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MOTOCROSS ' .' Round 11: Brazilian 250cc GP FlM W R C O LD HAMPIONSH IP 25Dcc M XSERIES By Ale x Hodgkinson BEW HORIZONTE, BRAZIL, JULY26 awasa ki's Sebas tien Tortelli took over as lead er of the World 250cc c MX Series following the Brazilian Gra n d P ri x a t Belo Horizo n te. T h e Frenchma n wo n both motos - the first of w hich was appare ntly stopped a lap too ea rly - w hile previou s lead er Rad son l L&M Ho nda 's Stefan Everts was excluded from a second-mo te fourth-place finish, which wo u ld have salvaged him a narrow lead in the standings after a ride from 26th on lap one. The first moto had already ended in controv ersy , as the race appears to ha ve been stop ped a lap too early. FIM MX GP motos are run in a 4O-minutes-p lustwo-laps format, so, with the fastes t lap being 2:02.462, the race wo uld have had to ha ve last ed more than 44 minutes yet Tortelli's wi n ni ng tim e for 21 la ps was 43:42.864. But ther e seems little reaso n to beli eve th at a ny of th e leading positions would hav e alte red during the "m issing lap," as non e of the first men hom e were wi thin 2 1/ 2 seconds of any of the others. The race its e lf had s een Tortell i a lready into th e lead on th e fir st lap after p as s in g T allo n Vohland, w hile Everts w as making up for a ·bad start. He was, however, seventh after lap one. "I had a really bad start, and I had to push hard during the race to come back up front," Evert s said after the race. "My riding was not so good a t the beginning, especially because it' s always dangerous in the p ack during the first lap. " Everts mov ed into fou rt h p lace on the fifth lap , and it wasn' t until the 30m inute mark that he w a s able to ge t around Rin aldi Yamaha's Tall on Vohland - who had ea rlier been passed by Pam o Hon da's Pit Beirer - for third . Two laps from the 'end , Ever ts got Beire r but had no' chance of cat ching the lon g-gon e Tortelli. Althoug h di sappointed at losin g seco n d p la ce so lat e in th e ra ce, Bei rer accepte d his fate gracio us ly. "My speed was good eve n if it was no t pe rfect, as I was slow in so me corners," Beirer sa id . "I thou gh t it was possi ble to ke e p m y seco nd p la ce , but I ope ne d th e ga te to Stefan in a co rner and , of course, he passed me." Bu t i t was the seco nd mota th a t caus ed most of the day' s controversy . Neit her Tortelli, Everts nor Vohland started particu la rly wel l in the second mota. Ge tting away ou t in fron t were Yves Demari a (who had twis ted a knee in the ope ner), Mickael Masc hio , locke Karlsson, Beirer and Frederic Bail ey. Tortelli and Ever ts got together in a turn early on . Tortelli torpedoed Everts fro m be hind , a nd Everts went do wn while Tortelli stayed upr ight. In the gettogeth er, the silencer on Everts' Ho nda was d amaged , res ulting in his motorcy cle makin g too mu ch n oise for th e FIM's ea rs . Presu m abl y Everts knew that he stood a chance of being disqualified with a n o ve rly noi s y b ik e, bu t Everts chose not to stop and h ave th e exhaust rep laced ; instead , he continued on and worked his way up throu gh the pack. Ever ts fin ish ed ou t th e mota in fourth bu t w ou ld eve ntua lly be disqua lified for exceedi ng the FIM's maximumdecibel limit. - As ke d why h e d id n ot s to p for a repl acem en t p ipe , Everts responded, "I was waiting for a sign from rnymechanic, as I didn' t know if they planned to change the silencer, bu t they didn' t." Meanw h ile, To rtelli co ntinu ed h is drive to the front, eventually taki ng the Il . Sebastie n Tortelli won both motos at the 250Cc GP In Brazil and moved into the series poin ts lead. lead five laps from the finish to win by just tw o seco nds over Marnicq Berv oets , the Suzuki team rider who wa s havi ng his best ride of the year. Voh land had taken the lead mid race after cha rgi ng th rough the pack, but a shorta ge of race. practice and tra in in g showed in the final mi nu tes, as he tired . Bei t er's se co nd mot a ended on lap eigh t aft er a heavy cras h, w hich ina dvertently led to e ven more se r io us Inj u r ies to a fla gman w ho h a d ap p roached to attend to him and w as struc k by another machine . 1':\ Brazilian GP Belo Horlzonte, Brazi l Resu lts : July 26, 1998 (Round 11 0116) M OT O 1: 1. Sebas tie n Tc rtefl i (Ka w); 2. Ste fan Ever ts (He n): 3. Pit Beire r (Han); 4. Tallon Voh land (Yam) ; 5. Marn icq Berv oe ts (Suz ); 6. locke Karls so n (Hon): 7. Mark Eastwood (He n): 8. Justin Morris (Hen) : 9. Leon Giesbe rs (KTM ); 10. Pe ter Ive n (Ka w) : 11. Pie r rick Pa get (He n ): 12. Iaim y Scc ve nel s (Su z); 13. Mickael Maschio (Ya m); 14. Cnstian Steva nim (TM); 15. Fred e ric BoUcy (Hem). M OTO 2: 1. Sebas tien Tortelli (Ka w) ; 2. Ma rni cq Bervo e ts {Suz }: 3 . Ta llo n Yo hla n d (Ya m ); 4 . Yves Demaria O(.1w); 5. Iock c Karls so n IHon) : 6. Peter lvc-n (Ka w ): 7. Fred eric Belley (Ho c) ; 8. Mickael Mas chio (Yam): 9. Pau l Coo per (Kaw ): 10. Leon Ciesbers (kiM); 11. Ma rk East wood (Hen): 12. Iaimy Scevcnels (Suz); 13. Josh Cop pin s (Suz ): 14. Misk a Aalton en (KTM); 15 Pierrick Paget (Hen) . O / A : 1. Se bas t te n Tort t' lli ( Kaw ): 2. Ma rn lcq Be rvoet s (Suz): 3 . Tallon Voh land (Yam ); -4 . loc ke Karl sson (Hen): 5. Stefa n Eve rt s (Ha n); 6. Pet er IV'-:Il (K aw ): 7. Pit Beirer (Hen): 8. Mark E astwood (H en): 9. Yves Demaria (Ka w ), 10. Leon Gicsbcrs ( KT~1). FI M WORL D CH A MP IO N SH IP 250" MX SERIE S POI NT STA N D INGS (A fter 11 of 16 round s ): . Sebastien Tortelli (387/5 win s); 2. Stefan Everts (377/5) ; 3. Pi. Bcircr (281/ 1); 4, Frederic Bollev (2{)2); 5. M:unlt'! Bervoets (18. ); 6. Tallon Vohlan d (178); 7. [ock e K.u ls-'n 1 0 6U; M Mickael Meschl o ( 56); 9. Yves Demari a (114); to. . Leon Ciesbers (104 ); 11. Pau l Coo per (90); 12. \-Verne r Dewit (86); 13. Peter lvcn (74); 14. Justi n Morris (73) ; 15. Ja im y Sce ve ne ls (67); 16. Josh Co p p ins (64); 17. Mar k Eastw ood (54 ); 18. Miska Aa ltonen (35); 19. Picm ck Paget (32); 20. Jav ier Fran cesco Ga rcia Vice (29). Upcoming Rounds: Round 12 · Teutschenthal, Germany, AugusUl Bound 13 - Mol, Belgium, August 16 ...