Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS Beaucaire Spring Classic .. By A lex Hod gkins o n B EAUCAIRE, FRANCE, FEB. 22 o e l Sm e t s a nd h is Hu sabe rg brought a six-year d om inat ion by the 2505 to an end when he becam e the first 500cc GP rider to win the Bea ucaire Spring Oassic since Kurt N icoll in 1991. It was no fluke, either, as the World Champion won the first moto and finished third in the othe r two. And th e competitiven ess of th e m od ern fo urs tro ke was em p ha sized even m or e as only a brok en silencer, courtesy of Stefan Everts af ter he had jumped on the b a ck of th e bi g Ya ma ha, pre v ent ed An drea Bartolini from joining Smets on the podium . Smets was d elighted with his success and add ressed the crowd from the podium as he basked in the glory. "I thi nk we sho wed tod ay tha t th e top in the 500 GPs ar e just as good as the top in th e 250s," Sm ets sa id . "I' rn not go ing to claim we are better, but for me all of the classes are equa l." Th e Sa in t Roma n trac k w a s a t its most d emand ing as afternoon su nshine dri ed ou t a su rface that had bee n satura ted by torrential ove rnight rain . The rocky underground qui ckly became the ba se for a si ng le su ita ble d ry line in a very p ro cessional firs t mo to, w hile the track beca me terri bly bumpy and tortuous durin g the ot her two races. Crash victims were num ero us, as rid ers were tem p ted to throw cau tion to the wind even at this early stage of the se ason w ith nothin g other th an honor and a few francs at stake. Everts wa s lu cky ' to escap e in jury w h en h e la nded o n Bartolin i; Tallo n Vo h la n d ha d made an a p po intment with an Itali a n s pecia lis t for Mond ay morning ev en before he left th e track after damagin g his shou lder mu scles in a crash w hich push ed him back fro m thi rd to 12th in race one; and openingmo to winner Yves Demaria didn't complete even one mo re lap after going ove r the bars in his attempt to prove that a newly built u phill step-up was jumpable afte r all. In practice, Chicco Chi od i had suffered a heavy d ownhill fa ll on th e fas tes t p art of th e track - ap proachi ng the triple - but he brushed himself off to make th e to p 15 in every mo to eve n though his 125cc Hu sk y was desperately underpowered in the.condition s. T he fas test rider o n show d u rin g practice an d every race was und oubtedly Pit Beirer, racing the '97 fac tory Honda which he had first ridden tw o days earli er, but the ene rg etic German ate Fren ch d irt in eac h of the firs t two -J (Above ) The Beauca ire Spring Class ic gets under way on the Saint Roman track In France . (Right) Joel Smets took his big-bore Husaberg to the overall win, bringing to an end a six-year 250cc dom ination of the event. (Below right) Honda's Pit Beirer was second overall after finishing on the podium twice. motos before finall y taking a win in the finale. His first ride was probably the mos t impressive, however. Ga ting badly, he w a s 13th on la p on e , b u t h ad eve n passed Everts for fou rth by the eig hth lap , only to tumble. "I go t back on fairly quickl y, but the clut ch le v er was bent arou n d so I cou ld n't chall enge Stefan ag ai n in th e last couple of lap s," Beirer said. "It was very difficu lt to pass in that race because the mud was so deep once you we nt off the sing le dry line." Falls for Voh land and Pe ter Joha nsson gave Beirer two of his places, but the rest was all ea rned the hard way and no one else was making wo rthwhile pa sses of any kind as Dem aria go t the holes hot and led all the w ay ahead of Bartolini, while Sme ts go t th ird when Voh land wiped ou t on a tabl etop and Everts, with teammat e Mark Eas twood in tow , rod e sens ib ly in the lead ers' wake. The early laps of race tw o wer e the highlight of the meeting, as Bar tolini too k th e ho lesho t a hea d of Ever ts, Demaria , Sme ts , Beirer a nd Mic ka el Ma schi o , By h alf-dis ta nce, the las tnamed Fren chman was running seco nd on his basically standard Yama ha eve n th ou gh he hadn't passed anyone who was still in contact with his bike! Dem aria was first to go , flying over the bars befor e the end of the lap. Three la p s lat e r, Smets ca me a ro u nd on h is own as Beirer had go ne ove r the ba rs on the tabl etop alm os t as soo n as he had d em oted Sme ts, a nd Everis la nded on the rear whee l of Bartolini's Yama ha as he tr ied to sn atch th e lead . A shake n Ev erts continued fu rther down the leaderboard, bu t the Italian had pu lled disconsolately in to th e pits with h is silencer hanging off. "I don 't understand them ," ad mi tted

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