Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128009
Preview 1999 United States Grand Prix 250cc MX Championships Greg Albertyn (right) will be dicing with some of his old "friends" aga in, such as longtime rival Stefan Everts (far right). raci ng and he's not just a racer , but also a fan . His ad mira tion for the Americans goes back to w hen he was a b oy a nd hi s id ol wa s American lege nd Johnny O'Ma ra, " It wo uld mean a lot to me to win in USA," Everts said . " I ha ve been injured , but now I'm ge tting m y fi tn ess ba ck . By th e tim e Budd s Creek comes around, I will b e 100 p ercen t fit. O f cou rse I wo u ld like to get so me reven ge on Tort elli, but that's not my only p roblem . I might need to help (Fred ric) Bolley win a cha m pionship." As soon as Eve rts returned fro m his early-seas on knee inju ry , he reveal ed the thr ee things he wanted to do on his return to motocro ss.'Winning the USGP was his number-o ne priority. Th ere is also the Tortelli factor. When the French rider took Everts' World 250cc Cha m pionshi p at th e end o f the 1998 season, Everts was shocked . A week later , Everts was seeki ng vi ndica tio n a t th e Moto cr oss d e s a tio ns , but Tortelli b roke hi s fo o t a n d Eve r ts w o n bo th mot os. ot bei ng able to beat To rtelli ou trig h t and regain respect ha s eaten away at Everts for the past year. He'll be p um ped for Bud d s Creek like no other race. If Everts is pumped to beat Tortelli, then he sho uld also be read y for Albertyn. Afte r all, it was Alberty n w ho took the 1993-'94 World 25 0cc C ham pionships ahead of Everts. The 1994 loss still p lays on Evert's mind . Entry List Rid r # By Geoff Meyer and Jerry Athey h e World 250cc Motocro ss Championships are retu rning to America . In wha t possibly wi ll be the greatest battle in mod ern day mo tocross histo ry, some of America' s best and the rest of the world 's best will clash on the beau tiful and spectatorfriend ly Budds Creek track in Maryla nd . To make matt er s even more in teresti ng, th e Bu d d s C reek G P will ult im at el y decide the ou tco me o f the 1999 World 250cc Motocross Champion Series. What more could you ask for? If ever there was a near -perfect lineup of rid ers, this is it: Greg Albertyn, the 1992 World 125cc a nd 1993-' 94 250cc MX Cha m pio n (and quite possibly the next AMA 250cc National Cha m pio n); Stefan Eve rts, the 1991 World 12Scc and 1995-' 9i World 250cc MX Cha m p ion; and Sebastien Tortelli, the 1996 Worl d 125cc and 1998 World 250cc MX champ. The last time these grea ts raced togeth er on 'the same track was, well never. Yes, Budds Cr eek will be the first tim e th e three World 250cc Ch ampi ons have raced on th e s a me tra ck at the same time . Additionall y , th e 1991 World 250cc cham p Trampas Park er will make a special one-off 250cc appearance. Ryan Hughes, Mike Brown, and Jeff Dement will join Park er representing the American contin gent wh o compete on the GP circuit on a regular basis. Even Micka el Pichon, who many Am ericans love to hate after his alterca tion with a race official, will be at Budds Creek. Unfo rtu na te lv , a few well-know n racers won 't be at Budds Creek, including the mu ch-loved Dou g Hen ry. Henry cannot race his Yama ha four-stroke due to World Mo to cr o s s C ha m pio ns hi p rules. Honda will not send their trio of Mike La Rocco, Ezra Lu sk a nd Kevin U '" '" '" ~ C1> .c E oS! Q. C1> en 26 Viewing doesn't get much better than this, The sce nic Budds Creek track in Maryland Is one of the most spe ctator-friendly in the country, s o you won't mis s any of the action when the GP stars come to town, such as Pit Beirer and Frede ric Bolley. With two round~ left in the ser ies Germany (August 29) and Budds Creek (September 12) - just three points separate the two title contenders. The ser ies finale at Budds Creek should be outstand ing. Name Team/Moto~ 1 2 Sebast ien Tort elli Stefan Everts American Honda Hadson -Honda Belgium 3 5 6 Pit Beirer Germany Frederic Boll ey Tallo n Voh land Wi nfield -Kawasaki Radson-Ho nda Hond a Mickael Maschio Leon Giesbers Paul Cooper Joshua Copp ins Yamaha W infi eld -Suzuki SOCAL.Husqvarn a W infi eld -Suzuki Remy van Rees Kawasak i PAMO-Honda S 9 10 13 t9 France United States France The Netherland s Great Brita in The Netherlands The Netherlands Switzerland 32 Phil ippe Dupasquier 33 37 Collin Duqmere KIKO-Suzuk i South Africa Mark Jones Jiri Cepelak Radson-Honda Yamaha Gordon Crockard CAS -Honda Winfield-Suzuki Honda PAMO-Honda Great Britain Czech Republic Ireland 41 Win dh am, nor w ill Ya ma ha 's Jim m y Button attend. Like Lak occo, Bu tton will b e in England fo r a s upercross race , Rick y Ca rmic hael, Jeff Emig a nd John Dowd will be non -start ers, as well. Even wit ho u t some of the top Americans, 'it will sti ll be a race to match an ything you migh t have seen in the AMA-sa nctioned outdoo r series this year. The best -placed American mot ocross rider will be Larry Ward , who is ninth in the AMA poin ts standings and will probably give the Euros so me hurry- up. Ward, kn own as Mr. Europe because of all of his wi ns in Eur opea n supercross races, co u ld b e the d ark h or se in th e USGP. Several rid ers ar e hungry for the GP win , but Belgian Stefan Evert s wants the r a ce b adl y . He ' s n e ve r co m p e te d in Ame rica on a full-time basis and there w ill always be a qu esti on mark in the mind of the world wh eth er or not Everts can win in the Unit ed States. If Everts can beat Albertyn and Tortelli at Budd s Creek, he might be conside red by some as going into the new centu ry as the bes t rider in the wo rld . Of co u rse, Tortelli an d Alber tyn. ha v e th e sam e id ea . It d oes no t ma tt er h o w m an y cha m pi onships one has. The burning d esi re to be the best is what dri ves cham pions. Eve r ts has a high regard for AMA J:.9..!1n~ France 50 57 58 70 8rian Jorgansen lauris Freibergs Ryan Hughes Denmark Latvia United States 74 Alessandro Belometti Yamaha Italy 99 Dav id Vuillemin Mike Brown United States Finland 100 101 112 Jussi Vehvilainen Mickael Pichon Yamaha Honda Honda Suzuki 114 Lance Smail KTh1 United States United States South Africa United States Canada United States United States United States 207 208 217 221 227 236 252 253 292 Larry Ward Suzuki Gre9 Albertyn Robbie Reynard Jean-Sebastien Roy Suzuki Brock Sellards Jason McCormick FMF-Honda Planet Honda Kevin Crine Pedro Gonzalez Suzuk i Kawasaki of Mexico Tom Welch S uzuki Suzuk i Honda France France Mexico United Stat es Per FlM (the European federation) rules, only 10 riders from the host country - plus "wild card - , entries - are allowed to compete. and only eight riders from any other country . Since this is a FIM-sanc tioned race, the rider numbers are going to be different than the AMA numbers we are already used to . To make things easy, however, in most cases , the American riders are going to compe te with their regular AMA numbers but with the number -2- (or - 20 ' for single-digit numbers) tacked on in fro nt of them. The exce ptions .are Tallon Voh land, Lanc e Smail and M ike Brown. Instead of running ' 7 11.- Vohland wi ll be riding with the number ' 6 ' plate, since that's the number he earned last year in the World Championship 250cc M X Senes. Lance Smail has been given a permanent FIM number, ' 114, - since he plans to ride the last three GP rounds, and M ike Brown will stick with his number ' 100, ' which is the number he wears in this year's World Championship 125cc MX Series.