Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Motocross Round 10: Omloop van der Kesterheide WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP250cc MOTOCROSS SERIES h e firs t turn in ra ce two nd Vuillemin edged out aschio entering tum two to ead . By the end of the lap they were ou t of sig ht of th eir ri vals be fo re Vuillem in "lost rhy t hm," w hich ena bled Maschi o to lead. But not for lon g. On the next lap, Belley, ha ving mad e s hort work of Jos h Coppins on lap two , se t his sig hts n the Yam ahas. In the space of a si n gl e lap , h e pulled b a ck th e am aha duo's th ree-second lead, a ss ed them bo th , and was read y racing clea r. That's how u ch bet ter than the rest Bolley as at Kester. ' Vuillem in recaptu red secon d Ifway th rou gh the race, and th e m a z in g Bervoe ts eventually u sh ed Ma sch io off the podium. Beirer wa s in trouble, having completed the first lap in 18 th after a n apparent incid ent with Hugh es. Th e American offered his exp lanation of the scene . "I wa s'already on wh at I considered to be th e ou ts ide line," Hughes said , "a nd he tri ed to go around me. Th ere was no con tact. He just lost it in the soft dirt." Hu gh es co u ld a dva nce no furth er th an fifth fro m seven th o n la p o ne, while Beirer, who d idn't eve n make the top 10 until the race was 15 minu tes old , didn' t panic and was eventua lly a distan t sixth. _ By Alex Hodgkins on kESTER, BELGIUM, JUNE '}] n the first true motocross track on the 250cc GP sched ule since the Spanish open er, where h e also won bo th mote s, Frederic Bolley proved totall y dominant. From the very first lap of practice at the rugged Kester track on th e ou ts ki r ts o f Bru ssels, th e Rad son Honda sta r w as in a class of his own and pulled back a qu arter of his deficit in the stand ings on lead er Pit Beirer to now sit 33 poi nts off the pace. With th e p o ints equally d ivid ed among th e o the r titl e chasers, Ry an Hughes maintained fifth pl a ce , 56 points down on Beire r, af ter 3-5 moto finish es. Bolley did not tak e the ho leshot but he also didn't have to pass anyone to win race on e. Mickael Maschio had been the initia l leader - he had come from the outsid e of a very fair gate to cut across BoIley, from the inside, and the Kawasakis in the middle - to lead for 2\ laps . "I m ust have fried the clutch on the lin e," Maschio sa id. "I had too much p lay and stalled in a tight tum." Losing eig h t pla ces, the Magic Bike teams ter had to se ttle for an even tu al sixth. Bolley thus inheri ted the lead wi thou t a fight, but he then proceed ed to mo ve relentlessly awa y to show that his practic e tim es nearly tw o seconds up on eve ryone els e - w ere no fluk e. By half-di stance he wa s coasting. as Beirer fo ug h t o ff Hu gh es , Bervo et s a n d Vuillemin. Beir er und oubtedly ben efited from Be lley's speed . With the Fr enchman soon ou t of sigh t, th e Ge rma n had no O » Omloop van der Kesterhe ide Kester, Belgium Results: J une 27,1 999 (Round 10 of 16) one to chase and could con tent himself wi th protecting his seco nd pla ce rat her than riding over his head . Hughes closed in at times, but Beirer ne ver left a ga p a nd, in th e end, th e entire top five - each havin g long since g ive n up a ll hope of im p ro vin g their score - were well-s p read-ou t w it hou t changi ng position th rou gh out the entire 45 minu tes. "Is it against a new rul e in the 2505 th at yo u' re not all ow ed to overta ke?" que ried the onlooking Kurt Nicoll. Bervoets, hi s right a rm bearing a n open wound and his left palm sore after the removal of thr ee stitches on Friday, was u nabl e to tra in all week, and with tape blocking his rear brak e from ha lfd istanc e, he was a brave fou rth, ahead of Vuillemi n. "Every tim e I tried to a ttack, I go t in to all s or ts of p roblems," Berv oets said. " It was wiser to settle for fifth." The 250cc regulars got' a shoc k when Danny Theybers held off the rest for 30 minutes as he circulated in sixth on the KTM in h is first tw o -s tro ke ride for nearly two years, but eve ntu a lly a fall dropped him back to nin th. No t one Yamaha but two led around Brieflv ... . --. S te fa n Eve rt s will make his racing comeback on July 25 at a British Championship round as a Wild-cardentry. Everts attended the Kester GP to nde twolaps. salutinqthecrowd. The Be lg ia n 25 0c c GP contingent has been decimated this year. Stefan Everts and W erner Dewit have been o ut since the sta rt of . 0> 0> 0> ~ 34 (Top) Frederic Bailey flat dominated both motos of the Belgian 2SOcc Grand Prix at Kester. With the overall win, the Frenchman rallied to pull within striking distance of series points leader Pit Beirer. (Above) Homefront hero: Despite racing with the terrible injuries that he rece ived at the last round of the series, Mamicq Bervoets (foreground , right) soldiered to 4-3 mota finishes in front of his countrymen, netting third overall. the year. Peter Iven has a broken hand and, forced to take a break anyway, has had an. operation on an old shoulder.injury. Peter NIjs shattered the little fingeron his left hand when he hit a post last we ek, and Redi Van Leeuwen has anabcesson the leg, which has . been getting progressively worse . Marnicq Bervoets. back in action after. his first-turn crash the previous weekend, was thus the only regular in his home GP. -I had the three stitches in myleft hand and the seven stitches in my right arm taken out this afternoon ," explained the Kawasaki star on Friday: "bUt the wound immedla~ely opened on illy arm, ( . MO TO 1: 1. Frederic Belley C n); 2. Pit Beirer Ho (Ka w) : 3. Ryan H ughes (Ho n); 4. Mamicq Be rvoets (Kaw l; 5. Da vid Vuil lem in (Yam); 6. Mickacl Maschio (Yam); 7. Josh Co ppins

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