Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Georges Jobe, another former World MX champ , finished second to Nicoll. (Above) World Supersport champ Fabrizio Pirovano could not come to terms with the wet conditions. (Right, from left to right) Everts and Jobe. (Below) Jacky Martens finished seventh in the M X final. this year the numbers were down a littl e . Joel Sm e ts, the th ree -time World Motocros s Cham pion, was a last-mi nut e no -show after his hand inju ry ru led him ou t, wh ile sev eral othe r n ame ri d ers fa iled to a rrive. Still, however, led by World Supers port Cham p ion Fabrizio Pirovano and mot ocross legends [obe, Eve rts a nd N icoll, it was s till an even t full of classic mo men ts. As has been the case in Europe for the pa st few weeks, heavy rain mad e cond itions so mewhat poo r, and , before Ia cro wd 15,000 stro ng, the 'com pe titors Iwent out and d id their best to com pete. ,After practice on the Circu it Jules Tachen y , it wa s easy to see that t he motocrosser s were out of their element this year, and Evert s wa s one w ho d id not care tha t his speed was d own . "This is a goo d race - it takes a lot of s kill," Evert s said . "You ha ve to rid e re a ll y ha rd o n th e ro a d . I am a motocrosser, and the top Su pe rmo ta rd guys are ve ry fast . I tried racin g with them in 1996 and broke my hand. This yea r I will do it for fun ." Nicoll, who retired a t the start of the yea r, was also no t sure of his posi tion once the racing go t seriou s. "I am a little ten ta tive," N icoll said . "Wh ile I have been tes ting the new KTM four- stroke, it' s ano ther thing racing." Nico ll wo ul d find ou t very qui ckly that a year ou t of com petition takes the polish off you r thinkin g. In his qua lifier, he ju m p ed the s ta rt a nd wa s bl a ckfl a gg e d a n d fi n ally p e n a li z ed five tplaces. It wo u ld not ma tter, thou gh , as, two falls later, the KTM-mou nted Nicoll was miles behind. "I tried to ma ke up the pl aces a nd got a little crazy," Nicoll said . "I slip ped o v er tw ice . I o n ly jump ed t h e s ta r t because 1 wa s a li tt le u n su re o f m y reflexes. It tu rned ou t my reflexes were not that good ." Nicoll finis hed in 18th place. For his .next race, he wou ld ha ve to sta rt nea r the rear of the field , and his return wa s not loo king too ros y. Everts would do a little better, finishing his qu alificati on race in third place, w hile [obe mad e up a good four th place in his heat. Some of the others were not as lucky: Pirovano missed his quali fication spo t w it h a 15th p lace, a n d, li ke N icoll, he w ou ld sta rt th e las t-ch an ce qualif ier fro m the rear of the field . "It is so w et, and th e track is ve ry slip pery, I do n' t feel confiden t to race, b ut I w ill g ive it a s hot in th e o the r races," sa id World Su persp ort cha mp Piro vano. Ever ts was also concern ed abo u t 'the track condi tions . H nearly fell on th e as p ha lt; then I I just cru ised to third place," Evert, said. 'To be hon est, I was a little scared at the start. It' s no t goo d, racing in the heavy ra in ." While ride rs such as Stephane Chambon , Thierry Godfroid and William Rubio wo n t he h ea ts, it w a s the lege nd s of mo tocro ss tha t the 15,000 peo pl e had come to see. With that in mind, the organizers always run a motocross race to give the off-road racers a cha nce at victory. Nico ll proved his case of nerves had ' passed as he blitzed ou t of the sta rt in the motocro ss ch allenge to lead [ob e, Ever ts, a n d a no t he r fo r mer Wo rl d Mo tocross Cham pio n, 'jacky Martens n ot to me n tion Motocross des Nation s s tar Patr ick Ca ps, who trailed in mid field . Wit h only 10 la ps to com plete, Nicoll fou nd the form to win, ah ead of [ob e, Jo ha n Bo on en , Eve rts a nd C h ris Bert ra n d . Ca p s fi n is he d in 12 th p la ce , wh ile Mart ens came home seven th. "It was fun," N icoll said. "Georges really push ed me early; then I could make a littl e gro u n d o n h i m , a n d it was n ot too di fficu lt fro m then on." With the rai n co ntin ui ng to soak the Belgian tra ck a nd the freezing- cold w ind forcin g m a n y from th e crow d into th e co rn er cafes for a wa rm beer, the action contin,ued . Semifinal wi nn ers were Eric Delan ey and Steve Widner. Nico ll , w h o earlie r a d won the hea t, fini s hed 11t h in h is se m i. It w a s a ~ o o d result, as he raced throu gh the field after his rear -of-thepa ck start. [obe was also into the main event with a n inth p la ce, and Eve r ts score d a fi ft h p la ce in h is se mi to make it through to the final. Th e fin al , t h o u gh , was a ll Su p e r mo tard , a s Dela n noy w on a he a d o f God fro id and David Baudelet. Eve rts was a han dy sixth, w ith Ma rtens 11th, [obe 12th, and Nicoll 28t h. To say the m o to cr o sser s w e re ta u g ht a le ss on wo uld be an und er statement, bu t then ag ain, they expected to be thrash ed by f~ the tar kings . Circuit Jules Tache ny Mettet, Belgium Res ults : October 11" 1998 MX CHA L: 1. Kurt Nicoll (KTM); 2. Ceo rges Iobe (He n): 3. Ioha n Boonen (Hus): 4. Stefan Eve rts (Hon): 5. C h r is Bertrand ( Hun) ; 6. Pe te r lve n (Ka w) : 7 . Jac ky Ma rten s (Hus): R. Th ierr y Klut z (Hen): 9. Ced ric Melo t n(Yam); 10. jea n Marc Gaillard (He n). S PBK FINAL: 1. Eric Dcla nnoy (H us) : 2. Thierry God tro id (Ka w ), 3. David Baud elet (H u s): 4. Bori s Cha mbon (H us) : 5. Mika Sironcn Il-lus ): 6. Stefan Everts (H un ). 00 0\ 0\ ,....... oo~ N I-< (l) .o o ...... u o 23

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