Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS Final Round: German Grand Prix W ORLD C AMPIONSH H IP S O OTOC O SS RIES ~----------------------------~ OccM RS E By Ale x Hodgkinson • WACHTERSBACH, GERMANY, AUG. 30 oel Sme ts had time to voluntarily s top for three se co nds nea r th e end of the firs t mot a and still win with ea s e in t h e fi n al rou n d of th e World 500cc Mo tocro ss Series. Even a m om entar y la pse o f co n ce nt ra tio n, w hich cos t h im a poten tia l fifth tw om oto s w e ep in th e 12-round se r ies, cou ld n' t prev ent th e three -ti m e Wo rld Cha m pio n fro m confirming his numberone ranki ng with his sixth Gra nd Prix win of the yea r. Ame rica wa s als o rep resent ed in the resu lts at the track se t in a basin above the Kin zig Vall ey to the northea s t of Frankfu rt in ce n t ra l G e rman y , wi th A MA Four-Stroke C ha m pio n Lan ce Sma il celebra ti ng his GP d eb ut with a to p-10 fin ish a b oard hi s 380cc tw ostro ke KTM. Srnets dominated the first mota from st a r t to fi nis h, cruising a lo ng w ith a comfortable lead after only three o r four laps. Sud d enl y he stop ped in the final com er as he came through to co mplete. 18 laps. "My mecha nic, Glenn, had sig nal ed me the lap befo re that it wo uld be close to t he 40 m inu tes (m a r k) n e xt time around ," Sme ts said . "I ha d a big lead, so I looked up as I came around the last corne r and saw tha t if I waited for three seco nd s I wo ul d ha ve o ne la p less to race." A fu rious battle ens ue d in his wake. Shay ne Ki ng was initia lly t h ird behind Bernd Eckenbach, buthe slowed dramatically after a few lap s. 'The track felt completely di fferent to yesterday and this morning," Shayne King sa id . "There was just no grip, and I go t severe arm pump trying to compensa te." J 62 He wasn' t the only o ne. His brother Da rry ll Kin g , C h ri s Bu rn ha m, Siggi Bauer, Smai l an d Rob Herring were all slithe ring to th e g round o n the slick su rface. Herrin g, fas test by a seco nd d uring q ua lifying , had ano ther reason for h is troubl es. "My thro ttle grip wa s loose from the seco nd lap, and I didn' t have that fin e co n trol necessary o n this su rface ," he said. Peter Joh an sson was eventually second after co mpleting the first lap in 10th place. "I w hee lied out of the gate," Joh an sson sai d . "I also had arm pum p ea rly on a nd had to rela x a nd find m y rhy th m . ag ai n . I d id n' t find it difficult to pa ss, though, as I had so me good lines. O nly Darryll King was a problem. He blockpassed me back a few times after ( had ridden around him ." The final. d ecisive move came seven co rners fro m th e finish . Husq varna ' s Da rryll Ki ng had been s hieldi ng hi s teammate Eckenbach fro m Cert-jan Van Doo rn until his late fall, but the Dut chman wa nted a podium finish in his fina l GP. In doing so, he sho wed tha t he has lost non e of th e s tyl e tha t highl igh ted his 17-year GP career with a hard , inside block-pass which too k Ecke nbach into the tapes. "That's w hy they called me Rambo," Van Doorn said at the tro phy pr esentation. ! Eck e nbac h, m ean wh il e, a d mit ted that th e Du tchma n ha d cau ght him by surp rise. " It was ha rd , bu t fa ir," Eck en ba ch s a id . " I kn e w he w ould d o it , b ut I d idn ' t expect him to try there, so I d idn 't defend the insi de line." Sma il was a n excell en t l Oth in hi s firs t GP ride. " I' rn still ge t ting u sed to th e ex tra power of the 380, but I go t a fair s tart," Sma il explai ned . "Then I fell over and had to pass a lot of guys to come back. It took m e a lo ng time to pas s (j oc hen) Jasinski on the factory Yama ha - he was just so muc h faster o n the straigh ts - so (Above) Joel Smets won his s ixth SOOCc Grand Prix of the season , this one co ming at the German Grand Prix at the Kinzigtalerbah n. (Right) German Bernd Eckenbach turned in a 4-1 tally to finis h second overall in his home GP. He also ended the season fourth in the SOOcc World Championshi p. it was qu ite a lon g way to nint h by the tim e I go t past, and I settled for a sa fe score in my firs t ride over here." Eckenbach , needi ng a t lea s t a third place to pa ss Bartolini in the stand ings, got the pe rfect start in race two with the ho leshol. It mattered little tha t Smets d ep osed him fro m the lead on lap four as the German ens u red that the chasing Sha yne King, Herring, Van Doo m and Joh an sson never go t right o nto his rear w hee l. Kin g la ter wen t o u t " w it h a ba ng " as h is m o tor ex pl oded , whil e Joh a nsso n had to p it for re pairs w hen th e th ro ttle st uc k wide open. Unfortu nately, the Swede s top ped o u tside the . designated area and had been sig naled long befo re he crossed the line in ninth tha t he woul d be exclud ed . Van Doo rn was con te n t to fin is h a di stan t fo urth, ahead of an off-form Darryll King. " I knew I only had to keep my eye on H erring ," Van Do orn sa id. "I d id n ' t wa nt to risk throwi ng away the num bersix p late wit h a crash." W h en Jochen Jas inski, w ho h a d a d van ced fr om 17 th to sevent h in a mu ch stronger ride than in the o pe ne r o n th e a b s e n t Ba rto li ni 's facto ry YZ M400F, lost a co m p le te lap afte r stalli ng the motor u n d er b rakin g , the Yama ha threat to Hu sab erg for the Man ufacturers' title was buried . Still, there was plenty of drama in the closing laps. Herring was pushing closer and closer to Eckenbach until he sudd enly carne to a halt at the top of the track. He di smounted , th en got bac k on to continue at h is us ual hea ted pace to s till fin ish third . d "My knee jus t pop pe ou t of its socket as I was ridi ng along," Herrin g sa id . " It' s happe n ed three tim es th is yea r now . All I have to d o is to put my bod y wei g ht o n it an d it goes back in, bu t I'll get an ope ration durin g the winter." And then , with less than half a lap to th e fini sh, Srn et s mom en tarilv let his concentra tion lapse in a downhill tu rn . He slithered to the ground in the ensuin g cr as h, h an d in g a p o p u lar h ome-

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