Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127784
.MOTOCROSS . World Championshi S M COcc otocrossSeries Round 3: French GP for m e to a void hitting hi m . We both went do wn, you know." After the w reck Johansson was able to con tinue, albeit with bent bars and his lutch lever d own, b ut Boonen' s bike was a wreck. The in ciden t ha d le ft Darryll: King ' with wha t seemed to be a clear third place, bu t by the tim e he made it there, the lead ing pair had mad e quite a break from the rest of the pack. "I had passed th em both (Iohannson an d Boonen)," Kin g sai d. "In fac t, I pushed m y way past a lot of guys to get there, but the front two wer e long go ne. I wa s coasting." His coasting. would catch up with hi m, or rather Joh ansson wo u ld, as the Husky rider cha rged back up on the New Zealander and was able to make the p ass. Kin g was angry withhis pit cr ew a fte r los in g thi rd place. "They never put anyt hi ng on the board that he w as even clo se!" Kin g sa id . "My rear tire was in shreds by then on these rocks so I cou ldn't cha rge back too hard. " Back in the pack a recovering Trampas Parker moved from an initial 25th to finish 10 th. " I amazed myself," the Ame rican said after working hard through the pack. "I didn' t know how I w ou ld last physically and didn't pus h too hard earl y on. " (Left ) Husky-mounted Johan Boonen (7) leads overall winner Shayne King (9) and reigning SOOcc World Champion Joe l Smets (1). Smets took the hard -fought first-moto win but a crash in the second moto left him fourth and ru nner-up overa ll behind Shanye King. Smets reta ins a narrow po ints lead. (Below) Honda-mounted Darryll King landed 4-2 mota scores in France for th ird overall and currently trails Smets by four championship points. By Alex Hodgkinson PLOMION, FRANCE, MAY 5 ™ te am le a de r Sh ayn e King sh rugged off th e mi sfortunes of round two to m o ve b a ck in to conten tion for th e p o in ts lead in th e world 500cc MX series wi th his second win in three rounds as a crowd of nearly 20,000 loo ked on at the French Grand Prix a t the rocky Plo mion track. The Kiwi is now jus t th ree po ints beh ind big brother Darryll, the winner in Austria tw o w eeks ea rlier a n d th ird overa ll tod ay, but they both sti ll trail defending champion Joel Smets, who finished second overa ll on 1-4 moto scores. The Husaberg rider retai ned his nar row points lead only after an h ou r of d oubt following th e second mot o, th e result of a p rot est of outsi d e assistance filed by ano ther rider's manager. The jury d ismissed the protest, but it was an incident which saw a thrilling day' s racing end on a sour note an d cou ld have bitter repercussions be fore the end of the summer racing season. The track, much of which was a series of tig ht loops up and d own a h illside, loo ked to sui t the 360cc KTMs an d th is seemed to be confirmed as Shayne King rocke ted past the big bikes of [ohan Boonen, Sme ts and Dietrnar Lacher, which had the advantage on the long, slightly uphill approach to the first tum. "T h a t was a th r ill in g fi r s t lap," Shay ne King said d uring th e b re a k betw een races . "I was bouncing off the ot her riders all around the track, but I wa s d et ermined to establish an ea rly . lead . I passed and repassed six or sev en times with Sm ets befo re [ fin ally got away on the long climb. I ho ped [ could br eak hi m if I d id it there." With a five-seco nd advantage before K ." ~ ~ ~ ~ Sme ts cou ld follow past Boon en, Kin g was riding easy for a time, but su ddenly Smets w as on him . "I started m akin g silly littl e mi st ak es," King said of his tussle with the fast Belgian . "I opened it up aga in, but he came again after half an hour. I knew he w oul d try on th e fast back stre tch, bu t I was really surprised when he appeared on the insid e of the tabletop. 1 tho ught I was riding tigh t! 1 had to back off to avoi d a collision and wen t for the insid e at the turn by the start bu t th e front w heel washed out and he was gone." O n the last la p Kin g woul d charge again in a final effort to secure the wi n. "I thou ght I might be able to slam him at that final tum, but I wasn't quite close eno ugh," he said. Sm ets was ha ppy but drained .a fter his first win of the season. "I have been sick for two days and couldn't eat anything u ntil last n igh t," Smets said. " I realized I had a chance when he (King) started mak ing mistakes mid race. Once I was in fron t I could pull away." After fairly ea rly passes executed by the leading ri ders, Boon e n was soon going fu rther backw ard afte r a rough collision with Husky-m ou nted Johansson. "I made mistakes in my preparation for this season," a see mingly frus trated Boonen said. "I can win from the hol esh ot in three weeks but not ye t. I should s till have h ad good point s but Johansson hi t me. He 's going to live to regret that." The Sw ede fro m the oth er Husky team was quickl y warned by Varese PR man Martino Bian chi to cool matters. Johansson 's version of what happened was this: "I wa s faster and he (Boonen) was in m y w ay for some tim e. I saw what I thought was a gap and wen t for it, but he closed it down. It wa s too late