Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

ha ve confirmation yet from th e hospita l, but there seems little d oubt and he w ill be opera ted on this evening: ' Two hours later th e Italian w a s already going u nd er th e knife. Meanwhile, Everts was in a dominant mood . Seco nd into t he wood s behind Da rryll King, he was leading by the end of the lap. It w as a lead that h e extended by some four seco nd s per lap, until that last stop fo r hi s father, Harry, to hand him an iced tea in front of th e TV cameras. Ten years ago, Hakan Carlqvist s to p ped for a beer from his brother on his way to a double w in at Namur, but modern-day motocrossers have to be more "politically correct" (o r is the word ''boring''?) for fear of repercussions from t he sports' governing body. . Smets ended the race in second p lace, ex tending his championship lead to 51 points - but the way he took the placing was controversial. The Belgian was chasing King as they s lo w ed under a yellow flag to pass the stricke n Bartolini, who was stil l lying in the tra ck. Smets main ta ined his momentum pa st the Italian and go t on the gas again quicker to p as s King into the next turn. "It's not against the rules : ' said KTM team m anager Kurt Nicoll , "b u t you just d on' t do it . They w ere p ast the yellow fl a g s a n d the incid en t which cau sed them to be s how n, but m orally you start racing again a fter th e n ext real co rner: ' The Brit w as no t alo ne in his feelings. H e rrin g had to r id e ha rd to recover lost grou nd after crashing on lap fou r . "I fell on my right side and the thro t- tie grip was loose for the re st o f the race," H erring said. Eckenbach di s app e are d fro m the leaderboard o n th e very same la p . "1 la nd ed hard o n my left hand and have back pains, too :' he sa id la ter . (~ Circu it de la Cltadelle Namur, Belg ium Results: August 2, 1998 (Ro und 10 of 12) MOTO 1: 1. Stefan Everts (H on); 2. Peter Johansson (Yam); 3. Rob Herring (Hon); 4. Shayne King C KTM); 5. Da rr yll Kin g (H us): 6. Joel Smets ( Hbg): 7. Bernd Eckenbach (H us ); 8. Erwi n Machtlinger (Ho n); 9. Danny Th eyb ers (Hbg): 10. 'ames Marsh (KTMl; 11. Rupi w a lkne r (KTM) ; 12. Sigg i Ba u er (laM ); 13. }ochen Jasins ki (Ya m); 14. Gert-Jan Va n Doorn (Ho n ); 15. . Gera ld Delepine (Yam). MOTO 2: 1. Stefa n Everts (H o n ): 2. Joel Srnets IHbg): 3. Darryll King (H usl ; 4. Shayne King (KTM); 5. Peter Joh an sson (Yam); 6. Rob Herring (Honk 7. Ic han Boone n (H us): 8. Erwi n Mac ht linger (Hon): 9. Da nn y Th eyb er s (Hbg) ; 10. Gert-Ian .\'.a n Doom IHon): 11. Da rnie n Kin g (KT M); 12. Rupi Walkner (KTM); 13. James Ma rsh (KTM); 14. Ma ts And reassen (Hon): IS . Mats Nils son (Hen) . O /A: I. .Stefa n Eve rt s ( H en ): 2. Peter Joh an sson (Ya m); 3. Joel Sme ts (Hbg): 4. Darryll King (H us): S. Shayne Kin g (KTM); 6. Rob He rri ng -If-len): 7. Erwin Mac htlinge r (Han); S. Danny Theybers (Hbg); 9. Jo han Boonen (Hus); 10. Bernd Eckenbach (Hus) . 500cc WORLD C'SHIP POINT STANDINGS: 1. Joel Smet s (327/ 4 wi n!'» ; 2. Darrylt King(276/1); 3. Andrea Bartolini (225 /3) ; 4. Peter Joha nsson (216): 5. Bernd Eckenbach (192/1); 6. Gert-Ja n Van Doo m (165); 7. Rob He r ri ng (161); 8 . Sha yne King (1 59) ; 9 . Erwin Ma cht linger (28); 10. Johan Boon en U tl); 11. Rupi Walkner <7S); 12. C h ris Burnham (74 ); 13. Danny Theybers (74); 14. Avo Leok (66); 15. Ioch en Jas inski (64); 16. James Ma rsh (62); 17. Willi e Van Wes sel (53); 18. St efa n Everts (40/1 ); 19. Mat s N ilsson (34 ); 20. Damien King (32) Upcoming Rounds: Round 11 - Rhen en, Holland, August 8 Final Round , Wachlersba Germany, August 30 ch, J oel Smets couldn 't matc h Eve rts ' pace, but he managed to furthe r ex tend his lead in the 500cc World Champ ions hip via his 6-2 tally, Briefly_=------------------'~ __ It was decision time after Namur for many of the top GP riders . Andrea BartoHni. targeted also by Husqvarna. said that he would definitely stay in the 500cc GPs next year and was awaiting ' detai ls of Yamaha 's plans. which ' we re due to be annou riced .on Wednesday.,Danyll Ki~g : mea nwhile, said he had .beeri promised ' details of Husqvarna's plans. on .Tues day. which suggest s that Husky se e m to have come to terms with the' probability thai they will not s ign Bartolini-. Such a move wo~ld involve the tea m' opera tion being moved from J acky Martens ' base in Belgium back to Varese in Italy. Bernd Eckenbach siqnedaqain for' another . Action Group had answered his' c o mpla ints ab ou t th e pre s s · release from the Brazilian GP - in' which it was erroneou s ly sta ted that his te am had pr ot e ste d against Stefan Everts -.with w ritten testimony that Action Group' collaborator Hans -Martin Fetzer had been given the' i nc o rre c t' informatio n by Rads o n team ' manager Dave Gra nt. It is under- s too d tha t the threatof legal . · action ag? instthe Action Group has been Withdrawn. Dave' Grant explained why Everts had not bee n brought into the pit box to replace the damaged 's ile ncer in Brazil: "The entire Radson team bos s Dave Grant said thet "four manufacture rs: rea r end of the bike was dsmaqed and bent. so that, the rear wheel was continuall hilling the silencer.- he said. "If we had fity including one European brand w ho are riot currently involved" (presuma bly Husqvama , who have not contested the 250cc class ted a replacement . that too would havebeen damaged befoie the in recent years) were interested in S tefan Everts and that ·finish.' Grant also admitted that he had gambled on a top-l 0 plac"Honda have already confirmed that l ean get bikes ." The only' ing even if the expected two-minute penalty had been impos ed: J apanese firm not afte r Everts is presu mably Suzuki. and Sylvain . - Normally (Sebastian) Tortelliw ould lap into the top 10. but for Geboers is now tryin to persuade Mamicq Bervoets to remain once 15 riders stayed on the same lap.' Friday was the deadline ' g with him. The alternatives for the three-time world number two are 'for the Radson team to appea l against the decis ion of the FIM . J ury to exclude Everts - a two-minute pe nalty' would have given Kawasaki or .K " the latter at both 250 and 500cc level. TM Everts a single point as' the t Sth-place finisher " but no appea l was . '. , . Kurt Nicoll re ported th~t the fir~t. tests with the KTM fou;: .s ubmitted.''''If.S tefa·n can't pull back. 10 points before the end of the s eas troke a week before Namur had gone we ll :. ' We didn't have a . single mecha nical prob lem. .which was a remarkable achievement · so n. then he doe sn 't des erve ' to be champion.- Grant said. as this was the very first time the bike had run." he said.. year in Namur. . While Joel Sme ts Will only conte st the Belgian 250cc GP at Mol, S tefa n Everts ' Honda ~veniually' if he has already clinched the 500cc World Championship'in Hoi- · turned out to be very s imilar to the land..ex-champ J acky Martens is a co nfirmed starter on the new bike ridde n all ye ar by Rob Herring and was not an official Honda project. factory 250cc Husky. "Tbe bike was built for me as a favor Gert·Jan Van Doom said in Namur that he will definitely retire by Cliff White (of American Honda. a from the sport at the end of the se as on: •I've had 17 years in the mechanic to many ex-AMA Champions including J ea n-Michel Bayle when GPs. and it is time for me to quit while Iam still near the top." he made a clean swee p of the AMA An RWJ Silkolene Honda press release on the Friday before titles) and Dave Arnold (ex-America n Namur revealed that ' we have now been provided by a number of Honda team manager). " Radson team people with the name of the individual who s upplied Action Group manager Dave Grant sa id. The bike featured a CR500 eng ine with 250 wi th the incorrect information relating to ourselves . The individual concerned wrongly told Action Group pe rs onnel that RWJ had power-jet carburetor and factory ignie made a protest about S tefan Everts. We believe that this informa- tion in a CR250 frame with a diff rent swinging arm and factory sus pension. tion wa s deliberately and maliciou sly given to Act ion Group in' an attempt to jeopardize our close and enjoyable relationship with "Stefan oniy got the chance to ride it for one ' hour on Wednesd ay before Handa. RWJ are c urren tly checktn g our information and should we obtain evidence wh ich our lawy ers con sider sufficient. we wiH co ming here. G rant added. be commencing legal action against the individual concerned.' At Namur on Saturday. RWJ team bos s Colin Reed said that the His win in Namur marked the ' 39th W . GP victory of S tefan Everts ' career. and he now starids alone in seco nd place.on the all-time Win'nerslist to Joel Robert (SOl. Prior to Namur, Eve rts was tied with Eric Geboers . while ' Roge r De Co ster and Tors te n Hallman e ach have 37 . Andre Malhe rbe sco red 29 World Champions hip GP victories. plus a further 12 . wins in 1973/74 in the Europea n '125cc series. At the time there was no World Championship title in that class and there we re even rounds held in the USA; so one could argue that these had eq ual status. All of the se riders (with the exception of Hallman. who is Swedis h) are Belgian. The Namur win also meant that Eve rts had ' completed the · 8 75 - with victorie s in each of the three displace ment 'classes . The riders' he joins in this particular Hall of Fame are Kees Van der Ven. Eric Geboers. J ean-Michel Bayle . Trampas Parke r and And rea Bartolini. 00 0\ 0\ ..O\~ ....... v: :J CO :J --< 29

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