Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

48th Annual Motocross des Nations (Above) Even 125cc class favorite Jeff Emlg (3) was caught off guard by the speed of Great Britain's . Paul Malin (12). (Above right) Mike KIedrowski turned In lessthan-stellar 4-5 moto finishes In the 250Cc class. (Left) The shock and disappointment of losing the title was apparent In the faces of American Team Manager Bevo Forti and Mike laRocco. 16 other gu ys. I was messing with someone and Malin passed me. After that we wer e both just running the same speed." "I passed Jeff in the secon d lap and I was just probably mo re in tun e than he was," said Malin . "I jus t pulled awa y and go t Beirer between us. Tha t meant Jeff h ad to deal w ith him befor e he could d eal wit h me. I kept an eye on him to see what was what. He was still behind me at the end, and that's good!" The ini tia l scores sho wed USA and Great Britain tied with four points each, followed by France (5), Germany (8) and Belgium (12). Belgium's 125cc selection was once again the unfortunate Werner Dewit, a career 250cc pilot who has twice been handed the team's small-bore ride. Dewi t suffered a poor sta rt and a first-lap crash , and coul d not clim b any higher th an eighth, severely d ama g ing hi s team's title chances. . Belgi u m's fate was a blessing co mpared to what ha ppened to the Italian team . Las t year they were disqu alified w hi le in con te nt ion to w in the event, when Alex Pu zar got to the parc ferm e too late. In the first moto this time, Mauro Dal Lago (125) an d Franco Rossi (500) made it to the stagin g area on time, but by the end of the third lap both had abandoned the race due to flying rocks. Dal Lago caught a large stone on his kneecap, while Rossi took one in the face, the force of which broke h is nose . Neither rider competed for the rest of the afternoon, leaving 250cc rider Alessio Chiodi to wear th e blue jersey of the Azurri by himself. The start of the secon d race, for 125 and 250cc riders, was led by A1bertyn, the South African star who will soon be compe ting in the U.S. full time in '95. Herring. Fren chman Frederic Bolley, Swedish star [oakirn Karlsso n, Berv oets and Chiodi followed in that order, all on 250s. Kied rowski started 10th, and was up to sixth by the fourth lap . Further back - approxima tely 15th . was the leading 125 of Beirer. Seatte red close behind were Vialle, Malin, Dewit and Emig, who got too much wheeIs pin leaving the grassy starting area . Albertyn's moto came to a rapid end on the third lap when he struck the wayward deer n ear th e centerpiece of th e track. "Man, I really hit a deer," assured Albertyn afte rw ards. "I was comin g flatou t down a hill and 1 just saw this brown blur. Next thin g I knew I was cartwheeling over the bars. It's not somethin g you want to happen to you because it's a big shock." Herrin g took the lead from Albertyn and immediately started to open a gap on BoUey, Bervoets and Karlsson, who ended up quitting the race himself two lap s ' after Albertyn' s d eparture . Kiedrowski was soon up to fourth, but the four-time American champion had given up too much ground in early traffic to improve an y further. Bervoe ts, however, wa s on the gas. The Johnson/Bieffe Suzuki rider was rap idly gaining on Herrin g, who would start feeling the pressure of his une xpected leadership with 10 minutes to go. "My arms started pumping up badly and I was thinking too much," said Herring, who had been on six unsuccessful MXdN teams before this year. "I was trying really hard when 1 was behind Greg and that wore me down. The last couple of laps, the front w heel was taking me where it wanted to go. I was just holding on." Bervoets wou ld ha ve had the lead with three laps to go had he not crashed in to the banners on the ou tsid e of th e downhill, losing 10 seconds to Herring. Still, the often underrated Belgian - the 500cc class winner at last year's MXdN kept char gin g and passed the Brit with half a lap to go, a move that slightly improved Team USA's chances. " I was ca tch in g Herring and then I made a big mistake and crashed into the ropes," said Bervoets. " I kn ew he was tired and that I would still have a chance to catch him in the last five minutes." " 1 had n othin g left," ad mitted Herring . " It seems like eve ry year a European team is in contention, but USA p ulls it off. We have to keep our fingers crossed." "It went pretty good, but I wish I had gotten a better s tart," said Kiedrowski , who finished fou rth . "Every bo dy was going every which way off the start, but I . was still right behind Bervoets . My finger is 100%, or 1 wouldn 't be here." Emig was flailing about the slip pery track in th e early goin g, but a ga in .appeared to se ttle d own aft er three or four laps . Still, he lost touch wi th Malin, who was able to put riders between hims e lf and Em ig. For five la ps, Dewit impeded Emig's progress as Malin snuck away. Emig finally passed Dewit, but it was too late. Wearing th e orange colo rs of his country, Du tchma n Davey Strijbos led all 125 rid er s wit h three laps to go, a fact that caught Malin u naware. "I w asn ' t really watch ing m y p it board," sa id Malin . "I look ed ove r and sa w ' minu s four: then I saw Strijbos. 1 just went at it harder and finally outd ragged him on a straigh t." Emi g also passed Strijbos w he n he crashed in a tum. "I can't say that 1sta rted bad, becau se Malin was right th er e with me:' said Emig. "I jus t wasn't comfortable riding that speed on this track. 1 give Paul a lot of credit. I duked it out all the wa y to the end, but it wasn't enough. I gave it 100%, jus t like I always do at this race, bu t I didn't do well this time. Yamaha needs to give tha t gu y a 125 so he can go after a World Championship n ext year." "Paul should qui t the 250s an d start playin g on the mopeds: ' joked Nicoll of his teammate. "He need s to ride a onetwo-five next year." Th e scores going into the third and final moto had England ahead - all four scores counting - w ith a total of seven. The USA had 10, and France boasted 12 The Americans could still win if laRocco w on th e 500cc cla ss and Kied ro w s ki topped the 2505, regardless of wh ere the Brits finished. America' s ch a n ces took a drastic plunge, however, when a first-tum pileup left big-bike riders Demaria, Martens, Lacher and Dutch rider Gert-Jan Van Doorn on the g rou n d . Kied rowski , pushed wide in the turn.iwas no better than 15th. "I don't know if someo ne hit me or if I hit someo ne, " sai d Martens. "Maybe it was Dem aria who fell first. After that 1 . tried very hard to come back, but it was difficult." Martens made it to fourth in the Ope n class; Dem ari a mad e it up to sevent h befor e dropping ou t as France's throwaway score. Nicoll led everyone, with Bolley and Spanish team captain David Aviles separating the lea der and LaRocco . O n the third lap, Bolley passed N icoll. The two then began a battle tha t oddly resembled last year's third-moto duel when Bolley led un til three lap s were left in the race. This time the French Yamaha pilot only held the point until the halfw ay mark. At that p oint the relent less pressure fro m la Rocco forced Nico ll to cha nce a pass on Bolley. It took laRocco two mo re laps to take the Frenchman, but Nicoll was not too far ahead . Further back, Kied rowski was doi ng h is b est to overcom e h is unfortuna te sta rt. He passed Herring at the cross ed flags, but rea ched a roadblock named Chi od i. For the last six laps of the race, Kiedrowski hounded th e Italian, who was making his interna tional debut on a 250. "The Fren ch guy fell down at the start and everyone hit him: ' said Kiedrowski. "I went as fast as 1 could after that, but

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