Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.MOTOCROSS MX Series Round 1: Italian GP World Championship SOOcc OURt By Alex Hodgkinson ASTI, ITALY, MAR 31 hayne King responded in style to hi s a p p o in tm en t as KTM te a m lead e r in the 500cc SWorld MX Champion ship by s im p ly running away with bo th motos of the series open~ er in fro nt of a five-figu re cro w d in Northern Italv, Th e 25- y~ ar -o ld N e w Ze a la n d e r launched his KTM 368 into an early lead in bo th mot os an d not even defending ch am pion Joel Sm ets, eventuall y th e runn e r-u p on th e d ay, co u ld d o anything to pull h im back. And King wasn 't the onl y KTM rider to score points as six m o r e r o d e th e Aus t r ian m arqu e t o championship points at hilly, loose-surfaced Valma ne ra track on the ou tskir ts S K -... l-; 0... -c 14 Delepine went through, and it took me several lap s to settle dow n aga in." Back p ains from the incident were to sl ow Johansson in the la ter stages of race tw o. . Di etma r La ch er had also becom e involved as the falling Caprani collected h im, but the German Honda ride r recovered admira bl y fro m 13th to complete the podium. Champion Smets finis he d a frustra ted ninth. "My sta rt w as not so good," Smets sai d . "I was abo u t 10th, and 1 knew it w as going to be difficult to pass becau se every one is going the same speed on the sam e line . Alread y on the first lap 1 tried to use othe r lines, ran in to so me tires a n d stalled . 1 d id it two more time s befo re the race was over." Lacher con firme d the view and then revealed th e tactic which h ad h elp ed him to advance so well. "You had to sit on the rear wheel of (Above) New Zealand's Shayne King pulled off a clean sweep of both motos to capture the Italian SOOcc Grand Prix in Astl, Italy. (Right) The World Championsh ip field blast s off the starting gate. Only six riders were four-strokemounted des pite the su cces s of the thumpers In recent years. The prodigal son returns ™ of Asti - a fair battlefield for the opposing forces of th e overgrown 250s, th e full -size two-strokes, and the big -bo re four- strokes. The long, u phill start favo red the big bikes, but King was not de terred. "I an ticipated th e start perfectly in the first race," King said . " I was ou t of th e g ate before an yo ne else had ev en dropped the clutch. The y sta rted to pass me halfway u p th e hill a n d (Geral d) Delepine cho pped me from the outsid e, so I w a s abo ut 10 th leaving the firs t tum. 1 was able to sneak th rough on the insi de where th ey we ren 't exp ec ti n g me." King w as six secon ds clear by th e tim e Del epine was p u sh ed down to third by Peter Johansson , and that was h ow it sta yed . Johansson w as a lit t le sore. "I had the lead leaving the first tum, but (Mikkel) Caprani smashed in to me," th e Swede sai d . " I s tayed o n, bu~ fou nder Erich Tru nkenp olz had a pa rticularly so ft spot for America n riders, and the riders from the othe r side of the Atlan tic who graced his team in the late '80s and.ea rly '90s each rep aid the faith he placed in them . The temporary demise of the Austri an ma rqu e foll ow ing Trunken polz's d ea th led th em to seek new pastures, bu t for 1996 27-yea r-old Mike Healey. who came close r than any other to bringing the brand its first 250cc title since Heinz Kinigad ner wh en he finished ru nn er-up in 1991, returns to the fold like the prodigal so n as number-one rider with the newly-formed 500cc GP team se t up by Jacky Marte ns' former mechan ic Graha m Kent, the Brit who wrenched for Healey five years ago. Mike, what have you been doing these last three years? I've just bee n do ing small races in California and a little farther afield occas iona lly, plus a few inte rna tionals in Euro pe whe n the money was right. It was a nice relaxed tim e. I could make resu lts without taki ng it too seriously and I could cam enough to pay the bills. How come you are ba ck in Europe for the GPs? Graham called me last summer to ask if I was interes ted . ) told h im tha t so long as I could wo rk with h im in a ha pp y team, then I would get serious again. We got eve rything so rted out for the team with KTM in the au tum n, and I'v e been working on m y physical co n d ition ever since. I ne ver lost basic condition becau se I've been racing a dozen 2D-minu te motos eac h da y Saturday and Sunday at the races. As soo n as Graham ca lled me I sta r te d d oing races w h ich th ey ca ll "G Ps" in Am e rica . Th e tracks ar e abou t five minutes long and are typ ical outdoo r-style tracks, fast and rough wi th no SX; and the motos a re 45 minu tes each . ) would do thr ee or four a da y. I haven' t pushed the buildup too ha rd. I have to be fully fit in April, not in the wi nter. When r wa s racing GPs before I used to take a br eak in the win ter and start traini ng again in January, so I am well on course. Why did you q uit the GPs a t th e end of 1992? ) was tired of all the shit Sylva in Geboers sta rted. That tea m was run so poorl y that it took all of the fun ou t of racing. Life's too short to race w hen you' re not ha ving fun . That yea r with Sylvain wa s the worst of my life. With him it was all abo ut money an d personal bullshit. I hate him. He gave me shit mat erial and treated me like an idiot. The team was set up to revolve around Stefan (Everts) and Stefan alone. That's not Stefa n's fault. I took the number-tw o plate in the GPs to the team and I was trea ted like a number-two rider in the team . The deal I signed eve n said tha t I was the number-one ride r in the team . I go t the impression in the en d tha t Sylvain signed me beca use ) was the only one cap able of bea ting Stefan in his mind, so it was cheaper and easier for him to pa y me and give me the material which wasn't good enough to win than it was to make Stefan goo d en ough to bea t me. All my ma teri al - even my race mo tor s - was stu ff w hich Stefan d id n't wa nt . They never gave me anything goo d . Beiore I signed I told Sylvain that I would only ride for him if I could have Graham work ing for me, and he told me that he would sign him. As soon as I put pen to pap er. he signed [armo, who wa s a tire -cha nger for Pekk a Vehkonen, to be my mech ani c. I'm sorry , he' s not a mechanic, he 's a tire -cha nger. Every time we wen t to the races I ha d to go over the bike, checking all of the nuts an d bolts beca use I d id n't know if he had prepared the bike prope rly. Wh en Stefan go t hu rt midway throug h the yea r, I was going to the races on m y own. Sylv ain wasn't eve n ther e. If it ever go t like that agai n I would go straigh t home. Even if you are earning mo ney, it isn't worth it. No amoun t of mon ey is that mu ch more import ant than havin g fun in life, Working with Grah am gives me the incentive to race for the win again, I would n' t be coming back otherwise. My best years have also been wit h KTM. They have alwa ys been real goo d to me both in Am erica and in Europe. I've been '1 riding a 360 at hom e since N O\'LT1ber, and we got the suspen . sion sort ed out in the w inter. How will you divide your time betwen America and Europe? My teammate Fredrik Hedman came over to California to prep are with me there in January and we go t back to Europe at the beginning of March . I hav e an a ppa rlment together with Fredrik. We ge t on real line. H is nickna me is " Head casc. " I didn't think I would ever meet anyone ove r in Europe who was cra zier than me, but now I ha ve . He won a jumping con test on a four -stroke Husky last summer apparently, and he took off a ski jump on the first lap of the Czech GP when he was down in 39th position. He mad e it to 35th at the bottom of the hill before his hea d hi t the gro und and they took him off to hosp ital in the helicopter . • My w ife Am y gave birt h to a d a u ghte r, Mika Jan e, two months ago, but they wi ll stay hom e in Califo rn ia for most of the s ummer. It wou ld be too har d for them over her e, and it wouldn' t be any good for my concentration either . I'll go back when we ha ve a long br eak between the GPs, bu t I'm not going to spend half m y summer flyin g backwa rd s and forwa rds over the Atla ntic. How do you like life as a family man? If s cool! A change, anyway! Stin ky napp ie , and Mika just starts ed screa ming... loud ! How long will you give yourself to win the title in Europe? I hope I can win the title thi s year , bu t I'll keep coming back so long as it takes provided someone will keep pa ying me to come back agai n. I don 't h ave to make mill ions of bu cks, just so long as it doesn' t ha ve to come out of m y pocket. Parker blew his chances of the title at Namur. Have you ever been to the Citadel? No, but I've heard it' s fun . I've seen it on TV, an d it looks cool , The trees, the pavem ent an d all that d oesn ' t wor ry me. That's what these GPs in Am erica are like. Down a t Ca rlsba d you ride dow n the drag stri p and through the trees and bu shes. Everybody's di fferent. Trampas is Trampas, and Mike Healey is Mike Healey. I can handle that sort of stu ff. Since this intemieur appeared in the European press a few weeks ago, Sy lt'ain Ceboers approached our correspondent A lex Hodgkillsotl" to ref ute Healey 's commen ts in very genera! terms. He declined the opportllnity to reply on the record, however. Heak y said ill Italy that he had been approached by a number of I'eople in Belgium , including Stefan Etll:rts ' father Harry, since the intertri !l appeared. " Everyol1e t Q who spoke to me congratulated me on saying u'hnt 1 did:' Healey said . " I kept quiet fo r three yea rs el'W thol/gh Geboers was badmouthing me, but the book is nm,' closed and 1 don 't uxmt to talk alJout it again."

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