Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ing the Carlsbad-like track into a Blackwater-like affair. The long start stretch about 150 yard s in le ngth - wa s so muddy that tractors had to try to push the dirt off to make it passable. The rest of the track was slick as ice, with water filling up the few thin berms that existed on the outside of the comers. Tea m USA d rew nu mbe r 17 of 20 spots, w hich meant that the Yanks wo u ld have the 17th and 37th ga tes on the track, counting from the outside in actually, not a ba d pick, cons idering that the start stretch was a football -field -and a- hall-lo ng, ro lli ng off into a sloping right-han der wi th three moun ds down to a hairpin, off-cambered left. After an excellent jum p, Emig ap pea red to have the holesh ot on his 250 from the outside - but in the first turn, th e KTM 360 of Great Br itain 's Kurt N icoll splas hed pa st on the o utside as Emig tried to stay uprigh t on the muddy inside. By the time they reached the second tu rn , ev ery o ne behi nd Em ig and Nico ll was cove red with mu d and losing tear-offs. Lamso n was right in the thick of the pack with a top 125cc start of 10th place, followed a way back by Italian up- andcomer Claud io Federici on a su per-fast Husq varn a, the Suz uk is of Bervoets and Do bb, a nd su rp risi ngly fast Ge rma n Jochen Jasinski on a Yama ha . For eig ht laps , Lamson foug ht with the 250s and 500s while trying to hold off the combative Federici, but then a small mist a ke tu rned into a h u ge p roble m 'for the Ho nda pilot . "It was go ing pretty good and 1 was first 125 for a long time; but then I just went do w n," said Lams on. "I be nt mv bars an d my fro n t b ra ke was so far do wn that 1coul dn't usc it. I fell rig ht in the mud, too, so everything was greasy and grimy - my hand kept slippi ng off the bar. It was hard to go fast after that and I just couldn' t keep it stra ight." After finishing 15th, Lamson had further tro ubles w hen he and mechanics Mike Gosselaar and Mike Hoo ker could no t get the bike co mpletely ready be tween mote s, as the schedule o nly permitted abo ut one half-hour to get the bike prepared before the bike had to go to the parc ferme. On ce there, the team had time to do so me more w ork to the bik e with pa rt s th ey ca r ried up, but when Hooker started the bike to rejet it , the o fficials came running . "We ha d to ch a nge th e bars and replace a bunch of stu ff before we even went up there, so we we re almost late anyway, but then they wouldn' t let us start it," said Lamso n. "Th e guy flipped ou t on us , but we didn't re all y know what w e co u ld a n d couldn 't d o . It wasn 't too big of a problem , but it was just another thin g that added up." Back up fro n t, Em ig was doing his best to hold off the big, boo m ing fou rstrok ers of Srne ts, New Zealan d's Darry l King an d Italy's And rea Bartolini, while Nicoll used his su rpassing mu d-rid ing skills to sneak away from the battle. At one po int, Emig stalled, but the line of riders behind him was already committed to the same groove and could not get around . "I stalled, a ll right, but I was in a oneline comer whe re everybody funneled down behind me," explained Emig. "I stalled righ t in the mid dl e and no one coul d ge t by me because there was no place to go except off into the m ud . I was pretty lucky there." Emig ended up hold ing off the open bike s beh ind him a nd very ne a rl y caught the jubilant Nicoll at the end . He finished two seconds back, while Smets bare ly held off King and Bartolin i. Nex t (Right) German Pit Belrer was the top fi nish er of the event as he rode his se miworks Honda to a 1-1 finish in the 250cc class. Gennany Ilnlshed s ixth overall. (Below) Belrer (11), Jelt Emig (3) and French ma n Freder ic Bolley (6) get the jump on the lield in the third, linal and dec iding moto. came the KX250 of Frenchma n Fred eric Bolley a n d Swed ish YZM 400F r id er Peter Jo ha n sson. Th e eig h th overa ll rider was Federici on the 125. " I "Was e xtremel y happy with m y first -moto fini sh , e ve n thou gh I w as un happy with the way tha t I felt that I rode," said Emig. "The speed just wasn' t there for me all w eek end l w as jus t sp inn ing m y wheel s th e w ho le time. I'm happy with the effort I put ou t, but I'm a litt le bit surprised about my finishes in bot h motos becau se I'm used to putting ou t less effort and s till wi nnin g." Going in to the second mo to, the _ British actually led with 12 total points, fo llowed by Belgiu m and Italy, w ho each held 13, and New Zeala nd wi th 20. The USA was sixth wi th 23, tho ug h many felt that Lamson's uncharacteristically low score wo uld be the Americans' throw-away. It wasn't - the worst was yet to come . The Hon da of Beirer hit the first tu m running in the second moto of the day, w hic h was the combined 125 /250cc mota. Newly-crowned 125cc Wo rld Champion Alessio Chiodi was bu mped up to a 250 for the event and started out a strong second , followed by Frenchman Frederic Vialle (anot her 125cc.u pg rade) and Team USA's Dowd . Back in 15th node the still-bent 125 of Lamson. "I go t a decent sta rt in the 125/25Occ motobut a rock mu st have hit my roll> o ffs becau se the ca p new off a nd th e fil m poured out," sai d Lamson. " I couldn' t see any thing the whole race but I didn't want to pull in to get goggles. I was still riding goo d a nd I got up on Fed erici and Bervoets, but then 1 got a bann er on the edge of the track and lost my back brak e for a coup le laps, so it was just one thing after ano ther." lamso n wou ld finish 15th, only six th-bes t 125. Th e fastes t 125 was the Su zu ki of Dobb, who put in the race of his life for sixt h overall in the field. When asked how it felt to bea t the Americans after spend ing three fa irl y u nsuccessfu l years in A me rica w ith Spli tFire /Pro Circuit Kawasak i, Honda of Troy a nd Ame rican Suzuki, Dobb replied on European televis ion, "It feels real good, because the Americans basically d idn't want me there th is yea r. Today I've proven tha t when they come here I can smoke them all , so they can kiss my ass now." "I was a little bit surprised by Dobb winning, but you can never tell over here," added Lamson. "I think it just goes to show you how m u d dy and rocky and one-line the track was." Up front , Dowd sta rted to relax and made passes on both Vialle and Chiodi for second and appeared to start getting closer to the dominant Beirer, Then d isaster struck. "I was rid ing pretty well in the first moto and I wasn' t nervou s at all, which I usually am at the start of a big race," said Dowd, an MX des Nations rookie. "1 wa s handling it all prett y well and I felt smooth and relaxed . 1 moved up to seco nd behind Beirer and it w as going fin e until so me thing ha ppened to th e motor. I'm not sure wha t broke inside be cau se we didn't even have time to take it a part - w e had to jus t s wap mot ors. I tri ed to keep go ing bu t th e bik e was cu tti ng ou t a nd I ju s t w ent fro m seco nd to n othing . 1 th ought I could maybe keep going bu t it just kept cu tting o ut a nd it was ge tting da ngerous. I was all the way back in last so it was pointless to go on ." Dowd DNF'd and had Team USA's fi rst mech anical breakdown in rece nt memory, and left"America completely ou t of co nte ntio n. Be ire r won going away, with a poor-starting, lat e-charging Everts making the crowd ha p py with a second -p lace finish . Swed ish rider [oakim Karlsson, who nearly crashed in the first tum, made the most passes of anyone all day when he came from 19th at the end of the first lap to fourth, right beh ind Everts and Ch iodi. Vialle was fifth, ahead of the ecs tatic Dobb on the 125 and his 250 teammate Mark Eastwood. At this point. Great Br itain h ad a chance for an upset wi n as they sat in a three-way tie with Italy and Belgium at 25 point s each. But going into the final moto, Belgium sent Wo rld Champions , ...... .... Q) ..c o ..... u o 11

• Cover