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MOTOCROSS WR H O LDC AMPIONSHIP 500cc MOTOCROSS SERIES .By Alex Hodgkinson LOKET,CZECH REPUBUC,JUNE 21 .J oe l Smets em phasized th at he is still the man to beat in the Wo rld SOOcc MX Series as he extended his lead in the champions hip point sta nd ings with a n emp ha tic dou ble wi n o n th e longest - and, so far, the hott est - day of the Europea n summer at Lok et in the Czech Republic. The Belgian was not on ly the fas tes t, he also remained cool, w hi le hi s rivals ind ulged in midsummer madness, throwing away vital poi nts. Now the defe ndi ng World Champion lead s the title chase by 19 points over Darry ll King, and the title chase is clea rly be tween th ese tw o, as An d rea Bartolini and th e Yama ha suffered another mechanical hiccup. : A Husky finally took the holeshot in a SOOcc GP moto again, but it was neith er King nor Bernd Eckenba ch, the two riders to have wo n on the Italian stallion so far this year. Instead it was [ohan Boonen who jumped o ut fron t, tho ugh his lead was short-lived, as Smets attacked on lap two. 4 Round 7: Czech Republic Grand Prix 'There are so man y small stones here and it is very painful to ride behind any one, so 1 was determined to get to the front quickly," Smets said. "Af ter that, I soon bu ilt up a cushion to second place, and w as content to ride just fast eno ug h to defend it. There was no point in wasting energy in this heat." The potential cha llengers w er e all in trou ble. Bartolini d idn' t even make th e first tum before his jinx struck. 'The mo tor sudde nly lost power," he said. "I kept tu rning the dial we hav e to adjust the ignition and after half a lap the motor started to run cleanly again - but 1 was alrea dy so far behind ." By the finish, Bartolini was nin th. "I could see sixth place for the last few laps, bu t it was terribly difficult to pa ss here and 1could only pass Rob Herri ng." Eckenbach wa s reall y moving in the early laps as he charged from 13th. '1 was soon nin th and ready to ad vance furth er, until 1 lost the use of second gear," he said. H usky teammat e Da rr yll Kin g had mean whi le moved from fourth to second and had cut Sme ts' lea d down to three seconds . _ "Then I sta lled it in a turn ," Kin g explained. "I was too busy looking where Joel (Smets) was and not concentrating on my own riding." Back to a close fifth, he fell once aga in before a final charge took the New Zealander past Gert-Jan Van Doom on the last lap. "I actually passed Cert-jan fou r times in the final three laps, but he hit back each time until I knocked him ou t of the way the last time," King ad ded. In front of them, Peter Johansson had ridden a smoo th race to finish second . '1 actua lly got a good start, bu t so did Lappan (Mats Nilsson) on the ins ide of me," Johansson said. "We touched in the tum and I lost several places." From seven th on la p one, Johansson was second just after half-dis tance. "I closed down Joel' s lead from 10 to seven seco nds, but then it stayed at that and 1 settled for second," Johansson said . 'The second race will be even harder in this heat. I found it surp risingly easy to pass, excep t for Van Doorn ; he w as all over the track and I was scared of a collision." . Johansso n, a do u ble wi n ne r in the Czec h Republic last year, stormed to the front of race two and raced clear as Smets tried to find away aro und Eckenbach for second . With a new m ot or, the Ge rman couldn't q uite ma intain the pace of th e o th er lea d e rs , bu t he showed great re sili en ce in holding off everythi ng th e champ could throw at him for more than 10 minutes. (Above) The second moto of the 500c c Czec h Republic Grand Prix gets started w ith Peter Joh ans son (6) roaring into the lead on h is factory Yama ha four-stroke. He's be ing chased by a horde of ride rs , including Bernd Eckenbach (9) and Darryl King (2) on the factory Husqvarnas. (Left) Bo th mot os were won by defending World Champion Joel Smets. With the two w ins , the Belg ian extended his championship points lead over Darryll King to 19 po ints. By then Johansson had a large lead, but it soon shrunk. I "I m ade a m istak e and fell off," th e I Swede said . "I kep t the motor running, but 1 Joel w as right on me then and w he n he and Darryll got past, 1 had to let them go. 1 had pu t a lot of effort into building up tha t early lead , and tha t had taken a lot of energy." Smets is not only a superb rider, he is also a master tactician and, once past the Swede, the Belg ia n pu t everything into es ta blishi ng an advantage over Da rryll King, who had bee n closing menacingly. The tw o title ca nd idates ma in tain ed an incredible pace right to the finish but never came in direct conflict. It is an indi cation of Smets' power that he has now won the second moto of every GP this year except in Austria. Bar toli ni, meanwhi le, was in tro ub le again. . . '1 started well, but Smets ran into me at the second comer," Bartolini said . "Still, I was fourt h; but on the third lap 1 stalled the motor u nd er braking in a sandy corner. 1 was very nervous after the first-race problems, and after 1 had recovered from nearly last to be nearly back in the poi nts aga in already halfway thro ugh the race, I had a big crash ." First-mo to ru nner-up Boonen was 15th after a first-lap crash. l~ I I Czech 500cc GP Laket, Czech Republic Results: June 21, 1998 (Round 7 of 12) M OT O 1: 1. joel Smets IHbg): 2. Pet er Johansson (Yam); 3. Iohan Boonen (B us); 4. Da rry ll King (Hus ): 5. Gert -Jan Van Doo rn (Ho n); 6. Rupi w alkn e (KTM); 7. r Shayne King o<1'MJ; H Danny Tbeybers IHbgJ; 9. Andrea . Barto li n i (Ya m ); 10. Ro b H e rrin g (Hen ): 11. Er wi n Machtltnger (He n): 12. Ma ls Nilsso n (He n): 13. Ioch en j asinski (Yam); 14.W illie Van Wessel IHon): 15. Miroslev Kucirek (Hen). M OTa ;l, 1. Joel Smets lHbg); 2. Darryll King (Hus): 3. Pet er Johansso n (Yam); 4. Erwin Mach tlin ger (Hen): 5. Bernd Eckenbach (H us): 6. Rupi Wa lkner (KTM); 7. Rob Herring (Hon): 8. Will ie Va n Wt.sscl (Hen): 9, [oc hen ยท Jasins ki (Yam); 10. Si~ Bauer (KIM); 11. Milts N ilsson IHcn): 12 Avo Leok (He n): 13. Damien Kin~ (K'TM); 14. Oert-ja nvan Doom Il-lon), 15. Joha n Booncn (Hus). . OIA: 1. Ioel Smc O-- Ihg); 2. Peter lohansson (Yam ); 3. ts Darryl ~ King ( H us ~; 4. Rupi Wa lkner (KTM ); 5. Erwi n" Machtlmger (Hon); b. [ohan Bconen (Hus); 7. Rob Ht.mn~ (H e n), 8, Cett-Ian Van Doom (Hon): 9. Bernd Eckcnba ch (H us) : 10. Willil' Van Wl~<;t>1 (Hon), WO RLD C' SH IP 500ce MX SE R IES PO INT S STANDINGS (After "?of 12 rounds): 1. [oel Smcts (226/ 3 wins); 2. Darryll King (207/ 1); 3. And rea Bartolini 059/2) ; 4. Peter Johansson (56); 5. Bernd Eckenbach (130/ )); 6. Shayne King 02,3) ; 7, Ce rt- jan Van Doo ~ (22); It Ro b Herri ng ( 12); 9. Iohan Bconen (94 ); 10. Erwin Machtlin ger