Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Motocross Round 13: Folkendange/Ettelbruck FIM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 250cc MX SERIES By Geoff Meyer FOLKENDANGE, LUXEMBOURG, AUG. 8 n blinding h e a t and thick dust Honda rider Frederic Bolley wo n the Luxembourg 250cc Motocross Grand Prix and, in doing so, gained a few precious poi n ts on series leader, Winfield Kawasaki's Pit Beirer. While Bolley and Beirer, alon g with Yamaha r iders Mickael Ma schio and David Vuillem in, en ter tained the 30,000strong crow d with so me of the year's best racing, four-time World Motocro ss · Champion Stefan Everts was making his first appearance of the yea r since his p re -season crash. The combination of great racing and Eve rts' return to GP action kept the huge crowd ente rtai ned to say the least. What hap pen ed in Luxembourg on the rock ha rd , sun-baked Folke ndange tra ck co u ld on ly be d e scr ib ed as mo tocross at its best. In the first moto, it was come back rider Everts who blitzed ou t of the slight uphill starting straight and into the lead. The Belgians in the crowd were happy enough that Everts was back on the tr a ck, bu t when he started the day off in th e lead, well, it was almost mo re tha n thev could take. Everts ' burst , howe,;'er, las te d for o nly a few tu rns when he fell and remounted m id fiel d . Ev erts crashed again befo re the first lap was over, yet his race was far fro m done. The multitim e World Cha mpio n picke d his lines on the slip pery clay surface and, with a cou p le of laps rem ain in g , ra ced p as t series leader Beirer - like he was standing still: for fifth place. If Eve r ts' rid e was n ot e no ugh to excite the crowd, the battl e for the lead certain ly Was. Maschi o, Vuillemin and Bolley - the thr ee rid ers wh o quite possibly could lead Fran ce to the Motocross des Na tions championship next month in Brazil - raced side by side for the entire mot o, It was motocross racing at its best. The second moto was just as good, with Maschio, Bolley and, this time, Heir- I ,.. "'I' II III .. U liil " " en en ~ on "" gj g' ~ 22 er, battling back and forth. Beirer ended up getting the nod after pulling off some risky moves to keep his lead inta ct. When the riders first arrived at th e Folkendange track, many did not lik e what the y saw, especially Everts . "I wa s here a couple of months ago for my fi rs t rid e a fter my accid ent," Everts sai d . "They have done nothing since then . It's just been left alon e. This is one of th e worst tracks we have in Europe." American Rya n Hugh es, w ho h as never been known hold back his feel ings toward some of th e Eu ropean tracks (good or bad), made it clear that he wa sn't pleased, either. "I can' t say eno ugh abo u t this place," Hughes sa id. "It's the bigg est piece of crap tha t I have ever seen in my life. I told them on Thursday to do something to this place, water it, put som e time in to preparing the surface. They needed to run a machine over the top to rut it up. Why are people over here so lazy?" Hughes, comments w ere spot o n, though . The track was without doubt the worst of this year' s series. Had it not been for some overnight rain, the track could very well have been much worse. Fo r the first time a ll season, tire choice would be critical, and it was obvio us that manv riders made the wro ng choice. Frenchman David Vuillernin ~as one of them. Despite wi n ning th e first rno to , Vuillemin decided to ma ke a tire change fo r th e second m ot o, a nd it cos t him d early. "I sho uld've stayed wit h what I had," Vuille min said . "In the first moto, I was not happy at all, the bike was all ove r the pl ace. I cha nged to a ha rd er compound and it was eve n more slippery. I had no traction at all." Vuillemin shined in Saturday' s qu alification, as he clocked a 1:10.629 ahea d of fell ow Fre nc h ma n Mickael Pichon, w hose be st la p was 1:11.31 3 . Series lead er Beirer clocked a 1:11.471. Hug hes was second fastest in group B, stopping the clocks at 1:12.886. (Above) Mickael Maschio (8) grabs the holeshot at the start of the 250cc GP in Luxembourg. (Right) Overall winner Freder ic Bolley gained a few points on 250cc se ries , leader Pit Beirer.' All eyes were focu sed on Everts as the pack came to the tight left-handed first com er. Everts forged to the front , leading Maschio, Coppins and Pichon through the first tum. Coppins ended up going down in th e turn and th en rushed to remount to keep the rid ers in sight. Like Cop pi ns, Everts slipped ou t on the second comer but was up an d going again quic kly enoug h to salvage eighth place, two positions ahead of Hug hes . As th e fie ld b eg an to s p rea d ou t, Maschio fou gh t p a st Pichon w i t h Vu ille min following hjs tracks. Pichon had even mor e trouble, as both Beirer and Bolley eme rge d on the scene. Within another lap , Beir er was in third pla ce and Bolley was pressuring Pichon for an even tual pass. Everts su d denly went d own again, dropped to 14th on lap three and found himself stuck behind Dut ch rider Remy Van Rees for thr ee laps. pass; lost concen tra tion and let Bolley by him . " I was so mad ," Maschio sa id . "I shou ld've won; to finish third was very disappointing. 1 usu ally d rop off the pace, at least tha t is wha t has happened in the past." A couple of positions behind Bolley came Everts, who had passed Beirer two laps earlier. "I had some question marks before this race," Everts sa id. "I know now that 1 can race with these guys." Hug hes also mad e a bad tire choice and, like most of the field, was fighting his back wh eel that was slip ping aro und like he was on ice. "I got off th e line okay, p r ob abl y a bou t iou..- "H u g h es sai d . "T h en 1 moved past Collin Dugm ore and Leon Geisbe rs. My tire was not goo d , though, after a bo u t 20 mi nutes. 1 was ridin g okay, but it was not easy. Eventually I got by Coppins and Beirer."

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