> O O R 5OO~' MotoCroSs series .' Round 3: Irish 500cc GP
M T C O S.
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Hansson ·h o o k s up In Ireland
By A lex Hodgk inson
BALLYKELLY, NOR1HERN IRELAND, MAY7
t was the tum of the Big Swede, Mar-
I
cus Han sson, to do the winning as
the world 500cc motocross series visited Ireland for the first time ever .
Run in a disused sand quarry at Ballykelly, just a few miles from Londonderry in the Ulster province of th e
Emerald Isle (which is divided politically but has a unified motorcycle feder ation), the event confirmed the dominance of the Honda-mounted Swede
and the four-strokes of Jacky Martens
and Joel Smets.
Defending champion Martens, on the
works Husqvarna, was eliminated from
the first moto by a sheared flywheel key
while closing down rapidly on Hansson,
but bo un ced back to win race two.
Hansson scored the overall win, posting
1-2 moto finishes, while Vertematimounted Smets twice chased Hansson
home.
Previous pointsl ead er Gert Jan Van
Doom was third overall, but wa s over
ha lf a minute do wn on the winners in
each moto, and dropped to third behind
new leader Hansson and Smets.
The sole American present was Billy
Liles, who rode a bike loaned to him by
Georges Iobe to fourth in the first moto,
his best result since the opening moto of
the series, but could do no better than
12th the next time ou t. The Georgian is
now eighth in the standin gs. Liles is
considering an offer to join the FN Jobe
team full time.
[obe, himself, qualified for the races,
but withdrew overnight as the lack of
feeling in his left arm was still too much
of a handicap to allow him to race competitively.
a
Bally kelly, Northe rn Ireland
Results: May 7, 1994 (Round 3 of 12)
MOTO 1; I . Marcus Hansson CHon); 2. joel Smets
(Ver); 3. Gert jan Van Doom (Hon); 4. Billy Llles (Hon);
5. Joha n Boonen (lCaw); 6. Gera ld Deleptne (Hon); 7.
Sigg i Bauer (Ka w) ; 8. Da nny T he ybe rs (Hon); 9.
Christian Chanton (Yam); 10. Miros lav Kucirek (Kaw);
11. Avo Leak (Kaw); 12. Greg Hanson (Ho n); 13. jeremy
Whatley (Ho n) ; 14. Franco Ros si (Hon) ; 15. Danny
Smith (Kaw).
MOT O 2: 1. Jacky Ma rte ns (Hus); 2. Hansson; 3.
Smets ; 4. Ronny Weustenraed (Ha n); 5. Van Doom; 6.
Delep ine a 7. Theybers; 8. Peter Dirkx (Ho n); 9. Mervyn
Ans tie (Hon); 10. Jam es Ma rsh (Hon); 11. Ju ri Ru uI
(Han); 12. Liles; 13. Rossi; 14. And ers Svensson (Hon);
IS. DanyU Klng (Ka w).
Ol k 1. Mar
