Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS The Beaucaire Classic GPWarmup (Left) Frenchman Yves Demaria scored the overa ll w in at the GP warmup Beauca ire Class ic motocross in France . The Team Yamaha rider won two out of three motos. (Above) American hopeful Tall on Voh land looked strong in France , go ing 3-3-2 on the day for th ir d ov erall. By Al ex Ho d gkinson BEAUCAIRE, FRANCE, FEB. 18 II in all, it was a typical Beauca ire Classic . It was a ni ce if n ot o u ts ta nd ing race, nearly eve ryo ne w ho m a ti ers in European MX w as there, an d the lar ge crowd could even di scard their jacket s in the aft ernoon as the Mistral reced ed . Wha t more could one as k? Th e natives wi shed a lo cal wi n ner, an d they got just that, as Fr enchman Yves Dem aria carded a n ear-p erfec t sco re b y w inning tw o of th e th re e motos. ' The Yamaha tea m leader, Demaria, Su zuki' s Werner Dewit and Kaw asak i rid er Tallon Vohl and w ere the outs tanding rider s all day, while Joel Sm ets put u p sti ff res istan ce on th e thunderin g Husaberg . Indecisive trac k prep aration affected th e racin g, as Stefan Everts, Kurt Nicoll and Bob Moore declined to take risks on a tra ck w hich was terri bl y dusty in parts, w hile Marnicq Bervoets and Pit Beirer bo th claimed still to be at an early stage in rid ing preparation. "I told them yes te r day t hat t h ey mu s t w ater, " d eclared .Everts, as he brushed off the d ust after finishing 21st in the o pe ne r fo llowing an excursi on into th e fence ex itin g turn one. "I w a s in the pack becau se I lock ed bars wi th Tortelli out of the ga te, but I touched w ith no o ne at the top of the hill . I sim ply could n' t see w here I w as. I'm sorry. Th is is an importan t ra ce, but it is no t that important. You jus t cannot see the line in the dust, and I am paid b y Honda to w in th e world championship. I can' t do that if I am in hos pital. If I get a good start in the other races, I wi ll try." H e kept his word with a sixth and a fourth, but the top three were long go ne . Nicoll too was in no mood to race the lead ing p ace. "I am racing as fas t as I feel able t'? in th e condi tio ns. I'm doing all of the jum ps , but I can' t pretend th at I am 'e n jo y in g it ," h e sai d. "When I in spect ed the co u rse yesterday I sa w th at it ' s w et a bo u t a n inch belo w the su rface, bu t they w ould only wa ter the start straight. I said I w as afraid that we w ould pa ck it .do wn rath er th an cutting tho ugh, and you just can't see the rockhard bumps which have formed on the take-offs and landings." A fifth and a seventh on either side of a first lap ta ng le with Tor telli saved face. " In th e fir st r ac e o nly D emaria a n d Tortelli came p ast m e, and eac h tim e I immed iately d ropped back 50 ya rds just so I cou ld see," said Nicoll. Noth ing sho uld take away fro m th e perfo rm ance of th e wi nn er s, however. Dew it only had to depo se Smets, his big Husaberg far fro m the ideal took for the track, to w in the open er af ter Demaria had slip ped tempora ril y to seventh on lap one. Smets was to retire midrace when his front-wh eel spokes s napped in ra p id successio n, a n d Demaria came ba ck fro m seventh to deny Vohland. The America n was n o t to o co ncern ed. "I d id n't have tim e to d o much testing yet si nce I got ba ck from the Sta tes, and tha t first race we w ere st ill u sing en gin e se tti ngs from th e d yno," sa id Vohland. "The power was comi ng in w ay too fast for my liking." Ad justments for race two allow ed Vohland to push wi nner Dema ria to the flag, th e Kawasaki even ge tting alo ng side th e Yam ah a at times, an d he th en settled for a comfortable third to end the afternoo n's work. It h ad been Dew it ' s tu rn to fa ll in race two, but Werner re co vered fro m eig h th to fo u rt h i n the 20 minut es remaining, hi s victims b ein g Ever ts, Chio d i, Pu zar and Karlsson . De termi ne d to show his first moto wa s no flu ke, "Sandman" clawed back Dema r ia 's le ad to n othing by th e ha lfway point of the final e. Plasti c marker ta pe around the rear brake testified to a n ov er ex u be ra nt passing atte m pt, but Dewit refused to gi ve in a n d b y th e checkered flag was rig h t on Demaria aga in. O nly back on a bik e since the first of the mo nt h after completing his studies, Na tions ho tsho t Beirer suffered lethargic st arts all day; Bervoets was rid ing cons is ten tly a p a ce d o wn o n te ammate Dewit u ntil a flat rear tire cos t him seventh in race three; To rtelli tangled w ith som eo ne every race; Claudio Federici's fir st race outside Italy on a 250 en d ed with a twi sted ankle; and Sandro Puza r seem ed to spend mos t of the day d ro pping laps to try to find someone to follow who was at the sa me speed as himself. A deserved but unimpressive fifth in race two, th e 125cc worl d cha m p ended the d ay protestin g vehemently to his pit cr ew a bo u t a n unpred ictab le motor .' Bob Moo re en ded the day pulli ng ou t of m ot os tw o and three ea rly. "I fle w over on Thursday, and this 250 is complet ely sto ck, stra igh t ou t of the cra te, so it is ha rd ly su rp risi ng t~at I am ge tting left out of the ga te," said Moore. "I don' t fee l co mforta b le w it h th e s uspens io n ove r these bu mps in the dust, and it was w ise r t o s to p . I s ta r t r id in g the 125 tomorrow and it is my job to win on tha t this year." Arizona's Ted Campbell enjoyed his Europ ea n d ebut, but his best pla cing was a 26th in race three after th e ruts caught him out a cou ple of laps from th e end of the opener and Ca m pbell d em olished a whole section of track fenci ng . Beaucaire proved very litt le, as usu al. Demari a, just ba ck fr om th e Sta tes a nd racing 50 miles fro m ho m e, and D ewit, fo rced t o trai n a ll wi n te r to recover streng th after a rnld season opera tion, sim ply wa n ted it m ore tha n the rest. (':\ Beaucaire Class ic Circuit San Roman , Beaucaire Results: February 18, 1996 O /A : 1. Yves Dem ar ia (Ya m); 2. We rner De w it (Suz); 3. Tallon Vohla nd (Ka w): 4. Joel Smets (Hbg): 5. Stefa n Everts (He n): 6. Pit Betrer (He n): 7. Sebastien Tortelli (Kaw ): 8. Ma rnicq Bervoets (5uz); 9. Andrea Barto lini (Yam ); 10. Ku rt Nicoll (KT M); 11. [ock e Karlsso n (He n): 12. Chicco Chi odi (Yam); 13. Sandra Puzar (Hen): 14. Claud io Federici (Yam); 15. Frederic Belley (Ka w) . ' MOTO 1: 1. Wern er De-wit ; 2. Yves Dem a ria ; 3. Ta llon Vohland; 4. Sebastien Torte lli; 5. Kur t Nico ll; 6. Marni cq Bervoets; 7. Pit Beirer: 8. joakim Karl sson ; 9. C la u di o Fed erici; 10. Andrea Bartolini ; 11. Frederic Bolley: 12. Mickael Maschio (Hen ): 13. Bob Moo re (Yam); 14. Takamasa Taka gi (Hen): 15. Iaimy Scevenels (Ho n). MOTO 2: 1. Yves Dem aria ; 2. Ta llon Vohlan d; 3. Joe l Smets ; 4. Wern er Dewit; 5. Sandre Puzar; 6. Stefan Eve rts; 7. Chicco Chiod i; 8. Andrea Bartolini; 9. Mamicq Bervoets: 10. Pit Beite r: 11. Se ba s tie n Tor te lli ; 12. Ste pha ne Ronceda (Hun) ; 13. Peter Iven (Kaw): 14. Dirk C eu kens (Hb g): 15. [aimy Scevenels. MOTO 3: 1. Yves Dem ar ia ; 2. We rner De w it; 3. Tallon Vohland; 4. Stefan Everts; 5. Iocke Kar lss on ; 6. Joel Sme ts; 7. Ku rt N ico ll ; 8. Pit Bei re r: 9. Andrea Bar tolini ; 10. Chiccc Chiod i; 11. Mamicq Bervoet s: 12. Sebastien Torte lli; 13. At filin Pig notti (Hon): 14. Rob Herrin g (Ho n): 15. Frederic Vialle (Yam ).

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