Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~;. .MOTOCROSS . . World C pionship125cc Motocross S ham eries Round 4: Dutch GP (Left) Sebastien Tortelll adapted to the powerroDblng sand conditions to score the win at the Dutch Grand Prix In Lichtenvoorde, Holland. Tortelll went 1-4 to secure the victory. (Below) Dirty pool?: World Championship 250cc regu lar Pedro Tragter contested the Dutch 125cc GP and came away with a controversial secondplace finish after being accused of cheating dur ing a fuel stop. finish . The Dutchman Van Drunen quickly made his move to lead for just over 15 minutes, but with Tortelli reeling him in fast, VaI1 Drunen dug th e front wheel into a berm and w as pitched over th e bars. He go t back to eighth, and that was where he w as to finish . From th at m om ent on there cou ld be litt le d oubt th at Tortelli would win, the m ain Dutch ch alle n ge h aving d isintegrated on the first lap. Eric Eggens had seen h is bike expi re on th e lin e with a defective plug, Europe an champ Marco Stall mann damaged th e rear brake line in a collision, and Tragter w as dumped in th e first tu m along w ith Mich ele Fan- • tH Tragter's illegal quick fill D utchman Pedro Tragter may have earned himself a reputation as a cheat and a liar, and FIM officialsmay have proved themselves unworthy of their office when the 250cc GP regular, contesting his home 125cc GP as a wild card, blatantly broke FIM rules and was not penalized. The offense which Tragter committed was to refuel his bike away from the work area in the closing stages of the second moto at Lichtenvoorde on his way to third place. The FlM penalty for refueling anywhere except in the work area with a dead engine is exclusion. The incident happened on the penultimate lap of the m oto , which had effectively gone to an extra lap after Tragter, leading at the time, crossed the finish line six seconds before the completion of the allotted 40 minutes to be raced prior to the start of the last two laps. When he appeared next time around his pit crew at the work area were seen gesticulating Wildly, and Tragter, previously leading by nearly 10 seconds, reappeared from the wooded section of the track to start the last lap a similar margin behind the leading Erik Eggens. His engine spluttering. Tragter then pulled into the work area before rejoining the race to finish third. Initial inquiries after the race about what had happened on the penultimate lap brought the reply from Tragter: "I fell. Yes, I fell. " Was the motor running erratically, and that caused him to fall? After a moment's thought: "Yes. Yes probably." , "He never fell," declared Brit Tony Marsha ll, who had just been lapped by the Dutchman. "He just pu\led to the side of the track in the woods to refuel." Mar shall 's sponsor Tim Brinton wanted to protest, but officials would not accept his protest letter and fee as he does not hold an FIM entrant's license. Marshall, with little to gain himself, declined to protest and thus get involved more deeply. When approached on the subject, Eggens, who had clearly passed the scene, was keeping a diplomatic silence. When asked the direct question. "Did Tragter fall?" he answered: " I don't know. He wasn't on my line. I don't know what happened. It was bumpy there. I was concentrating on my lines." According to a Dutch journalist, later in the evening Hans Tragter, father of Pedro, admitted that his son had refueled in the woods. Apparently the stop in the work area was necessary to release an air vacuum which had formed during the illegal stop and which was causing fuel starvation. Confronted with his offense at the press conference, Tragter apparently lied. Some time later, the provisional results were confirmed. "There was no protest," FIM Motocross Commission Vice-President Albert Hofhuis said. "And there was no discussion." Czech Jury President Arnost Zemen simply grinned as usual. "I know nothing." he said. It is clear that officialsdid know of the allegation that Tragter broke the rules and could have investigat ed the matter without a protest from another rider. They chose not to. As Tragter refused to admit the offense he could not be asked to explain why he chose to refuel in the woods rather than the work area. Both Paul Malin and Brian Jorgensen lost less time when refueled correctly in the work area, and the only assumption can be that Tragter feared losing time with onlookers in the crowded mechanics' zone or difficulty restarting a hot motor. The episode is made even sadde r when one cons ide rs that he is not even a regular con- tender in the 125cc World Championship Series, and that if he had calmly refueled in the correct manner in the pit lane he would probably not have surrendered second place to Via\le and thus won the GP overa\l. By Ah~x Hodgkinson LICHTENVOORDE, HOLLAND, MAY12 h e m agn if icent a chie v em en t of Sebastien Torte lli in bea ting the sa nd experts at thei r own game to extend his lea d in the world 125c,c MX standings w ith his third successive GP win was overshadowed at Lichtenvoo rde in eastern Ho lland by the blatant rul e-breaking b y wild ca rd Pedro Tragter and the subsequent cover-up by embarrassed officials. Officially it never happened , but the 250cc GP regular wa s seen taking on fuel illegally in the woods during the seco nd moto (see sidebar story ). While To rtelli ' s fellow Frenchmen Frederic Vialle and Mickael Maschio lost their cool - an d a chunk of points - Brit Paul M alin bro ke up the gallic d om inance of th e stand ings to end the d ay th ird in the series with two tactically masterful rides. Bikes we re w heeled to the start gate as riders conserved every last drop of fuel stored away in their blown-out or oversize fuel tanks, bu t it was full gas all th e wa y to the first turn - with tw o Sar holz H ondas in front Andi Kans tinger took the holeshot but offered little resistance to teammate Marcel Va n Drunen, Tortelli, Bobby Mo ore an d Malin in the laps to follow . "I' m no san d ex pert, a n d it was inevitable that four or five wou ld come pas t," Kanstinger said. "So 1 let them go as they w ent for the pass and picked up their lines each tim e." The trick worked, an d the d iminutive German was a still m arvelous fifth at the t to n and th e youngest of th e Bemandez b rothers, M oises . Tragter had already regaine d a d ozen places before the field _ left th e main arena, bu t when th e pack emerged from the woods he was right at the ba ck again "The fuel p ipe m u st have got di slodged in the collision, and the bike simply spluttered to a halt hal fw ay ro un d the lap," Tragter said. While Tragter made a spirited recovery, Moore and Malin were advancing steadi ly up the leaderbo ar d from an initial fifth and sixth, respectively. Just after half distance, Moore dislodged Kanstinger, and was quickly followed by Malin. At 35 m in utes, Ma lin m ade his move on the 1994 125cc World Champion from Am erica, who coul d offer little resistance as he st ruggled to ho ld on with his injured hand . "I tried to ride smooth an d steady," Moore said. " Bu t 1 could h ardly h ang anymore in the last quarter." At the same time Tragter sliced inside Kanstinger for fouth, not realizing th at two lap s later he would be second . The D u tc hman w as on a final charge, the American w as hap py to be doing so well in vie w of his hand - an d Malin sho t into the w ork area. "We've got a 10.5-liter (2.77-ga llon ) tank, but the sa nd is very deep here and o u r co nsu m p tio n tests this m orning sho wed that it would be touch and go," Malin said . . The st o p, w hich took 8.5 seco n ds from entering the w ork area to leaving it, saw m echanic Steve Di xon put fuel in th e tank. Post-race checks revea led that the stop w as unnecessary as there wa s

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