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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127851
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(Above left )
Trampas Parker
slipped Into th e top
10 i n points with a
, third overall fi nish.
(Abo ve) Dog
Boyesen rode a
CR5~wered
In the end, he lost third to Gerald
Del epine a nd Bartolini, both of whom
w er e profiting fro m a lack of m a jor'
energy expend iture in the first mo to.
The hero of the crowd was Nicoll.
"I tangled with Darryl! King halfway
up the sta rt straight, which put me in
mid pack," Nicoll said . " T h e n 1 got
caught u p with Ru pi Walkn er in the first
tum and went down."
Ni coll's title ho pes w ere effectively
go ne , but the ve tera n , seemi ngly destined never to be cha m p, simp ly refused
to gi ve u p. With every pass cheered on
Wildly by the 12,OOO-st rong ga llery, h e
w as II th by half-d istan ce - b ut then h is
progress slowe d.
"My clu tch lever had been knocked
in in the crash, and for the last 15 minu tes 1 ha d virtually no clu tch left," said
Nico ll, w ho finished n in th, right be h ind
SUZUki RM250 to a
m ldpack fin ish In
t he f irst moto.
(Left) Shoyne King
leads Smete, Oarryll
King, Bernd
Eckenbach.
Trampas Parker and
Kurt Nicoli 20
m inutes Int o t h e
f irst moto.
:Briefl
Pa rke r .
Th e Am er ican h ad m oved forward
from n inth to sixth in the first ha lf o f the
race before cras hing.
"It w as just a silly little crash," Parker
sai d . "I had to change lines to pass lappers and sm acked my left h and on so me
marker tires . I bro ke m y thumbnail, but
th e thin g whi ch slowed m e w as the
b reak in m y rh yth m . I just go t h e a t
shod from it and had to slow my pace."
Neit her of t he o ther A mericans Keith Bowen and Dag Boyesen - were to
.. score.
Bo wen, ri ding the KTM four-stroke
for the first time in a GP, had slammed
into fallen Mik kel Capranim the first
tum of the opening moto, bu t he never
gave up and recovered to 20th, h is last
pass being on Boyesen. Th e Norwegian
licen se holder, Boyesen, kept h is CRSOOengin ed Suzu ki in the firs t 15 for h alf an
hour, even getting as h igh as 12th at one
stage.
"T hat's my firs t 45-minute moto on
the bike," Boyesen sa id. "I t d oesn't matter how much yo u practice it • a race is
different."
Both w ent out early fro m race tw o,
Boyesen takin g a rock to h is left eye and
Bowen experie n cing clutch prob lems. 0"
. have the ~eight dow:n 8 Iittie further wtt h so me
. trturuum bolts and 0 b it more drilling.·" Aher
raci!1Q in France . 'Bo wen and the Sile nt Sp ort
team for" whi ch he races were c o nfirmed by
Joel Smeb wi ll co ntinue to race his 600cc
KTM ,os' their, offjci~ l four-stroke team again
Husaberg throug hout the' remaining GP s.· " 1am
next year. A second rider w ilt be signed fo r the
very pleased wit h the 440. but the- n",t ti';"'l . G Ps.
.
.
.
'r od e the bi ke wa s in Feb ru ary and we have
"
.
simply not had enough time for testing ' differ. . Dag . Boy. . .n was back on the GP trail for
e nt se tups with 'race s every week." Srnets ' the fln;t time since the Czech Rep ublic round
Said. - I know.l can . wi n the title wi th the 600
on the first weekend
Ju ne. having raced in
arid.with such a large Points ~ad. it Is better to Norway since then to clinc h their major Natscn-:
pl ay- safe and ride with what lknow e .renebre
al serie s w ith en RM2S0 eng ine fitted in his
until the title is won ."
·
'.
Suzuki frame with Boyesen's link. The CR500 '
eng ine was of course back in for the G P.
Yam aha se nio r engineer Masa k a zu .Shlo- . Yamaha engineer M as ak azu Sh lohara was
hara , making his second visit of the season 10 . s~n .lying i~ the grass une:ter the bike. sneakth e SOOcc GPs ~ cl ai me d th at he had been "
given confirmation that Honda will 're-enter the
French 500cc GP
Lagueple , France
Res ul ts : Ju ly 20, 1997 (Round 9 011 2)
M OTO 1: 1. D,uryU Kinll; (Hus); 2. Tr"mp.u P.arkr
(KTM); 3. B~rnd Eckenbach (K. w); 4 . Kurt N icoll
(ICTM); S. Sh.y rw
King (KTM); 6, JOt"
l
Smt"~
(Hbg ); 1.
Pt"tpr Johan" ''C n (Y.m); R. [ onte Engd a h l (Ho n) ; 9 .
'J
Danny
11wvben (KTM);
10. Avo Lee k (H on); 11. Rupi
walkner (KTM); 12. Johan Boonea (J