Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

MOTOCROSS FIM MOTOCROSS DES NATIONS Ca ps a nd Brit ish h~}J~ful Cii~l Niln n . But then Carmichael fe ll back to 21st after a slip on lap three before starting his cha rge all over again. . Out fro nt, Henry fo ught past both Herring and King and led for two laps before bei ng passed by the most surprising rider of the day, Spa nish 250cc GP contender Garcia Vico. Acco rding to Spa nis h liaison Mike Showen, Vico finished 21st in the 250cc Worl d Champio ns hi ps this year aboard a YZ250 but borro w ed a se m istock YZ400 F for this race. Af ter Vico passed th e .American hero, he slowly pulled away, bu ild ing a lead of as much as 21 seco nds. O n th e la st lap , Vi co be cam e th e race's tra gic hero w he n, jus t half a lap from th e bi g gest ra ce w in in Sp ani s h mo tocro ss hist o ry, he became stuck o n Th e Hill after a lapped ri der fa ltere d ahead of him. After w res tling his heavy, mu d -co ver ed bi ke back upright, Vico kick ed the hot bike over and over, trying to refire th e eng ine. As th e crowd m oan ed w ith eve ry kick, Vico finally go t (Above) Ricky Carmichael struggled in the slop, go ing 3-4 in the 125cc class. (Left) The Hill: Many riders were left stuck for good on th is muddy climb. (Below) John Dowd was a v ictim of The Hill. He got h is 250c c Yamaha hopelessly st uck in the mu d, resu lt ing In a DNF In moto one. He came bac k and finished f ourth In the second 250cc moto. 00 0\ 0\ .'<::1'" """"' l-< CJ .c o ..... u o 38 it sta rted a fter abo u t a minute, but the d amage w as d one. Hen ry wou ld wi n, .finis hing 23 seconds clear of surprising Finnish rid er Misk a Aaltonen . "I kn ew I was in seco nd, but I had no idea w ho was wi nni ng, and with three laps to go I tried to make a little bit of a charge - bu t even then I didn't th ink I could wi n," said Henry of his firs t race . " He mu s t have fa llen or somethi ng , becau se whe n I ca me ac ross th e li ne, everyone was like, 'You won! You won!' I was reall y su rp rised ." Th e ea rly le ader, H errin g , was fou rth, foll owed by th e mo st shoc king finish of the day - Belgi an rooki e Patrick Caps on a 125. The 22-year-old Caps was a las t-seco nd pi ck for th e rei gn in g cha m p io ns after 500cc Wo rld Champ Jo el Sm ets broke hi s hand at an invitational ra ce seven days before the MX des Nations . Caps was said to have the support of Ev e rt s bu t few others in th e Bel gian camp, who w e re pull ing for Ced r ic Melotte instead. (Me lo tte was 15t h in the 125cc World Cham p io ns hip s this year, while Ca ps was 23rd .) But Caps' stunn in g fourth-place ride - top 125 put Belgium in the driver's seat for the rest of the day. Vico was a sad fifth , but Belgian 's Open entry, Marnicq Bervoets (o n a Suzuki RM25 0), was sixth. Then came Italian 12Sec hero Ch iodi, 33-yearol d Belgian Gert-jan Van Doorn, New Zea la nd's Kin g, Czech rider M iroslav Kucirek, a nd th en, in 11t h place (a nd fourth 125), Carmichael. Besides Vico, the victims of The Hill in this firs t mot o incl uded French 125cc entry David Vuillemin, German [oc hen Jasi nski, and bo th Japanese riders - neith er of w hom would finis h d ue to no t completing en ou gh laps . Belgium had th e early lead wi th 10 to tal p o ints, followed by the United St a tes' 12, Spai n's 19, It a ly' s 22 and Grea t Britain 's 24. The second m ot o featured 125 a nd 250cc rid ers, a nd Bel g ian mud m a st er Everts qu ickl y s ho t into th e lead , fo llowed by Beirer , Finn Mark Kovalainen , Dowd , and British rid er Pa u l Malin . Carmichael was off 15th this tim e, right behind Chiodi. As Ever ts glide d aro u nd as if he we re o n a different track th an everyone else, pulling away fro m Beir er and the rest of the field by se veral sec- . o nds p er la p , Carmichael a nd Ch iod i en gaged in a g rea t battle for th e 125cc lead . On th e fourth lap , R.c. we nt under th e Hu sqvarna rid er to m ake a clean p ass a nd become to p 125, but jus t as soon as he w en t by, h is fro nt number pla te came unattached fro m the motorcycle, leaving it dangling in the fr ont w heel. 'The mud just got too packed on it and the plastic worked its way off of the bolts, " said Carmichael. "T here was rea lly nothing I could do abou t it bu t hope that it didn' t get stuck in my fro nt wheel. But I was stoked to pass Chiodi, though." For th ree laps Carmichael sol diered .on, but then he crashed off of the tabl etop s and ended his cha nces of beating Chiodi in front of the Italians ' loyal fans . As for fellow 125cc co nte nders Vu ille rnin, British rid er Nunn and th e Belgia n Caps, they were all stuck on The Hill. As for Dowd, this was no t goi ng to be his day. A ltho ug h th e New Eng land er is easily one of the mos t ac co mplished mud rid ers in A merica, he got bogged do wn on The Hill . The Yamaha rider was so hopel essl y stuck th at he co u ld not get th e hea v y b ik e turned aro u nd in the mu ck , so he resorted to flippin g th e bike end over en d back d own th e h ill until he co ul d ge t it turned around to rid e it back d own to the bottom . Becau se outside assistance is banned in FIM races, th e o nly per son w ho cou ld help Dowd was an u nidentified rider w ho was also stuck. " I ran into someone going up an d anothe r guy fell right in fro nt of me and took m e with him," said Do wd of the misha p . "I ha ve never been in a si tu ation before w he re I could n' t even ge t my bike up. My feet we re stuck so deep in the mud, I couldn't even pull them ou t. I got so friggin ' tired trying to pick that bike up. I just started flipping the bike back over to ge t it to a p lace w he re I cou ld roll it bac k. The n I tried it again and Vu illemi n cras hed in fro nt of me. It wa s just a mess. It kind of blew my day, b ecau se I was fo u r th o r fif th a t the tim e." Everts wasn't havin g much of a problem with Th e Hill, m ostly bec ause he enjoyed the luxu ry of having such a big lead that he cou ld wa it u ntil he had a clear path before making his ascen t. But 125cc lead er Chiod i and 250cc ru nnerup Pich on were not so lu ck y . By th e time th ey go t stuck, o nly nine riders w ere on the sa me lap as Everts.

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