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'~' ~ 091~~On~~!~tit~ '~ ~ยท - - -- - - - - - - - - - - -Round 4: Austrian GP - - - - - - - - - es over ~e Stefan Everts (2) moved Into t he series points lead with 3-1 mota finishes at the Austrian 250cc GP. By Alex Hodgkinson SCHWANENSTADT, AUSTRIA, MAY1 elgian Stefan Everts proved himself the best rider overall from two vastly d ifferent motos at the Austrian 250cc GP, and in doing so, moved into the series points lead . Morning rain and wond erful late afternoon sunshine meant that the first race at the Niederholzham track - the one where the U.S. team clinched their 13th consecutive Motocross des Nations victory last September - was treacherously slippery, while wisps of dust were rising from the perfect hard-packed track in the second moto. The Belgian Kawasaki rider's fourmoto win streak was brought to an end in the opener by an American 1-2 with Yamaha's Donny Schmit and KTM's Trampas Parker, but neither could make the top six in race two, as Everts confirmed his current domination of the European scene. It was Everts' third consecutive GP victory, following his pointless series opener in Spain, and it moved him to the top of the standings for the first time this year. B Defending champion Greg Albertyn, witho ut a win since the first moto of the series, was, once again, unable to match his rival's pace. He ended fifth on the day and saw his lead in the standings converted into an eight-point deficit. Seventh place in race two added to h is first moto w in, his second of the series, gave Schmit second overall on the day. He remains third in the standings, 12 shy of Everts. Parker was put on the ground at the start of race two, but got back up to claim sixth overall from a 2-13 day. He advanced to ninth in the standings, one behind Tallon Vohland , who was fifth in the opener but unable to continue from the same first comer melee that downed Parker in race two. The greasy surface on the numerous cambered turns was clearly going to present problems for the riders in the early stages of race one, but amazingly, the only big names to get caught up in the always-troublesome first tum were Rob Herring and Frederic Bolley. The right-hander at the bottom of the first downhill was tricky enough to play a significant role in the results, however. Schmit had holeshot and wrestled his bike back up the slope, but then follow- ing Everts got into all sorts of trouble an d was powerless to prevent Parker surging throug h to se cond. In th eir wheeltracks, Kur t Nico ll's wheels slid from underneath himon the inside line, while Albertyn slithered to the ground on the outside, but they lost few places because thos e behind were faced with an even trickier route across the hillside. Both had lost that significant visual contact with the leaders, however. The story of the race at the front was short. Parke r's deficit on Schmit fluctuated by the lap, with first one and then the other losing traction momentarily somewhere around the track. But determined to put his lackluster Italian GP result behind him, Schmit never allowed his rival to close onto his rear wheel and a homeland win for KTM was not to be. Riding cleverly .as they came up on lappers, both Americans kept their goggles to the finish. Everts was up and down like a yo-yo in the first few laps: "1slipped off a couple of times and got into big trouble a couple of other times in those early laps," said Everts. "My goggles got so heavy with mud in the end that 1 had to throw them away, but 1 was able to settle down to my racing after that." Ex-champion Alessandro Puzar, a four-time mo to winner at the facility, was the next man pa st a relatively slow but difficult-to-pass Werner De Wit to secure a lonely fourth, easil y his best score of the year. Tallon Vohland was well satis fied with his fifth place, havi ng passed Peps i teammate Yves Demaria, and repulsed every move of Albertyn as the champion, his goggles down early, tried to recover from a second midrace fall. Nicoll had also lost his goggles at an early stage and paid the penalty. " A ro ck struck me in the left eye on the fifth lap," said Nicoll. " 1 could n' t see an ything from (the eye) until half an hour after the race and I was guessing distances as 1 tried to find the ru ts." The Brit was to finish nin th: The championship race could hardly have been closer - Alb ert yn w it h 96 poin ts, Everts with 95 and Schmit with 94. Who ever won race two would go home as lead er. Track conditions ,were very different after two hours of sunshine and support races, but the first tum saw the demise of two-thirds of the U.S. continge nt. "Parker had the holeshot but someone came fro m the insi de to put him d own an d he knocke d into m e," ex p la in ed a dej ec ted Vohla n d. Th e KTM man could continue, bu t Tallon's race was a ruin. "My bike ended underne ath th e fence w ith the clut ch lever snapped off," said Vohland. The unfortunate Belley, wh ose last race defeat of Everts at the Nations had given America the win, was taken out again, too. . Mamicq Bervoets and Nicoll hit the front with Everts lurking menacingly in their wake, but by the en d of the lap the Belgian was fourth behind Demaria. "1 slipped off at the top of the track. It was no big deal. Only Yves got past and 1 knew 1 co u ld w in fr om there." And that is what he did, easing past Bervoets for the win after 20 minutes. His only threat for the GP win was Schmit, and the Minnesotan's su rge fr om an in it ial ei g h th w as halted midrace. "1 caught up fast to Nicoll and Demaria but then 1 dropped 'onto their pace and couldn't pick it up again; I finally passed Nicoll on the very last lap , then 1 made a mistake and let him back past," explained a .surprisingly jovial Schmit. Albertyn fought hard to reach fifth after starting 17th but was powerless to demote the equally rapid Herring. He was decidedly snappy after racing, though. "I'm only eight off the pace and there's a long way to go yet. I'll start w inning again soon," said the champ. But to do that he must beat Everts! And that won't be an easy task. CN Nlederholzham Trac k Schwan enslsdt, Austri a Results: May 1, 1994 (Round 4 of 15) MOTO 1: 1. Donny Schmit (Yam); 2. Trampas Parker (KTM); 3. Stefan Everts (](aw); 4. Alessandro Puzar (ICaw); 5. Tallon Vohland (Hon); 6. Greg A1bertyn (Suz);7. Yves Demaria (Han); 8. Werner De