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,'MOTOCROSS" ": .,', Round 10: Belgian GP .'Wortd'Champlonshlp ~ ~ Series By Alex Hodgkinson KESTER. BELGIUM, JUNE 25 7 20 he World 250cc MX Series suddenly isn't as close as it used to be, as Belgian Stefan Everts dominated his home GP at the gruelling Kester track 20 miles west of Brussels to open up a 41-point lead at the head of the standings. . Fellow Belgian Marnicq Bervoets completed the celebrations for the 15,000-strong partisan crowd with a brace of seconds, and Great Britain's Kurt Nicoll stayed in the hunt with third overall. It was an awful day for the U.S. challengers. Bob Moore only managed half a lap of racing and, although he stayed second in the standings, Tallon Vohland took home just five points. The Belgian GP was always going to be a cauldron with the armies of frenetic rival supporters at the trackside, and on Sunday afternoon the sun appeared just in time to make it even hotter. Bader Manneb holeshot for the first time all year, but was soon at the back of the pack. "I locked bars with Goakim) Karlsson halfway around the lap," Manneb said. "He stayed on." The American got back to a thankless 16th with a last lap-pass on Eliasson. . Even earlier, a horde of riders had gone down on the step-up jump exiting tum three. 'There was a collision on the I~ft and th~'pile of bodies just kept getting Wlder, explained Mark Eastwood. "I nearly got through on the right, but 1 had to give it a big handful and it threw me off the back." Frederic Bolley and Peter Iven were the only top-IS men involved, but the Belgian privateer went no further. Iven was fortunate that Eastwood had the p:esence of mind to run over and press his kill sWltch before the Belgian's hand, trapped in his own rear wheel, got ripped off. The first-lap carnage was still not over. During the interval, Michel Rinaldi admitted that his team's last chance at the crown was gone. "Bob (Moore) says he came to some braking bumps halfway roun~ the lap and they were so deep that his front wheel fell right in." Moore was thrown against metal track-marker stakes as his Yamaha somersulted along the track, taking out more riders. Moore would not start race two. Rinaldi said, "Nothing appears to be broken and he has feeling in his legs, but he has so much pain in his hips and thighs that he can't even walk." Werner Dewit edged out Manneh at the first turn to lead, but it took only two laps for Everts to make a dean pass on Nicoll and then move into the lead. His only danger came in the final minutes as Bervoets closed, but the Suzuki rider was never allowed to get too dose. Nicoll stayed second for half an hour. "The tires were mQving on the mousse and it wasn't nice. They didn't do it last week, but it's hotter today." Dewit was in fourth when he crashed out at 25 minutes and was· taken away with a knee injury which would end his racing for the day and his championship challenge for the year. Peter BeiTer's hopes of another pocIi- um finish had been wrecked after a quarter of an hour. "I was sixth after the early sort-out, but I couldn't get past VohIand and he was holding me up. His front wheel washed out in the end and 1 was soon back on Bervoets, but then 1 made a mistake. I was soon back up, but It cost me a place to Tragter and I lost contact to the leaders. 1 didn't rush at Traghir. It would've been impossible to get anyone else so 1 saved my energy. He always gets tired in the last 10 minutes." Vohland was a distant 11th. "I got dirt in my goggles when 1 fell, so 1 had to throw them away. 1 could've coped with that, but the dutch lever got bent round so far I couldn't reach it anymore. 1 tned to ride without it as much as 1 could." The Belgian GP would be the cutoff for the top 15 who get expenses to the Venezuelan GP on July 17. Danny Theyhers, 16th on points, got thrown into the fence on the first lap and filled the silencer with sand to spoil his chances. The riders ahead of him, Giesbers, Scevenels and Bolley, all scored to consolidate their chances, while Paul Cooper, his hopes spoiled in the UK rounds by flat tires and broken wheels, was on a mission. After chasing through the pack to seventh he had reduced the deficit on 15th-placed Bolley to 11 points. A decent start in race two could earn him some air tickets, The second race ba ttle for the win was exhilarating. Everts holeshot but Bervoets was second and VohIand third. Neither wanted to let the leader get away. VohIand was on the gas after his disappointing first moto, swept past (Above) Steflln Everts won both motoaln front of his home crowd at the Belgian 250cc IIX GP. In doing so, he opened up hlalead In the series standings to 41 over Tallon Vohland. (Left) Cruhes hurt Vohland'a effort at the Kester track. He managed to acrape up just five points on the day, as compared to Everts' 4O-polnt production. Bervoets and closed onto his teammate's rear wheel. '1 was trying to take some different lines to avoid getting roosted and 1 got cross-rutted on a jump and went down," said Vohland. "The bike came down on me as I landed and 1hurt my left foot. I don't know if anything's broken "yet, but it wasn't too painful when the medics pressed on it later. I think I just cracked the small bone on the top of the foot." His departure was the signal for Bervoets to charge and at 25 minutes he swept past Everts for the lead. Everts was not worried. He watched Bervoets' lines for two laps, found a section where he could gain 20 yards and the inside line at the turn and romped away for another win. Tragter was a distant third and Nicoll a very lonely fourth after finally getting past the obstructive Jorgensen. The Dane was not a popular man.