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MOTOCROSS '
.W C
orld hampionshipSOOcc MotocroSs Series
Round 5: Slovakian GP
(Left)
Husaberg's Joel
Smets rallied to
his first GP
victory of the
year, eve'; after
Injuring his
thumb In
practice, to
move .to within
one point of
series leader
Shayne King
(Below) German
Dletmar Lacher
stayed
consistent while
finis hing with a
3-2 moto tally on
his Honda
CR500, securing
fifth place In the
point standings.
By Alex Hodg kin son
rov AZSKA BYSTRICA. SLOVAKIA. JUNE 2
t the same Sverepec track where
he m ast ermind ed th e Bel gian
M X d e s N ati on s v ictor y last
September, d efend in g ch am p io n Joel
Smets turned this year's World SO cc
O
MX Series aro u nd to score his first victory of the season and move to with in a
single point of pacesetter Shayne King.
The 27-year ol d Husab erg s ta r's tw omoto swee p came desp ite the handicap
of a badly sw ollen right thumb from a
morning p ractice-session cras h.
"I need ed th at wi n. My confid en ce
h a s b e en dow n, a n d to fina lly tu rn
things around on a day wh en I was carrying an injury makes it even more satisfying. I was a littl e fortunate th a t
Bernd Eckenbach had such bad luck, but
I beat a ll my rivals at th e head of th e
standings fair-and-square," declared a
p ain-wracked ch ampion aft er th e tw o
4S-minute m otos which were run in
temperatures approaching 100 degrees.
It was thumbs down for the King
brothers, who held a 1-2 in the standings prior to the race. In an uncanny
series of events, elder brother Darryll
was a non-starter after breaking a bone .
in his right thumb six days earlier at a
race in France, whil e Shayne did well to
finish 7th in the second moto after dislocating his left thumb on lap four of 20.
" It popped out as I made a hea vy
landing w hile running third to Smets
and Ec kenbach," g ri m a ce d th e Kiwi
back at his tru ck. " It went straigh t back
in, but I wa s in a lot of pain . It' s happened before so I already have a brace I
can wear ."
On a d ay full of emotion the heart s of
the crow d and teams alike went ou t to
Eckenb ach. He led both motos, but went
h ome with out a p oint afte r freak
mechanical failures in each race.
A
32
In th e openin g
m oto, th e Germa n ' s
Kawasaki seized after
th e wa te r . pum p
fa iled, wh ile in moto
two he led for half an
hour with a damaged
si lence r unt il p ow er
as
p ac k in g
lo ss
b locked ex haus t-gas
em ission and a po tential tw o-m inute noise
pen alty forced him to
pit.
Fo r two agonizing
minutes his mechan ic
Bo Rasm us sen and
fa th er Gu nther tried
u n s ucce ssfully
to
re move th e tail p ipe
wh ich had beco me so
hot that it had welded
itself to th e exh aust.
As th e heartbroken rid er set off on h is
lon g lo nely w alk b a ck to h is t ru ck,
members of rival team s broke into spo ntaneous app lause to express their sym pathy and respect for his unrewarded
efforts.
Americans Trampas Parker and Mike
Healey each had fru strating da ys, but
showed enough to indicate that th eir
time will come before the end of the
summer.
Hea vy watering to combat the dust
made the tra ck treach e rou s fo r the
unwary in th e openin g stages of mo to
one, with pil es of ri ders on the fir st
uphill and in two corn ers at the bott om
of the next descent testifying to this.
The first heap had been caused wh en
Fr an co Ro ssi co ul d n' t tu rn until h e
bounced off a Kaw asa ki he had shot into
the hay bales, but the Italian stayed on
to reinheritthe lead 200 yards later.
Eckenba ch , Kin g an d Smets w ere
soo n past th e Italian how ever, but th e
Germa n' s race was soo n ove r as his bike
seized before the end of the second lap.
Smets was alw ays close but never led
until the final lap: "Even after two painkillers and a~ anaesthetic sp ray I was in
agony with my thumb on the downhilIs,
but I knew I had to push King. It was
treacherous if you went off the one dry
line, so I had to force him to make a mistake."
King had been confident for 43 min utes: "Joel seemed to attack ev ery 10
minutes, bu t I could always pull away
again. I knew he would try again on the
last lap, so I gave it everything on the
first uphill to try to get awa y, but I ended
up jumping too far into a rut filled with
water. It must have got in my plug cap
because th e m ot or s ta rte d to sp u tter.
Tha t let Joel ge t on me and he mad e a
nice pass undern eath me in a tum."
After s ta rting arou n d 30th, Pa rke r
worked his way throu gh calmly until he
was looking at a possible sixth,
" A rock got caught u nder my gear
shift and I couldn't cha nge down," said
Parker. "I wa s stuck in fourth gear for a
couple of laps before I eventually got
back down to third. Then I left it there."
He finished 12th.
Healey w as 10th until he took a rock
in the ribs after 10 minutes.
With th e tr ack in perfect conditio n
for the second moto, there were no firstlap dramas.
Smets h ol e shot, but the injured
champion had no an swer when Eckenbach swept aro u nd him on lap six and
led until four laps from the end when
th e p ower lo ss b ecame to o g rea t.
Attempts to change the. pipe were all in
vain.
Parker pulled ou t early and Healey
took a painful knock on the left shin.
The cham p gra tefu lly accepted th e
win as King, initia lly th ird, salvaged a
p ainful seve n th . It w as just enoug h to
maint ain his lead in the stan d ings - by a
single point.
Th e next ro und in th e Du tch sa n d
sho ul d bel on g to Smets, but Sverepec
might be reme mbe re d as the race that
turned the series aro und for him.
l~
Slovakian 500 GP
Sverepec, Slovakia
Results: June 2, 1996 (Round 5 of 12)
MOTO 1: 1. Joel Smets (Hbg ); 2. Shayne King
(KTM ); 3. Die tmar Lacher (Hon ); 4. Peter Johansson
.
(Hus); 5. Franco Ross i (KTM ): 6. Gert Jan Van Doom
(Hon) ; 7. Mikkel Caprani (Hus ); 8. Danny Theybers
(Hon); 9. Johan Boonen ( H .,.~ 10. Siggi Bauer (Kaw ~ 11.
Attilio Pignotti (Hon); 12. Tram pas Parker (Hon ); 13.
Rupert Wali