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MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 125cc IIOTOCROSS SERIES • (Above) Bob Moore finished fifth In the first mota but lost his choice on the gate due to a fouled 'Spark plug, resulting in a bad start in the second mota. (Left) Approximately 15,000 fans turned out for the French 125cc GP. (Below) Frederic Vialle scored his first win with a 4-1 performance. By Alex Hodgkinson PERNES-LES-FONTAINES, FRANCE, APR. 13 rederic Vialle finally took his first overall GP win of his career, at Pernes-les-Fontaines, and Italian Chicco Chiodi mirrored Vialle's 41 moto score to leave with a 17-point lead in the standings. American Bob Moore's hopes of consolidating his solid start to the series in Indonesia last month were wrecked by a fouled plug in race two after a first-moto fifth, while fellow Californian Bader Manneh was also among the scorers with an 11-18 card. Chiodi stamped his authority on the first moto quickly despite failing to holeshot. "1 was third leaving the first corner but was soon able to pass Manneh and then Vialle for the lead on lap two," Chiodi said. "1 was past him (Vialle) before he fell. 1 saw Federici coming and never let him get too close but he made sure that 1 maintained my pace to the finish." The Husky team leader had come from a first lap sixth to complete the Italian 1-2, but 19-year-old Nicolas Charlier flew the Tricolor for the 15,ODO crowd in third after advancing from an initial ninth. The big name French riders spoiled their own chances. Vialle crashed down to 10th on lap two after holeshotting and Michael Maschio, initially fourth, slid off halfway round the first lap. David Vuillemin suffered his usual poor start and had to come from 25th on lap one for a superb seventh, and Luigi Seguy was fuming with Vialle but was too busy getting treatment to his right thigh to tell him personally after being T-boned by the local rider 15 minutes from the end. They were not the only ones in trouble. On hi return t~ the trackafter injurying his pack, Great Britain's Paul Malin shot out of the gate. "1 was even with Vialle going into the turn but the rear wheel kicked on a rut under braking and 1 shot straight on," Malin said. "Half a dozen riders cut inside me and dosed I:l:Ie down into the fence at the next turn. My lack of race practice in the last month showed after that. 1 just wasn't aggressive enough and kept leaving myself open to passes. In the end I got arm pump and went. down. I wasn't going to score points, so I stopped to let the race settle down and then went out and followed a few riders to see their lines and convince myself 1 at least still have the speed." , Moore was not happy with fifth. "1 crashed on the third lap and that. dropped me off the leaderboard pack," Moore said. "I was catching them up again pretty fast and could have made the podium, but then 1 started to have problems with the rebound on the forks and made some mistakes. In the end I just had to settle Jor what I could salvage." Alessandro puzarwas never going to excel on a hard-pack track effectively without berms and so it proved as he trailed in a distant ninth, while Manneh gradually fell victim to one after another of the French and Italian youngsters to finish 11th. The second race soon developed into a procession as the fast guys got separated as one after another made good their escape from their own personal chaser after passing the holeshotting Jerome Hemery; the French teenager eventually went back to 19th. And with the Italians all starting poorly it was a French 1-2-3 for Vialle, Maschio and Seguy. Chiodi caine from ninth 'to inherit fourth when teammate Pretto got a flat tire, and the most excitement, once again, surrounded Vuillernin on his way from 18th and Federici from three places further back. A late mistake by the Frenchman gave the Italian fifth. Malin showed his lack of race practice. "1 wasn't confident in the dust after a poor start," Malin said. "Once the pack spread out and 1 could see better, 1 was able to charge. Another couple oj laps and I'd have caught Dobby." James Dobb, an AMA regular in recent years, was making his return to the GPs after missing Indonesia because of a broken finger, but was never prominent after poor starts. He had moved to 17th by the end of moto two, but had gone out early in the opener with a broken chain. The race was a disaster for Moore. "The plug fouled on the line," Moore said. "That's gotta be the 15th time this year! We've tried all sorts of different plugs but it keeps happening again. By the time 1 had changed the plug the only gate left was on the inside and that went straight into the track markers. Then 1 collided with someone in the first turn and had to stop to have the rear brake pedal straightened." He later pulled out but would not have scored anyway; the mechanic who brought him a replacement plug touched the bike and jury president Tony Skillington confirmed that this would have been considered "outside assistance," Manneh had also started badly this time and completed the first lap in 26th. By the checkered flag he had advanced eight places. Charlier, third in the opener, missed the 15th-place point by a wheel from 34th on lap one. Despite the troubles experienced so far by chief rivals Malin and Moore, Chiodi was not going to be drawn. into overconfidence.