Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

. MOTOCROSS·' '.' ::.. ..Wortd QlamplOIIshlp$OOCC . . . . . Series Round 10: Belgian GP and was 20 points down in the championship. Smets had left the Esplanade fifth and needed just five laps to take the lead from Boonen. The Husqvama rider, assured of the overall if he finished second, was never going to fight, and they circulated ahead of the pack to the finish. "It's not over yet," insisted Parker later in the evening. "There's still two GPs. It could have been very different today. I feel I had the holeshot in that second race until 1 touched with Marsh." But with the next round on a fast, hilly track in the power-sapping Dutch sand Parker and the 360 KTM face an awesome task against the mighty combination of Smets and the 600cc of the (N Husaberg. BelglanGP Namur, Belgium Results: August 6, 1995 MOTO 1: 1. }ohan Boonen (Hus); 2. Ronny Weustenraed (KTM)i 3. Joel Smets (Hbg); 4. Jacky Martens (Hus); 5. DtU'ryll King (Kaw); 6. Peter Dirkx (Lett) Trampas Parker (99) saw his 500cc title hopes take a severe blow because of this first-tum pileup. Gerald Deleplne (20) and Johan Boonen (15) _re a few of the lucky ones that got away unscathed. (Below) Boonen went on to score the overall win after posting 1-2 moto finishes at the famous Citadel track In Belgium. By Alex Hodgkinson NAMUR, BELGIUM, AUG. 6 e Belgian 500cc MX GP is always run on the first Sunday of August, it heralds the final month of the series, and nowhere is. the pressure higher. In the last two years, Joel Smets couldn't deal with the strain and waved goodbye to his title hopes around the unique Citadel track high above the ancient city of Namur. This year the Husaberg star got up off the ground at the first turn of race one to grab a 35-point haul, while it was his championship rival Trampas Parker who wilted in the cauldron of the "home of motocross" to score just 11 points via 13-8 moto finishes. . With just two GPs remaining, Smets had turned a four-point deficit into a 20point advantage and the cards are now stacked heavily in his favor. The Citadel circuit was in perfect condition in view of the current heat wave. The track had been saturated with water to prevent dust, and the revised track layout on the Esplanade suited riders and spectators alike. Even the realigned start was perfect, with the center of the gate the shortest line to the apex of tum one. All of the top riders got out of the gate well and it was a classic scene as the pack banked into the turn. Well, nearly all of the pack. "(Dirk) Geukens is an idiot," fumed Jacky Martens after the race. "First he knocks half the pack down in the first tum, then he was weaving all over the track as we tried to pass him." "I saw Geukens coming and got out of the way," added Gerald Delepine, who was then sixth for two laps before becoming one of the first flat-tire vic- ~ tims. Perry Leask was the first man to be. hit by Geukens. "I didn't know who it was, but I got knocked into (Gert Jan) van Doom and they just went down like a deck of cards outside him," said Leask. Included in the "deck" were championship rivals Joel Smets and Trampas Parker. The American got away again in 38th position with the Belgian about 10 places ahead. "There was an awful lot of people out there who were making it difficult for me to pass," said Parker back in the pits after he faced a long-hard ride up to 13th. He spent the last lap in the wheeltracks of Chris Jacobs and the Husaberg number two was definitely not going to give him any room. Smets made better headway. In a door-die effort he was eighth after just three laps, but the physical effort w;tS already evident as he sat there for a quarter of an hour. '1 took a lot of risks in those first few laps, but I had to if I am going to be world champion" Smets said. "When I got behind Jacky (Martens) I saw that he was going a good pace and I made a conscious decision to stay behind him. He did aU the work finding a way past the riders ahead of us and I was able to follow him through. It also helped me to keep a pace which I could maintain to the finish." Martens was held up for a long time by Geukens, but once past he soon closed down the quick-starting James Marsh and Avo Leok. Entering the last lap Martens was chasing Peter Dirkx for third and Smets looked to have no chance to improve on his fifth. "Dirkx lost the front wheel and fell down," explained Martens. "I was far enough back to miss him, but my only choice of line was to go off the track on the outside. I was still ahead of Smets, but if I had ridden straight back onto the track we would have collided. That wouldn't bring me anything and I couldn't do that to someone chasing the title." Only Darryll King, fifth, prevented Belgian riders taking the top six at the finish. The first two home finally broke their 1995 curses. Johan Boonen led all the way and steadily increased his lead to nearly 20 seconds before easing his pace in the closing laps. '1 watched the first support race start so I knew there was going to be a pileup," said Boonen. "The first tum is so slick that someone was always going to misjudge their braking. I didn't gate too well anyway and I hung back, watched Geukens ride across in front of me and wipe them all out, and just cut inside it all. It was about time my luck changed. I wasn't really looking at the gap back to second, but I was pleased witp my speed because I was lapping at the same speed as Martens and Smets."· Boonen chose a good time to show his best form - Husqvama officials were on hand to consider plans for 1996. Second was Ronny Weustenraed, finally rediscovering the form which earned him the number-six plate last year. The story of the second race was soon told. Parker bumped with Marsh in the first turn and was 16th after a lap. By the end of the moto he could only advance to eighth, the last placing courtesy of KTM teammate Rupert Walkner, (Hon); 7. Dirk Geultens (Hbg); 8. Avo Look (Hon); 9. James Marsh (Hon); 10. Peter Johansson (Hus); 11. Jonas Engdahl (I;on); 12. Chr;, jacobs (Hbg); 13. Trampas Parker (KTM); 14. Shayne King (KTM); 15. Thierry Klutz Oion) MOTO 2: 1. 12el Smets (Hbg); 2. johan Boonen (Hus); 3. Siggi Bauer (Kaw); 4. DarryU King (Kaw); 5. jaclcy Martens (Hus); 6. Gerald Delepine (Hon); 7. Peter Johansson (Hus); 8. Trampas Parker (KTM); 9. Rupert Walkner (KTM); 10. John van den Berlc (Hon); 11. Danny Smith (Kaw); 12. Thierry Klutz (Hon); 13. James Mar.ih (Hon); 14. Erwin Machtfinger (Hon); 15. Mervyn Anstie (Hon). O/A; 1. johan Boonen (Kaw); 2. joel Smets (Hbg); 3. DarryU King (Kaw); 4. jacky Martens (Hus); 5. Ronny Weustenraed (KTM); 6. Siggi Bauer (Kaw); 7. Peter Johansson (Hus); 8. Trampas Parker (JaM); 9. Gerald Delepine

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