Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS 50th Annual Motocross des Nations more laps I think 1 would have had the chance to pass him, but I don't know. Lamson is very fast and he wants to win today very much, just like I do." When asked about beating Emig, TonelU did not exaggerate the feat: "I know he does not ride the 500 very much and I am sure he would be more fast on the 250. I passed him on the downhill when 1 can go much faster - all of the 125 riders pass the SOOs on the downhill." "I knew Tortelli was coming but 1 held just enough in reserve just in case 1 needed it," Lamson said of his strategy. "I know he was going fast toward the end but I was ready for him. I was ready to go as fast as 1 had to beat him. To be honest, my main goal today was to beat him. Last year it was his day; this year Jerez, Spain side of the corner. Lamson got away about 15th and was up to 10th by the end of the first lap, already the top 125 in the field. After a lap of jockeying for position, McGrath took the lead and started to pull away from everyone. Bervoets replaced Bartolini for second and went after him, but lap by lap "Showtime" took the lead position further and further away from the Belgian. But after nine laps, with a lead of about 10 seconds, McGrath made a mistake. "I was riding pretty tight early but then I started to loosen up," McGrath said. "That was probably what caused me to fall. I was in a rut leaning too much to the left and I just fell over. It was a dumb crash - one of the dumbest ever!" McGrath spent about 10 seconds (Right) Belgian Marnlcq Bervoets was the top-placing European. He went 2-2. (Below) Emlg rode his big-bore Kaw8S8kl to 3-5 placlngs. it's mine." Emig coasted the big Kawasaki across the finish line third, 12 seconds behind Lamson but top SOOcc by more than 30 seconds. Finishing fourth in the entire field was yet another 12Scc rider as first-turn victim Everts never quit coming. The two-time running 2S0cc World Champion came from 36th to fifth in the first 30 minutes of the race, then passed French SOOcc rider Fred BoIley at the two-lap signal to end his comeback. "After 1 was taken down at the start, all 1 could do was try to come back for my team," said Everts, now a three-time World Champion. "The track is pretty good for a 125 to pass on and I took advantage of this. I feel like I was as fast as Lamson and Tortelli and maybe if I can start with them in the next race I will be able to beat them, too. I want to prove that I can win on the 125 as well as the 250." BoUey was fifth in the entire field, giving the French a total of seven points to America's four. Germany's Lacher was sixth with Shayne King seventh. The next closest team was Holland, which showed 19 total points on the basis of eighth-place Leon Giesbers (500) and 11th-place Pedro Tragter (125). England's Paul Malin, the 12Scc star of the . '94 MX des Nations, was 15th while teammate Rob Herring crashed heavily on an uphill step jump after missing a gear on his CRSOO Honda. Australia was also out of the running after SOOcc entry Kim Ashkenazi ran off the track and crashed into a spectator. (See Briefly...) When asked how he felt about losing to a pair of 125 , Emig was not the least bit disturbed. "Look a t the track and look at how fast those guys are," Emig responded to the question. "They both have this personal goal of beating each other here and both are really fast and really confident right now. 1 did my job in the 500 class and I'm really glad that Steve did the same in the 125s. I wanted to beat Tortelli, too, but it's kind of hard on a 500. But I'm really happy for Steve." Watching the entire mota from the starting gate was McGrath. "I was really happy for Jeff and Steve to do so well - I was stoked! - but then I thought, 'Oh shit! All of the weight's on my shoulders now!'" McGrath said. "I was pretty nervous waiting for my first mota." At the start of the second mota, a combined 12S/2S0cc event, the French, Belgians and British all put their 125cc riders on the outside - this time Everts lined his 125 up next to Jeremy McGrath! While McGrath got a great jump and blasted into the first turn right alongside inside Italian Andrea Bartolini (25Occ) and Bervoets, Tortelli and Malin slammed into the hay bales on the out- righting himself, which was just enough time for Bervoets to move into first place. Now in the lead, Bervoets tried to make a quick sprint away from the fallen American, but McGrath recovered in no time. From five seconds back it took McGrath a lap and a half to cut it down to nothing, then McGrath made a spectacular pass on the Belgian over the huge downhiJJ jump. "I pull~ up beside him as we hit the big double-down jump and it was really cool because I looked over at him as he looked over at me and we just kind of hung in the 'air like that together," McGrath described his repass on Bervoets. "1 had him to the bottom of the hill and then that was it. Bervoets doesn't really have a really wild, aggressive, fast riding style," added McGrath of his rival. "He's really smooth. He smoked everyone else, but I think he could have used a few more practice laps on the jumps. But he smoked everyone else!" From that point on, McGrath motored away, scoring a hard-earned win with eight seconds to spare. Bervoets was second, nine seconds ahead of the third-place rider, who turned out to be 12Scc leader Lamson. Armed with the knowledge that his rival Tortelli was down, Lamson went through the pack with vigor, passing 250cc GP contender Pit Beirer (Germany), Bartolini (Italy) and Yves Demaria (France) on his way 'to thirdplace. His goal? To accomplish a onetwo finish for Team USA. "I wanted to get up to second so bad!" a jubilant Lamson said afterward. "That was something that I was thinking about way in the back of my mind corfung into the race, and even more afte'r that first mota. It was just a perfect day. I can't tell you how happy I am." There was one moment of slight disappointment late in the race for Lamson: On the last lap, victory in hand, Lamson was· set to do one of his heel-clickers on the big downhill but a pair of lapped riders grounded the American. "Oh well... I guess it will have to wait until next year," said the Motocross des Nations champion. Again almost as impressive as Lamson was 125cc counterpart Tortelli, who rose from his crash in the first turn to fifth overall, passing 28 riders and coming to within two seconds of passing Bartolini for fifth. "Lamson was just a Uttle bit too far away and a little too fast," said Tortelli, who came within 10 seconds of the American. "The 250s just crashed together because one guy was a little bit crazy and took everyone down. He hit me and I came down and that was it." When asked how important it was for him personally to beat Lamson at this race, Tortelli said it was very important. "I wanted to beat him like I did last year. I'm faster than I was and I am stronger, but so is he. I was involved in the crash and I could not recover enough to make a race with him. But all year long, yes, I think about Lamson. It motivated me through the rest of the ·World Championships (after TorteJli clinched with three races to go). I think I was a little bit faster than him but he won, so today he is better. Maybe we will meet again next year." Beirer was sixth on a 2S0cc while Everts struggled to seventh after giving so much energy to accomplish fourth in the first mota. New Zealander Darryl King, world champ Shayne's brother,

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