Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Round 12 of 1 B C 5: udds reek ~ell, "'bite, ; 1111111; c r & 1 Ie II By Davey Coombs rr BUDDS CREEK, MD, JULY 31 he Americans should have seen him coming. Wearing number 77 on a Honda with his shou lde r-length hair hanging out from the back of h is helme t, a Fre nch mo tocrosser fro m Marseilles s tole the show from the American stars on their very own stage, only this time it wasn't Jean-Michel Bayle. Team Pepsi-Honda's Yves Dema ria shocked a smaller-than-expected audience of 4000 American motocross fans when he won the U.S . round of the 250cc World Championships Series at Budds Creek, Maryland with a 5-1 tally . The Pepsi-Honda rider, who is managed by Roger DeCoster, led a massive revolt of European stars eager to beat the once-dominant Americans at their own round of the World MX Championship. Demaria, nicknamed "The Fly" by the European press, won the overall after a frantic final moto that saw him overtake race-long leader Tallon Vohland just 200 yards from the finish line. Belgium's Stefan Everts finished second overall after a gutsy 4-3 performance just two and a half weeks after breaking his left collarbone. Team Yamaha's Jeff "Lone Ranger" Emig was third viii a 1-8 tally. Rounding out the top five overall were Team Boyesen-Penske Yamaha 's John Dowd (3-7) and Johnson-Bieffe Suzuki's Marnicq Bervoets (2-9). " This is th e biggest win of my career," said Demaria through an interpreter as he accepted h is trophy. "To come from so far behind an d win a race against these riders is very good. I wa nted to win two events bad thi s season: the U.S. and Japan . Now I've won the first of those races," Demaria has been on a roll since a disastrous day in Belgium last month left he and DeCoster arguing with one another through the always sensational European press. But since their exchange, Demaria has won four GP overalls in the last five rounds of the series to solidify his hold on third place in the points standing. "I gave away too many points to (Greg) Albertyn and Everts at the beginning to win the championship, so now I am just trying to win as many races as possible," said Demaria. Everts was not disappointed in losing a race he wasn't expected to even compete in. Instead, the likable Belgian jumped right back into the title picture after en tering the race 30 points short of Albertyn's total. Everts competed with a six-inch-long rod holding his broken left collarbone in place . The Team Kawasaki-JHK rider toughed out the pain and 0\ put in two inspiring performances to ...-i ... make up a total of 22 points on his troua bled South African rival. ...-i "The pain was almos t too much and I til was ready to quit after the first moto but I saved some energy and just tried to the second race," "It ::s finishtoo hot anyway, butsaid Everts.has was the injury -ex: kept me from training and riding as I always do . I was out of energy at the end but I had to go on. Now I am happy -g, .... So 4 because I did not expect the day to tum out as it did . I'm back in business!" Defending champ and current series points leader Greg Albertyn received a rude welcome to his future home - the United States of America - when he tallied just 10 points at the U.s. round of the series. Albertyn started poorly in the fir st race on the passing-deficient Budds Creek track and could only muster 10th-place points. A better start in race two and a chance for a 2D-point haul were dashed by a faulty ignition that caused the Bieffe Suzuki to sputter to a stop at the 25-minute mark of the race. "I was feeling confident for a win until the bike quit wo rking," said Alby. "This screwed me up bad for the championship. My 30-point lead is out the window but it's not over yet. I' ve still got an eight-point lead and I'm feeling confident that I'm still going to win ," The race saw a trend of European success in America continue as Demaria and '93 U.S. GP winner Everts stood on the highest steps of the podium . Their jobs were mad e easier by the absence of ma ny American sta rs, including Mike LaRocco, Mike Kiedrowski, Jeremy McGrath, Doug Henry and all of Team Suzuki (U .S.). With the exception of Emig, who won the first moto from gate-to-flag but blew race two with a terrible start, no American was able to stay on the same pace as the GP regulars, especially in the second moto. A steady week of rain left Jonathan Beasley's beautiful Budds Creek track in perfect condition for Sunday's feature event. However, the extremely hot and muggy weather and a National race just two months ago had an unfortunate impact on the spectator turnout, which was estimated at less than 5000 people. The first of two 3O-minutes plus two laps long motos involved a bizarre moment on the starting chute. Everts' Belgian teammate Werner DeWit sna tched the holeshot from the ins ide of the uphill right-hand U-turn . An unidentified photographer standing in the first corner failed to get out of DeWit's way and the Johnson-Bieffe Suzuki plowed straight into the man, who ended up momentarily straddled aboard DeWit's front fender! . "I had the holeshot but the guy standing on the inside wasn't paying attention," said DeWit in pe rfect English. "He had a little tourist came ra and when he finally saw me he said 'Whoa!' I hit him right between the legs and got stuck. I'm not so ha p p y wi th this because someone sho uld tell him to get out of the way or get off the track. I couldn't believe it!" The ensuing traffic jam left threetime U.s.National Champion Jeff Stanton with a last place start and a com- Frenchman Yves Demaria (77). of the Roger DeCoster PepsI-Honda team, rebounded from a fl rst-moto fifth to win the second moto and record the overall victory at the Budds Creek U.S. 250cc GP. It was his fi rst win of the season . plete loss of concentration. He failed to score points in either moto and was livid about the mishap. "That's the way the AMA is, " sa id Stanton of the incident. "They are such an unorganized organiza tion tha t they let things like that happen. DeWit hit him first and then I hit him when he tried to duck underneath him . After that I was just pissed off and I had an attitude and I didn't give a shit. They . should have red-flagged the race," "We gladly would have red-flagged the race but we only got information on the radio that a photographer had been injured in the first tum, no t that he had affected the leaders," sai d Roy Jans on, the AMA's d irector of pro fessional compet ition . "T he F.I.M . has a rule that a rac e m u st be red-flagged befo re the . leader gets to within 200 meters of completing the first lap. By the time we understood the situation the race was too far along and we couldn't pull the plug on it." Emig wrested the holeshot from

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