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Round 11: Bielsteiner W
aldkurs
Two-timer: Husqvama's
~Iessio "Chicco" Chlodi
wrapped up his second
consecutive 125cc World
Champ ionship MX title at
the Blelste ln Waldkurs
circu it In Germany . Chlodl
swept both motos to bring
his win tally to 12 of 22
motos on the year.
By Alex Hodgkinson
WIEHL, GERMANY, AUG.23
le s s io "C hi cco "
Chiodi
wrapped up his second consecutive World 125cc MX title in
co n vincing fas h io n with his
six th GP win in -Ll ro un d s at the Biels tein Wal d ku rs track, loca ted 30 m iles
from Cologne, the site where America
won its very first Motocross d es Nations
in 1981.
T he 25-y ear-old Hu sqvarna rider
fro m Sal o in northea st ern Ital y made
su re th at he had th e title wa p p ped up
by winnin g th e first moto, but, ju st as
he d id 12 m onths ago in H olland , he
end ed the season w ith ye t anothe r w in
in the second m o to , th us ending the
series with a mo to vic to ry co unt of 12
out of 22.
The firs t rain of August fell on Friday
to than kfu lly dampen a track which has
in the past pro ved horrendously dusty.
Davi d Vuillernin, Chiodi's so le remaining rival go ing into th e race, ad m itted,
"I hope it rains on Sunday, too. Th at' s
my best chance. Twenty poi nts wi ll be
d ifficu lt to pull back if it doesn' t ra in ."
Eve ry one got dren ch ed on Saturd ay
evening, but Su nday dawned dry, a nd
C hiodi was co nfi dent as he m ade firs t
cho ice of ga te pos it io ns, even th ough
te ammate s Traversin i a n d Dini had
failed to qualify, leaving jus t the Swede
Werner also on Husky - and there were
IS Yamahas a t the gate.
A few years ago Chicco w as a bag of
[nerves un der pressure, bu t in Germany
he wa s "Mr. Cool" even when he made
a rare mistake.
"Th e fro nt wheel lifted out of the
ga te, bu t I was able to tum tight at the
firs t corner and 1 found myself second
as the pack went wid e," Chiodi said.
Ironically it was a Yamaha rider Paul Malin - who had taken the lead
there .
-t gated perfectl y 'and had a
complete b ik e' s
length on ever y- one as I hit the
first tum, but [ just
couldn't stop in the
turn and went
wide," Malin said.
He emerged fro m
the melee in sixth.
Chiodi o nly needed to head Vu ill em in
at the finish to clinch the
title, and the Frenchman
wa s in trouble after starting eighth.
"I had no -top-end power and w a s
losin g ground to everyone at the end of
the longer straights," sa id Vuill emin. " I
was able to make up the ground again
in the turns, but] only passed tw o rid ers
all race."
One of those wa s Eggens, who w ent
downfield just as quickly on hi s new
Yama ha as he has done in the past on a
Honda on hard tra cks, and the other
was Ravaglia, and he wa s m oved asid e
with a brutal pa ss .
Chiod i, meanwhile, had taken th e
lead from Brian [orgensen o n la p fiv e
and nev er looked in trouble.
"I was aware of not do ing an ything
silly which coul d hav e thro wn the title
a wa y at the la st m oment, but [ a lso
wa nted to clinc h the title in style for my
s u p po rte rs a n d H u sqva rn a ," C hiodi
sai d . " Malin and (Cla ud io) Federici go t
close tow ard th e en d of th e race, bu t I
a lways had th em u nder con trol and
never felt under any pressure."
Jorgensen's fourth was a magnificent
pe rforman ce.
.
" I d islocat ed my sho ulder last week
in Denmark, and yeste rday there was
blood in my urine, pres u mably fro m my
kid neys," Jorgensen sai d . "When Malin
went w id e at th e firs t tum, I sud den ly
fou nd myself in fro nt and then jus t rod e
a tempo w hich was comfo rta ble for me,
and if anyone passed me, then] d idn't
panic."
Many long-es tablished star s w er e in
tr ouble. Ex-champs Al essandro Pu zar
and Dave Strijbos both pulled ou t aft er
aggravating their knee injuries, and th e
Du tchman immediately announced that
that h a d bee n h is la st ra ce , w hile
Chlodl (1) chases down Suzuk i-mounted
Brian Jorgensen (18). Chiodi's next
challenge will come In Foxhlll, England ,
when he face s AMA 125cc MX National
Champ ion Ricky Carmichael at the
Motoc ross des Nations .
MOTOCROSS
F
IMWORLDCHAMP
IONSHIP
1 5ccM
2
XSERIES
Michele Fanton, also riding his last GP ,
w as su ffering with his so re sho u lder.
The first fou r p laces in the seri es
were se ttled at the interval, but the second moto was far from "d ead," as every
other s ing le-d igit n umber was being
hotly disputed .
Ca rl N u nn wen t into race two five
points d ow n on Lu ig i Seguy af te r his
Yamaha had expired on th e line in th e
o pener, bu t he got tha t gap down to two
after half an hour. Then he tried jus t too
ha rd to pull back Jorgensen, w hom he
wa s chas ing for fourth in the moto, and
rolled back disconsolately to the paddock after getting spat off in the trees .
Jorgensen's first-moto fou rth had
already put him clea r of James Dobb, a
first-race faller, and Alex Belometti, who
exited 13th with a blown motor on the
last lap of the opener, and a second m o to holeshot made Jorgensen even
more secure. The icing on the cake that
came with Nunn's retirement was that
he, too , overhauled the Brit in the standings.
Dobb, meanwhile, had even mo re
p robl ems than in the opener . Along
with Malin, he got tangled up in a second-turn collision, and any cha nce of
reco vering the points ended when Dobb
collided with Bader Manneh a s the
Am erican tried to rejoin th e track after
an excursio n. Belo metti' s eig h th-p lace
fini sh in the m oto gave him back eighth
in th e s ta n di n g s, and Philippe
Dupasqui er' s second almost cost Dobb a
single-d igit rankin g . Ma n ne h was way
off the pace all day .
"When] got offered th e' KTM rid e
earlier in the summer, [ sold two of my
bik es," Manneh sa id. "I onl y held on to
this one becau se the frame got twisted
,
when 1 crashe d on it in Spain ba ck in
April and no on e wanted it. I don 't .
enjoy riding it, eit her, but it' s all I've got
since they too k the KTMs back and gave
them to so meone else."
Mann eh went 25-26 on the day and
ended the series 42nd .
Chiod i, meanwhile, was in a class of
his own as he co m pleted his fifth tw omo to sw ee p of the series. H is next big
date? Foxhill in Eng lan d, on Septembe r
25, w he n he m eets Ricky Ca rmichael
head to head for the titl e of "World's
fastes t 125cc MXer" at the Motocross
des Nations.
1"X
Blelsteiner Waldkurs
Wiehl, Germany
Results: August 23, 1998(Round 11 of 11)
MO TO 1; 1. Ales...io Chi od i (B us ); 2. Paul Malin
(Yam ); 3. C la u d io Fed eri ci (Ya m) ; 4., Brian Jorgensen