Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·MOTOCROSS . W Championship 250cc M orld otocrossSeries Rou 1: Spanish GP nd Belgian Stefan Everts (1) got off to a good start towards defending his number-one plate. The 250cc MX World Champion won both motos In the series-opener In Spain. By Alex Hod gkin son L VERA DE LAREINA, SPAIN, MAR. 24 tefan Ever ts let his riding do the talking as the Belgian opened the defense of his World 250cc MX titl e with a deva stating double w in at Talavera . Now riding for the HRC RW] Hond a team, Eve r ts d ro ve home th e point tha t he is, once again, a serious th reat to take ano ther cham p ionship after easily winni ng both motos. Perhaps his main concern going into the series- ope ne r wa s fellow countryman Marnicq Bervoets, wh o won both moto s here last year, but th e Bieffe Suzuki rider had a disastrous first moto before recove ring groun d with a second in race two . First-mote podium duo of Rinald i Yamah a's Andrea Bartolini and Pamo Honda's Pit Beier each had first lap crashes in race two that ended any cha nces they had of beating Evert s for overa ll hon ors. Instead, Americ an Tallon Vohland did the next-best-thing by recording consistent 4-3 moto scores to record second overall. Third overall on th e d ay went to Frenchman Frederic Belley, Vohland 's JHK Kawa saki teammate, while Bervoets and Batolini completed the top five overall; Bierer ended up sixth. I Another rider capable of winning the champions hip, Yves Demaria of the Rinaldi Yamaha squad, had a day he had just soon forge t. He collected only three point s on the day after su ffering shock problems in both motos. After a minute of silence in memory of the late Donny Schmi t, who had scored his final GP win at this track in 1994, nerves were ta u t after the long wai t for the new season, particularly as S rain (on the Spanish p~ in) made conditions slippery. Su rp ris ingly on ly Fin land's Miska Aaltonen, of the Toptronics Hond a team , fell in the first turn at the start of moto one. Leading the way as the pack exited the first tum was ital ian Bartolini, wh o was chased by Vohland and Everts. The race for the win was soon over as th e defen di ng ch ampion - Everts swept arou nd both men ahead on consecu tive laps, then quickly pu t a small d istance between him and th e chasers, and did no more than he needed to. The only d oubt about his w in coul d have been a technicality; with five laps to run, th e countershaft sprocket guard cam e adrift, but the major team s have lon g si nce agreed not to p rot est eac h other for such minor infractions such as thi s. Rules s ta te that this p a rticu lar guard must be on th e mo torcycle throughout the moto. "Stefan was just riding that bit faster than the rest of us," admitted Vohland after the race. "I felt I was on the same s peed as Andrea, bu t it w as m ore important to get a solid start here than take risks. "Ste fa n passed u s bot h the sa m e place," Vohland ad ded. "He was doing it in practice so I knew he was coming. There was a lon g straight with three jumps and a big berm arou nd the tum at th e en d . H e railed th e berm, and we act ually touched on the exit. He wobbled but stayed on ." Demaria came tearing out of the pa ck like a man on a mission to move into an advancing third be hind Bartolini. The Frenchman had already th rown away his goggles passing Karlsson earl y on , but it was a broken shock and complete lack of movement in the rear suspension which was to foil him. He also cause d chaos as the bat tling Vohland and Beirer closed him down. "That was real hairy," said Vohland. "Yves was riding all over the track to keep us back, an d P it and I pa ssed a n d repassed several times before we found a way through. We we re actually getting in each other's way ." Wh en th ey ev en tu a lly m ade it Beir er was in fron t and that was how it staye d. "My race went comple tely to pla n," sai d Beier after finishi ng th ird. "In th ese ea rly races I wan t to be in the lead ing group leavin g turn o ne, a n d I was sixth. Th en I pushed a litt le until I found the placing I feIt comfortable in without risks, and I believe m y ph ysi cal strength will ena ble me to either ad vance further in the final laps or to withstand any p ressure. Tallon was pushing hard again at the en d, but I jus t mad e it." said Swede Jocke Karlsso n, w ho e nd e d up fifth. "Dem aria and Beirer go t me early on, but I knew I coul d stay on th e back of th e group an d push later," he said. "Unfortunately I got dirt in my goggles after 25 m inutes an d had vi sion onl y from one eye . By the time I had got it out, they were gone." Dem aria, down to 13th at the finish, w as no t the only d isappointed m an. Bervo ets w as 25th on the first lap. "Nicoll came across me ou t of the gate," Bervoets said. The Suzuki rider needed 25 m inut es to cat ch up to Ja imy Sceven els in 15th, and an attemp t to make an ou ts id e pass for the benn at tum two ended disastrously as the Belgians tou ched and Bervoets fell down. Berv oets finally got into the scorers five minutes later when Scevenels boot stra p go t hooked up in the same benn and he limp ed off with a twis ted knee . Werner Dewit, too , had been way down in the pack at the start after gettin g wh eelsp in out of the gate on concrete hidd en below the dirt, but fought h a r d fo r sev e n t h, the fi n al forward move being gifted to him as Rob Herring, w ho had ridden a solid race without risks until then, slipped off two laps from the end. Kurt Nicoll ran w it h Pu zar on the edge of the top 10 all ra ce u ntiI a la te mistake p ushed him down to 14th. "I'm just riding SO bad," said Nicoll, who was riding the new, no-link rear suspended KTM. "My arms pumped up because I got so ten se, and the final mistake was when I lost the fron t end trying to go under Pu zar. I m issed Demar ia at the checkered flag by a matter of inches." Bartolini again holesh ot in the second race but ca st it away o n a big ju m p halfway ar ound th e lap and spent th e rest of th e mot o chasing back to 12th, w hile teamm at e Chiodi, a lack lu ster first-mote 18th, had already gone down in a collision 20 yards out of the gate. He was 11th this time. Bartolini' s fall, and an unconnected mishap on the same jump for Kar lsson. "I slid si de ways on th e ap proach and landed in the fence," said Karlsson . This dropped the Swede from fourth to 10th, left Suzukis 1-2-3 wi th Tragter heading Dewit a nd Ber voe ts, but Everts was lurking in their wake. Th e cha m pion wa s content to bide his time . The first to make a mistake was Tragter. Then Everts passed archrival Bervoets and Dew it fell under pressure. Bervoets trie d ha rd to m at ch Evert s' pace, but one got the imp ression that the cham pio n wa s toyi ng with him and in the fi nal m in u tes o f the race Everts moved effortlessly clear. Vohland was conten t to sit qu ietl y behind them, am ass a furth er 15 points and go home second in th e standi ngs, while su rprise packe t Bolley was next, albeit a long way behind. Demaria was the star of the show in the pack. Sixteenth on lap one after a shocking start, he was fifth with 20 minutes to go, ha v in g un ceremoniou sly bumped He rring out of the way. "He just ran stra igh t into me and smas he d my leg against the bike," said Herring. His sights o n Boll e y' s fo u rt h, Demaria expe rienced deja vu . The shock blew again and by the finish he was out of the points in 16th. Beir er had gone down on the first lap . He said, "I was about 10th and riding full bore in the uphill right-hander w hen somebod y sla m m ed into the swing arm, and I en ded up doing a endo . That wasn't part of my plan." The German's strength showed in the closing stages as he was able to adva nce to TOth, ha ving been 13th with 10 minut es to go. Teammate Sceven els cra she d on the first lap, lost the fron t br ake ea rly on and fina lly ad mitte d d efeat w ith a flat tire on the half hour . Nicoll had another bad ride, with a last-lap centerpunch from Chiodi making it even worse. As far as the other Americans, in the firs t race Bader Manneh was 34th and Dag Boyesen, after losing a lap w ith a crash and having to stop to straigh ten the bike, 33rd. In race two th ey were 26th and 25th, respectively. I-:\' Spanish 250 GP Talavera de la Reina, Spa in Results: March 24, 1996 (Round 1 of 14) M O T Q 1: l. Stefan Everts (Hon); 2. And rea Bartolini (Yam); 3. Pit Beirer (Ho n); 4. Tallon VohIand (Kaw): 5. locke Karlsson (H on); 6. Frederic Belley (Kaw) ; 7. Werner Dewit (Suz~ 8. Rob Herring (Hon~ 9. AIes sandro Puzar (Hon); 10. Remy Van Rees (Kaw~ II . Ped ro Tragte r (Suz); 12. Marn tcq Bervoets (Suz); 13. Yves Demaria (Yam); 14. Kurt Nico ll (KTM); 15. Joakim Eliassen (Yam); 16. Peter Iven (Kaw); 17. Thierry Bethys (Han); 18. Chi cco Chiodi (Yam); 19. joshua Cop pins (Suz); 20. Miska Aal tcncn (Hon). MOTO 2: I. Stefan Evert s (Han); 2. Mamtcq Bervoets (Suz): 3. Tallon vohland (Kaw): 4. Fred eric BolIey (Ka w): 5. Alessandro puzar (Han); 6. Werner Dewit (Suz); 7. Pedro Tragter (Suz) ; 8. Ioc ke Karlsson (Han); 9. Pete r Iven (Kaw); 10. Pit Betr er (Han); 11. Chicco Chi odi (Yam) ; 12. Andrea Bart olini (Yam); 13. Th ie rry Bethys (Ha n); 14. Remy Van Rees (Kaw); IS. Kurt Nicoll (KTM): 16. Yves Demaria (Yam ); 17. Joshua Co p pins (Suz); 18. Leon Giesbers (KTM); 19. Dani e l Obeli sco (Ha n); 20. Joakim Eliassen (Yam). O/A : 1. Ste fa n Eve r t!'! (Ha n ); 2. Tall o n Voh land (Kaw): 3. Frederic Bolley (Kaw): 4. Marnicq Bervoe ts (Suz ); 5. Andr ea Bartolini (Yam ); 6. Pit Beie r (Hon); 7. Ale ssandro Puz ar (Ha n); 8. locke Ka rlsson (Han ); 9. Werner Dewit (Suz); 10. Pedro Tra gter (Suz). WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2SOc:r MX SERIES PO INT STA ND ING S (Att n- 1 of 14 ro u nd s): 1. Stefan Everts (40); 2. Tallon Vohla nd (28); 3. Frederic Bolley (23): 4. (TIE) M amirq Bervoets/ Andrea Bartolini /Pi. Beier (21); 7. Alessandro Pu za r (20); 8. (TIE) Icck e Kar ls son l Werner Dewit (19). Upcoming Rounds: Round 2 - Valkenswaard, Holland, M arch 31 Round 3 - Teutschenlhal, Germany, April 14

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