Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

crowd at Bea u cai re w hic h ende d in a trip to th e hospital suggests that may agai n be a problem. It a li an A n drea Ba r t o li n i, 26, is ret a ined as thi rd string. He is a ha rdtrack specialist who could eve n win in the Italian round at Maggiora, where he eve n beat the u.s. stars at a Masters race in the late '80s. Sylva in Geb oers has chosen not to replace Albertyn on the Suz u ki squ ad, promoting his fellow Belgians Mamicq Be rv oe ts, 25, an d Werner De wit, 23. Dewit's ranking ha s always relied on his rapid starts and strength on sand tracks, but Bervoets is a title candidate despite ind iff erent ea rly -seaso n results . A s Geboer s points ou t, he ha s th e ex pe rience (six years in the World top 10 and three success ive MX des Nations class wins) and this is th e first year he will race for the same team as in the previous yea r. This se as o n m arks th e return of a ge n uine factory Honda to th e GP s, as English veteran Kurt Ni coll will pil ot th e HRC bike th rou gh a team run by five-time champion Eric Geboers. At 30 years of age, Nicoll is three years old er than any of h is rivals, but should not be d iscounted . After nearl y a d ecad e riding excl usively on SODs, he defied all critics by sna tching the number-fou r p late on his 250cc d ebu t season in 1993, and his drop to fifth las t year came in a yea r which saw him start the campaign without any prep aration after a ba d a rm-b reak du rin g the p revious winter. By the fina l GP of the su mmer he was a winner. Perha ps Nico ll's greatest asse t is h is ph y s ica l fitn es s and knowledge of wh at is requ ired for long 45-minute motos, Belgian teammate [a im y Scevenels, 19, has been drafted in as test rid er and hope for the future. George s [ob e brings his Belgacomsp onsored tea m to th e 2S0s this yea r, with SOOcc cha mpion Marcus Hansson as his star ma n. The Swede is still only 25 and has continued to race a 250 regularly d uring h is th ree seaso ns chasing the big-bike crown an d ha d come within a comer of winning a 250cc GP back in 1991, but he has grown physically during the last 18 mo nths and doesn't look comfortable on the smaller bike. He has also been out of action for a mon th during the preseason with a badly broken nose . . The class-changers wh o d e serve attention come from the 12Sec ranks. Pedro Tragter, 26, slipped to third in the world last ye a r a fter w innin g th e world title in the srnaIlest-displacement class in 1993, but could still be a threat some wee ks, while fellow Dutchma n Leon Giesbers, 21, is a n o u t-a n d -o u t sand-track ma estro. Better chances of a major pl a cing mu st go to German Pe te r Beirer, 22, who, after six years as a pro with Suzu ki, sw itches to a Honda rid e on a Sw iss team for h is 2S0cc GP debut year. He was a disappointment last yea r, advancing to a title cand idate in 1993 before a badly inju red kn ee ende d his run, but h a s wo n m oto s in tw o of th e b ig warmup races. Bader Manneh is the third Am erican in the class, after moving back up from th e 12Scc division, to take the sole GP ride on the Pepsi-sponsored team which supported Demaria and Vohland last year. Few ride rs can outgate the impish 28-year-old, Israeli-born resident of San Diego, and on ly an injury in 1993 ha s preven ted h im fr om taking a top 10 ranking in recent years. 125cc GP CLASS The 12Sec title chase is trad itionally • (Right) Former champ Jacky Martens will aga in pilot a 630Cc four-stroke Husqvarna in the SOOcc " series , as will GP teammates Franco Ross i, Johan Boonen and Peter Johansson. (Below right) Marcus Hansson, the 1994 SOOce World champ , will be moving over to the 250Ccclass on the Jobe Honda team. th e place for the kid s to make thei r name and gain expe rience at the high est level of raci ng, thou gh there are always a ha ndful of older rider s to mak e life difficult for them. As in p revio us years, five of last seaso n 's top 10, including cha mp ion Moore, h a ve departed for n ew challenges. Moore' s ride on th e 12Scc Rinaldi Yamaha goes to Alessio "Chicco" Chiod i, 22, the Italian who ra n Bob to the wire last year on a team Italia Honda. A winter shoulder injury ha s slowed down his preparation, but the 1992 Euro champ with the number-two plate is inevitably the man to beat. Next in the previou s se ason' s rankings is Dave Strijbo s. Th e 27-year-old Dutchman w a s th e s p o rt' s y ou n gest cha mp ion when he won his only title in 1986, and enters his 12th full GP'season as a sing le-digit candidate. He was to have ca m paigne d th e n ew w orks Hu sky, but lethargy in de velopment has led Strijbos and the Italian Carpi team to revert to Suz ukis. " None of the rising youngsters appea r to have wha t is need ed to gra b the title this yea r. French kid s Frede ric Vialle, 21, and Sebastian To rte lli, 16, hav e both been preparin g a t the U.S. Su percross Series in th e 125cc class. Vialle was the wea k li n k in la s t ye a r's Fre nc h M X d e s . Nations squa d and ha s had to go to Italy to get a rid e thi s ye a r, hi s positi on a t Kawasaki France going to TorteIli. The teenager contested the B grade European championship last year, but just got his 16th birthday ou t of the way soon eno ug h to contest the Belgian GP " where Moore clin ched the Wor ld title. Riding a YZ stocker, the French kid was faster than everyone bar the champ and will rid e a special KX tuned by factory team boss Jan De Groot. Onl y inexperience rul es him out for the title. The best of th e you ng Italians are M auro Dal' Lago, 22, who steps up from number tw o to take th e team-leade r rol e vacated by Chiodi in Corrado Maddii's Team Italia, and G audio Federici, 19, a protege o f fellow Roman Claudio DeCarli. More likely bets for top hon ors a re th ree class newc om ers. Ever si n ce an overcast day in Swi tzerl and last Septem-

• Cover