Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.MOTO'CROSS . World 'Championship 25ace M~ocross Series Final Round~ Swiss Grand Prix (Left) Stefan Everts finished second overall in the Swiss round of the 250cc World Motocross Championship and it was enough to give him the title. Or was it? He has to wait for an Appeal Board to decide. (Below) Frederic Bolley rode his Kawasaki to victory in Switzerland, turning in a 3-1 moto tally. By Alex Hodgkinson ROGGENBURG, SWITZERLAND, SEPT. 1 elgian Stefan Everts was crowned 250cc World Motocross Champion for the second successive year by FlM Motocross President Wolfgang Srb at Roggenburg in the SWiss Jura mountains, but the Honda rider will have to wait another two weeks before his title can be confirmed at the FlM Appeal Tribunal. Everts equaled the top score of firsttime GP winner Frederic Bolley on the day, while Marnicq Bervoets, the man who could still be champion 'on appeal, completed the podium each time with breathtaking rides through the field to finish second in both motos. Lone American Tallon Vohland battled bravely to the bitter end, but one final injury meant that no matter which way the appeal goes he wiu carry the number-three plate next year. It may be the World Individual Championship, but everyone deeply involved in the sport knew the game. When the grid positions were known on Saturday, five-time World Champion Georges Jobe said: "Now they go and find out who their friends are." RWJ Honda team boss Colin Reed was brutally frank before racing began, worried somewhat about his lead rider Everts. "I couldn't watch the start:' he said. "The one man I was worried about was (Werner) Dewit. He was going to be off gate nine and Stefan (Everts) was three outside him. Dewit is a good team man and if he went straight on in turn one Stefan could have been in trouble." The Britain-based Honda team was not without a contingency plan, however. Suzuki-mounted Bervoets had already gone to the gate third, and Dewit came out of the pre-pare ninth to line up against young Honda-mounted Brit Justin Morris. It was a mistake. Possibly Dewit thought he had more to fear from RW} teamster Rob Herring on the other side, but the "Fish" reared out of the gate and was never involved. Morris, meanwhile, already was in a B 8 clinch with Dewit: "We banged bars all the way to the first turn," he said. By the time they got there Everts was already on his way in pursuit of Pit Beirer, Federic Bolley and Kohji Ohkawara. Still Morris had not finished his job. "That boy had better watch out,"· fumed an angry Suzuki boss Sylvain Geboers during the interval between the two motos. "It was not nice what he did to Mamicq on the first lap, but Werner came along and put him out of the way." Geboers was referring to contact at the back of the track. Beirer's lead lasted just a lap and a half. "I was relieved when (Federic) Bolley drove under me:' he said. "I didn't want to lead. I was missing a s.econd a lap to the front three when we really got going and the track is so slick that you couldn't force too much or you would make a mistake. I let both· Stefan and Marnicq past. I didn't want to interfere and they would both have got me anyway." Neither could Bolley hold back the two Belgian title candidates, but they never got closer than five seconds to each other. Winner Everts had snatched the lead at the 15-minute mark. "I wasn't too worried about what position I came out of the second turn:' Everts said. "It was more important just to stay out of trouble, so fourth was really good. It only took me a couple of laps to get up to second and to close in on Bolley, but then I lost my rhythm while I was stuck behind him. I didn't know where Bervoets was until I was boarded after I took the lead, and then there was one section where I could look across the track and see him about six seconds behind. He edged a little closer at one stage, but then with two laps to go I put in an extra effort and pulled out two seconds on him in one lap and it was over." Bervoets had ridden a strong race to second. "I reacted okay, but I didn't get good drive out of my gate and that put me down about eight:' he said. "I had the speed, but Everts had that early advantage." Escaping with a sixth-place start after nearly going down in the first turn when Mark Eastwood's handlebars got caught up in his seat, Vohland's title challenge lasted for a brave 20 minutes, at which stage he was still leading Bervoets. "I haven't been able to ride since the Belgian GP two weeks ago:' the Californian said. "I hurt my right foot when I crashed there two laps from the end. I've been having injections all weekend and I was moving forward strongly until it wore off. After that I couldn't put my foot down at all in the'right handers and that was too much of a handicap. I've had a good run, and I haven't given up on second yet." The internal Yamaha battle for fourth in the series saw Yves Demaria extend his advantage to 10 points despite an ineffectual ride to sixth, as fastest qualifier Andrea Bartolini struck trouble. "I got bad drive out of the gate and then got pulled down in the first tum with Eastwood:' the Italian said. After another fall at the back of the track, Bar· tolini was an inspired ninth at the finish. Everts needed to finish seventh or better if Bervoets won race two, but that possibility seemed remote as the Suzuki rider crashed to the ground at turn three. The incident had happened as Vohland cut across the front of Remy Van Rees and the Dutchman fell, his bike slithering across the track in front of Bervoets and Herring. A host of others piled into the back of them, while Beirer ended up in the fence. "I sa"! what happened and went for the outside, but so did Demaria and he forced me too far out:' Beirer said later. Exiting the turn there were yet more problems as Bartolini tangled with Cedric Melotte, and shortly thereafter Vohland planted himself into the tabletop jump but escaped with nothing worse than bruises and a light concussion. Third leaving turn two, Everts had followed Bolley past the quick-starting Ivan Lazzarini on the first lap and the champion was not going to get involved in a moto struggle which £ould cost him the title. "1 was able to ride my own race and I was surprisingly not nervous," Everts said. "They say that you hear noises from the engine when the title is so close, but I had every confidence in my bike. Only in the last few laps did I have butterflies in my stomach and a tingling feeling in my throat." Bervoets, meanwhile, was on a mission. Barely in the top 20 after a lap, he broke into the top 10 after 10 minutes and a lap later was on the rear wheel of teammate Dewit. The stocky number two in the Suzuki team knew his role well and played "minesweeper" for a while.

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