went past, and the world number three was to last only three more laps before pulling into the pits, his throttle jammed full of mud. . Jacky Martens_then took up the chase, and with three laps to go he had moved up to the rear wheel of the leading Dutchman. . But it was Van Doom who emerged, alone, under the Chesterfield footbridge at the end of the lap. "Bloody backmarkers!" fumed Martens later. "I was past (Van Doom) and then a lapper stopped in front of me in a rut, I had to manhandle the bike out of the groove, and as soon as I'd done it, the lapper got going again. He nearly put me in the fence later in the lap." Rattled by the experience, and with his chance of the win gone, Martens evidently became ragged and was passed by Liles and Weustenraed before the finish, with [ohan Boonen a close fifth. These five had dominated the race after the younger of the two King brothers had lost contact via a crash, but still managed to stay sixth. Georges [obe was a poor 10th, losing out to Marcus Hansson and Siggi Bauer late in the race, while it was the Swede Hansson who had the most impressive ride through the pack. "I got out of the gate badly and was only 21st at the end of the lap after 1 had Bad weather prior to SUnday's I1ICtI nearty caused the cancelation of the Swiss GP. the opening round of the World Championship 500cc MX 5erIlIs. Rain and snow left the hilly track a quagmlnt of mud. also fallen off on my own," said Hansson. "I could catch up (to) the riders in front easily but there are, at most, two places where you can pass on the entire track." Lechien got up off the ground in the first tum to finish 12th. "Someone just never made the tum and wiped us all out," said Lechien, who will definitely contest the first four GPs for Bourguet Motors, a Swiss Kawasaki dealer. "It depends on the results whether 1 do the rest of the series." Passing opportunities were much better in race two as most of the track had driedoul Weustenraed led out of the first tum, pursued by Hansson, Van Doom, Boonen and King. It seemed likely he would be the overall winner as he continued to keep the opposition away from his rear wheel. Van Doom had dropped to a fairly distant fifth, unable to hold the pace. King was soon making significant moves and had displaced Boonen to take third place on lap three. By the halfway stage of the 3O-minute-plus-two-lap race, he was second as Hansson had dropped back: "I just rode badly, so my eventual sixth wasn't bad (given) the circum- stances." Smets had gated sixth but then crashed in the second turn and had to put in a phenomenal ride to get back to 10th, while Martens quit midrace. "We tangled out of the gate, my goggles got filled with mud through the first turn and the Roll-Off mechanism broke," said Martens. "It took me three laps to

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