Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127933
(Above) Yamaha's Tallon Vohland crashed in t he first rac e w hile ru nn ing t hir d , hurtin g his s houlder in the process and relegat ing him to t zt h. (Above right) Kawasaki 's Yves Demar ia t oo k t he f ir st- m ot a w in , but suffered non-f i nishes in the f inal two motos. w inner Smets. "I'm g la d to w in here, but F rederic Belley, a firs t-lap fa ller in it is only a warmup r ace and t he track ra ce one, sn atched third o n the l ast lap, was really treach er ou s b y race two. Y ou had to be so careful, yet both St efan and power i ng h i s factory Honda past Masc h i o ' s semi-s t a ndard Yamaha on t h e Andrea were rid i n g over th e to p for the co n ditions." l o n g , u p h ill sta rt s t raig h t in a p ure horsepower decider. , It was H onda's tum to take co n trol as race three was led by Beirer all t he way, B o lley tr ailed behind, and Smets w as third f rom the outset. T h at was enough, h o w e v er , to ensure him of th e overall, Be rvoets m an aged to hol d off Bartolini throughout but could do n o t h i n g to p revent t he Hon das a nd t h e ' B e r g from steaming away. Everts had started p o orl y this time, b ut showed grace and speed i n t he fi na l l aps to ease h i s w ay up to sixt h with a late pass o n teammate M ark Eastwood, a m od el of co nsistency all d ay o n t h e bike Everts u sed t o w i n the t itle l ast sum mer. Sa int Roman Beaucaire, France Reslts: February 22, 1998 O /A: 1. Joel Smcts IHbg ) 3~ 1 -3; 2. Pit Beite r (Hen ) S3 . Ste fa n Eve r ts (Hon ) 4-6 ~6; 4. Fred e ric Be tle y rvoct s (Suz) 8-7-4; 6. Mark (Hon) 17-3-2; 5. Mamicq Bc Eastwood (Ho n) 6-5~7; 7. And rea Bartolini 2 ~O~5; 8. Mickael Maschio (Yam ) 9-4-11; 9. YV'S De m ari a (Kaw ) I.. 1-0-0; 10. Claud io Fed e rici (Yam ) 7-9-12. 2 ~ 1; ' defi~ieneY 'as ••• Ya'maha confi'rmed its ,ongoing co mmitment to the YZM400F 'racing project i'n Be~ucaire whe n the factory team arrived with a huge new transporter, previously used fo r drag-car racing but w ith both workshop and living quart ers comp letel y, refitted, plus new bikes for Bartolini and J ohansson which even had 'H RC race boss Pete Tsutsumi envious, " la rn very impressed, " Tsut sumi said, ,"These , bikes are much better than last year ' s. The new elec trical device on the carb ureto r is mo st interes t- ' . tnq . ": Yamaha team manager Hannu Heinonen co nfirmed the follow ing changes to the bike, "We have new engines w ith individual power characte ristics suited to. each rider . The rider has a lever o n ' the handiebars by which he can adjust the ignition 'during the race to co mpensate for any power ioss. W e also have larger radiato rs to prevent the ove rheating difficul ties which so rnetlmes -occ urredlast . year : and the EXUP exhaust-valve syste m has been .lncorporated to help' the riders ove rco me the starti ng diffic ulties they enco untered at times during 19 97 , " ,W eight has been maintained clo se to the ' 'class minimum by the extensive use of cerbo n fiber, including making the fuel tank and rear subfra me , " of the material. ' , ,. last. year. " I feel we are up to the power output of last ' year' s ~pposition, but We will , have towait until the ' first 'G P to see whe ther or not they have also made advan ce s ," The' factory" ' Suzuki; now also feature Showa invert ed fo rks. Bervoet s admitted that his physica l condition is less .wel l-advanced than-at 'the same stage of previou s seaso ns. "It is only 'in, the lastcouple of ' weeks that I have been -able to nun again," Bervoets said, " I have been able to go cycling, but theankle injury from Leipzig prevent ed me running for nearly three month s." . Jan De Groot said that the Kawasakis have only underqone minor changes. but that Yves Demaria and Herny Van Heeshed both been able 'to make good use of thefine weatherreceritlyin France, Holland and Belgium , Team leader Sebastien Tort eili is due to return to Europe next week . THi s pbysical training is well -dvanced afte r his particip ation in U ,S: SX, but we n eed to work toge ther on his bike," Gro ot s,aid, ~ In Am erica: he has b een using special SX cylinders 'and harder suspension. ~ , D e The 'most significant alte'ration to the 250 cc Yam aha is a powe r jet inthe carburetor on Tallon Vohland 's bik es, Mi ckael M aschio is riding with a modified pro duction bike at present , " W e b oth agreed that it was best for him to start like this," team.manageiMichele Rinaldi said, "When Mi ckael feels that he is ready to try the full factory motor , then it be 'available, lhopethis way he can' settle down with out feeling the pressure to win' straight a;"'ay,,: ' , . . . , . . '., wili Hond a was notto be ' ou tdone , as Evert s and Bolley unv eiled ne;'" CR250 models. These feat ure a new frame with a sinqle-spar alumini, um downtube leading to a double crad le, This frame is only available to .Jo el Smet s and' D a n n y Theybers will' use 60 0cc Husaberqs.this year, The 500 cc World Cham'these, two riders and the dimensions are comp uter -designed to the pion 'explains: '''In the en d it was simply a 'matter of p ersonal preferen ce, I believe the 400 arid 501 individual physical stature of each rider I.The engines ,though exte m aily , .models are prob ably a bett er bike f or,the aver age 'rider to gain success , but as long as I can still get similar. have also been updat ed. They al so feature a trick linkage (left) around faste r on the big bike, I prefer to use that. In the end itis important that a Husaberg takes the that we managed to get a phot o of. Race boss Pete Tautsurni 'said that ', number-one plate again than which model it is achieved with ," The '98 factory ·" 600 " is, however, a RWJ duodocke Karlsson and Justin M om s would retain their 1997 very different bike than last year's,' Capa city ';s. actually reduce d from 609 .to '60 0co' but wit h 'an' factory' bikes , but that Pit Beirer had been provided wit h .a '97 frame increa se of powe r deve loped by ini em al lessons learned from riding with the.426 (a 350 crank and , and new motors. Asked whet her the motor s were identical to those of 600 piston) and 440 (a stroked 350) motorslast year, while newinverted WP forkstonly available Everts 'and Boiley; he answered that it wa s ' s i mila r.~ Ea s ~ood ' wiil ' this yea rto selec ted KT M and Husaberg factory .riders) 'are htted and overail weiqht has been , ride Evert s' '97 bikes. , ' ' , , r educed significantly ; amo ng other things, the rear subfrarne 'of Srnets ' bike, is made of titanium: N ew radiato r scoops have aiso bee n produc ed but were not yet fi tted in Beaucaire " Stefan Everts ' manager , D av e -G ran t. sai d t hat Philip M orris, ,.; throu gh its L &M brand, was his team's ' main sponsors in ail Belgia n races, ' but that Radso n Radiators was the main sponsor elsewhere. " Whether we disp lay' the L&M ' The KTM Axo Racing Team was making its first outdoor race appearance in Beaucaire, David ' insiginia -outside Belgium depends on boththe natio nal laws relating to 'cigarette advertising and ,K retz, 23, from Souderton, Pennsylvania. was making his European debut. whi le Keith Bowen' w het her ,o r not Philip M orris in any particular co untry asks us t o do 50," Grant said, lt is now -definite was riding a 250 afte r successfu l tests the previous,day at nearby Beauvoisin with the new factory that Everts wiil co ntest the Beigian ,500cc ,GP at N amur in August. but. there wasnotnformation ,125, " W ithin a very lew laps, Keith was setting times wit hin a second of Federici 'o n the works Yama: reg arding the mod el of bike he will ride , " Ali I know is that it wiil be a Honda," said Grant. ' , , ha, " team boss ThornasKneipsald. "That was six seconds fasterthan on the standard bike. The fac.' . '.' . '. ...'. . . tory bikes featu re a power-jet carburetor rather than the standard Keihin. and co nventionl W P fact ory , The' oiher '250c~ factory bike~ were littl e '~hang'ed , Suz~ki has improved' power output s ignifi, suspen sion , Now that (Kurt) Nicoll has retired, ";'e hope Keith can get the ,upside-downforks intend cant/y, but Marnicq Bervoets was reluctant to ,be ' overconfide nt that they wou ld not suffer the' same 'ed for Kurt ,:, " , , , ',' .»