Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS Rlf WORLD CHAllPIONSHIP 250cc IIX SERIES By Geoff Meyer CINGOLl, ITALY, APR 20 s they entered the last tum of the Italian 250cc MX GP, 125cc World Champion Sebastien :::-l =--.J Tortel1i, who had just passed for the lead, held a smaU advantage over defending 250cc champ Stefan Everts. The race came down to the last few feet and Everts somehow managed to make the pass to score the moto win. "I thought to myself, 'I'm not letting that guy (Tortelli) beat me, he is too young,'" Everts said. "I gave it my very last breath." Everts might have won that last moto in dramatic fashion, but it was still Tortelli who walked away with the day's overall victory with a 1-2, with Everts coming up just short in second place, going 3-1. For Everts, though, the thought that Tortelli had taken the overall meant nothing. "This win (in the second moto) is very important for me," Everts said. "I am not riding at my potential, but I'm still leading the championship. That is what counts." Still, it was Tortelli's day. The 18year-old schoolboy rode a strong race, winning the first moto after taking huge pressure from fellow Frenchman Yves Demaria and then coming from behind to almost win the second moto. "I feel I did very good," Tortelli said. "I'm not too disa ppointed I finished second in the last moto. I made a mistake and th.at was it." Tortelli will claim he is not going for the championship in his first year on the 250cc circuit, but by his results, it's very much a battle between him and Everts, even more so after American Tallon Vohland crashed out in Italy, breaking his shoulder blade and looking likely to miss at least th~ upcoming round in France. The fourth round of the World Championship 250cc MX Series was played out on the hard-packed Cingoli layout, a traCk that would suffer much from the rain that arrived on Sunday moming. For Vohland it was very much a dry and happy Saturday qualification session. '1 don't mind the track, the jumps are okay and 1 feel like I'm fast enough here to get the job done," Vohland said. On Saturday, Vohland set the quickest time. Second in qualification was Everts, followed by Tortel1i, Frederic Bolley, Mike Brown, Demaria, lven Lazzarini, Jaimy Scevenels, Miska Aaltonen and Marnicq Bervoets, in that order. Werner Dewit, who had been the star of the Dutch Grand Prix only a week earlier, just qualified in 32nd place. Sunday morning was greeted by heavy rain and the once-dry surface was now anything but fun, as riders were entering the turns with the back wheel sliding, and the downhills were just as tricky. The first moto was a little I ike a replay of the past, as Tortelli bolted out of the start and positioned himself in front of the field. Demaria followed close by with Joakim Karlsson, Everts, Brown, Pit Beiter, Mark Eastwood, Vohland and Bervoets all in the first-lap (Above) Sebastian Tortelli came within a few feet of winning both motos at the Italian 250cc GP, but a 1-2 tally was still good enough for the overall win. (Left) Defending champ Stefan Everts passed Tortelli just before the checkered flag to win the second moto. A 3·1 score gave him second overall. charge. Dewit, despite his poor qualification was in 13th, just ahead of Bolley. Tortel1i had already made some space between himself and Demaria, while Everts and Brown were fighting with fogging goggles. "Man, I could hardly see anything," Brown said. '1t got a little better, then I got rid of them." Brown dropped from fifth to eighth and was now being given mud facials. "If a rider passed me, I had to let him go," Brown said. "It was either that-or wear those stones." Everts, on the other hand, was not letting the f1yiItg mud get to him. "Yes, it was not easy, but I needed to get to the front," Everts said. Mud was the least of Vohland's problems. He was locked in a heated battle with tough Swedish rider Joakim Karlsson, while Vohland took it to the limit on lap five

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