Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

>' 21~CR()i;~ ~ - - - -- - - - - -GP Round 2: Austrian -- - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - -- By Alex Hodgkinson SI1TENDORF, AUSTRIA, APR. 24 ou r -st ro ke heroes Joel Sm e ts and Jacky Martens put frustrating m emories o f th e SOOcc m ot o cro ss Grand Prix series op ener be hind them at round two, as they hammered the opposition into the ground in a typically enthralling Austrian GP at the Sittendorf Kreuzriegel in . the Vienna Woods. Smets' maximum score gave the Vertemati brothers their maiden GP win in only their second outing under their own name, and - though he clinched the overall in Germany last year - it was also the first time that the 25-year-old Belgian had ever won a GP mota. Last season, Smets rode a Vertemati-modified Husaberg, but this year he is contesting a custom-built Vertemati thumper. Martens - the defending champion also put in two impressive rides to follow his compatriot home in each mota, and the duo are now just a handful of points off champio nship pace-setter Gert Jan Van Doorn, winner of the first GP. Van Doorn posted 6-7 mota scores at Austria. " I thought it would take us at least three GPs to make up the deficit from Switzerland, " ad mi tted a re liev ed Martens after the race . But he was also the first to admit, "It's not going to be as easy as I hoped this year!" Threat number one is Smets . Uncharacteristically low at 12th in timed training, d uring the racing he left no one in doubt as to who was boss on this particular day. "I was al ways in control of that first race, even before I passed Rossi and Anstie, " he said. "They were not on the same pace as me ." His second-mota move to the front a fla t-ou t pass on Marcus Hansson through a gap between the Swede and the fence, no more than two inches wider than his handlebars - was breathtaking, to say the least! . Hansson was a distant third on the da y, but was far from disheartened. "I couldn't hold the four-strokes on the hills," he explained. "Th ey jus t don't suffer with the wheelspin on the loose rocks - but we showed today who are th e three strongest. My day is still to come." Merv yn Anstie appeared to have holeshot the opener, but Franco Rossi the w inner in Austria in 1992 - shot across his bows in the flat and into the first sweeping corner. But neither Honda could escape, and by the end of lap two Smets was on them from a fifthplace start; w ithin fiv e more minutes Hansson and Martens had complet ed the top five. The champion, Martens, had started badly. "I just got no drive out of the gate and was 16th ou t of turn two," he said. "I let everyone settle on lap one, bu t I took a lot of risks on lap two ." Inde ed he did, gaining no less th an nine places in the two-min u te lap . But he was not allowed to get any closer to Smets. "I was always going to win that one," Smets said . "I just took over when I wanted." The time to take over was at the 20minute mark, as Rossi began to fade. P With arch rival Martens away quicker in race two, Smets wasted no time in getting to the front. He shadowed Hansson past Attilio Pignotti and Rud i Van Leeuwen before demot ing th e Swede with his breathtaking pass at the start of lap three. Martens was soon second, but could never close, and the inte rest of the crowd switched to the battl e for third as home heroes Siggi Bauer and Karl Sulzer challenged Hansson. Bauer was in insp ired form after his second wre tched sta rt of the day, an d he might even have given Martens a run for his money if he hadn't made a mistake the first time he got to third. Hansson was al so passed temporarily by Sulzer w hen he got into a tank-slapper going d own the hillsid e, but the po siti ons were re versed again before th e checkered flag fell. The top rid ers after round one had little joy after th e Austrian race. Van Doorn, who had won at the track 10 years ago, d idn't get the starts, but he also lacked the pace of the leaders. All he co uld hope for was to restrict his losses, and he went away with a slen der five-poin t advan tage over Martens; six over Smets and Hansson. Ronny Weustenraed was twice left rnidpa ck at the start, and found it difficult to move forward. A rnidrace fall in mota two actua11y forced him to start the chase all over ag ai n. H is FVM tea m m a te, Shayne King, was the most unfortunate, a third-lap incident in race one seeing him taken to the hospital with a suspected broken ankle. "I didn't crash," he explained. "Someone cut across me in a turn, I put (Above) Riding a custom-built Vertematl lour-stroke, Joel Smets scored con vinc ing wins In both motos. my left foot down and ... crack:" Eld e r b rother Darryll, who has swi tched back to Kawasaki from Honda since the se r ies opener, posted the fastest qualifier but chose badly at the ga te and was squeezed from both sides in the first tu rn. He spent all afternoon playing catch-up to earn 10 points. [ohan Boonen ha d struggled to 12th in race one after completing lap one in 23rd, but an early top-si x position in race two brough t him no joy. "My knee got caught u nder the bars , and I've stretched the ligaments in my righ t foot again, just like in Ital y last year," said Boonen, who was forc ed to drop out. "Normally I should rest for three weeks, but it is only two (weeks) to Ireland." American Billy Liles also went home with a single-digit sco re, the victim of some time off. "I sprained the ligam en ts in my right knee d uring timed training there (in Switzerla nd), and I could ha rdly walk on Mo nday m orn in g," sai d Liles. "I hadn't been on a bike agai n until I got here." Liles' luck was also bad at Sittend orf, a rock damaging the front brake cable in race one, an d d r opp ing h im from a probable sixth to an actual 10th. In race two, a first-lap crash put him back in last momentarily. "I h it neutral and clipped Va n Do orn ' s rear w heel," explained Liles, who would finish 26th. . Former champion Georges [obe had hurt himself a we ek earlier at the Belgian championship opener. "I fell on my right side, but when I got up my left arm was comp letely lame, just like sometimes when you have slept on it," he said. "It was an hour before I got feeling back, and I have been visiting d ifferent doctors all week. I had no pain, and I still don't, but I ha ve no s tr en g th. Finall y on Friday afternoon, a specialist diagnosed th e problem as a trapped nerve between the ve rte brae and the should er." Only in the closing minutes of qualification did [obe manage to post a time good en ough to even make the race in Austria, and he soon realized the fruitlessness of racing. "I knew the race was over for me five yards out of the gate," he said. "I drop ped the clutch and I had no control. 1 just rod e 'round to the top of th e track and wa tche d fr om th er e. Now I go back to Belgium and 1 will spend fou r hou rs a day for the next two weeks at a clinic for the physically hand icapped." O ne o uts tan ding ride ca m e fr om Eng land's Bri an Wheeler. Tra p ped in track-marking tires at the fourth corner 'of race two, he was down to 39th, but recovered to 14th with a spa rkling ride-

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