Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"It must have go t caught u p in something, " said Drew, lookin g d own at the badly man gled wheel. "It's missin g 10 spokes and is completely ben t up." From lap four on, Everts and Wind ham pl a yed a ca t-a n d- mouse g a me , wh ich saw the two eve nly matched rid er s ra ce around th e Ind aia tuba circu it waiting for so me thing to give. As th e race progressed int o its mid stage, Everts was able to open a lead of approximately fou r second s. Following th e battle, and almost half a lap behind them, were Australia n Mark Mac Farlan, Dutchman Leon Giesbers, Finn Marko Kovalainen and Ita lian Cla udio Federici , who was doing his pa rt for the Italian way of life. Eleven lap s in, after following James Dobb arou nd for the entire race, 12Scc World Champion Alessio Chiodi made his move to th e fro nt, and all looked we ll for Team Italy . Ho lding down third in the 12Scc hornet's ne st was, on ce again, Vuillemin. Fourth wa s guard ed by Finn [ussi-Pekka Vehvilaine n, With two laps to go, Windham beg an to make his move on Evert s. Turn after turn, hill after hill, straigh t after straight, Windham ate aw ay at the Belgian 's lead to where, on the last lap, the cro wd was on its feet and screaming at the two ride rs , who w ere n ow but a fe w bik e lengths apart. But Everts did not falter, taking a close victory - by 2.328 of a second - over the disappointed American. (Evert s and Windham's lap times we re over 3 seconds- a-la p quicker than those of any rid er racing on Sund ay.) "In the beginning he jus t kind of got away from me," said Windham back in the USA bunker. "At the end I thought I had him covered, but he just got away fro m me at the beginning of the race. I thin k I need to wo rkon the opening of my races. It seems like back in the States I've always been known for starting out a little slow in the beginn ing and finish ing well. "I don't think Ever ts made me look bad , I felt like I wa s there the whole tim e," continu ed Windham. "He go t a good start on me. Since I have a good starting technique, I was put on the outside gate because the team exp ects me to come ove r a little bit bett er. I do know one thing, he sure looked tired after the race. He go t off his bike and just fell on the ground where peopl e we re pouring wa ter on,him . I feel fine." For Everts, the battl e wit h Windham was no easy feat. "At the end of the race, I was a little bit tired," said th e Belgian w hile rid ing rider among the A meri cans? Kevi n Winpham . The native 'of Baton, Ro uqe , Louisiana: w as hounded by fans seeking his 'autograph or the chance to ' have thei~ picture taken with him: a stati onary bicycle and eating a peach in the Belgium team's pits. "I got a littl e bit nervous because some of the lapped rid ers w ere in th e wa y. It wa s pretty tou gh because I had a pretty big lead at one stage and then I lost it, so it wasn't easy. In the beginning I struggled a little bit , but in the middle, when I s ta rted to get away from him , I sta rted to rela x. But a t the end I go t' nervous again and got tense, and that' s w hy I go t so tired. I won and that 's w ha t' s im portant. Even though we have tw o bad 12Scc scores, I still w ant to w in the secon d ra ce. Even though you guys (Ame rica) ca n 't wi n, W indh am will want to becau se it' s for the hon or. But for us we still wa n t to w in , so m y fr iend Joel (Smets) here and I are going to try and d o it." Placing third in the moto with a fine rid e was Geisbers, while MacFarlan had held on to fourth. Beirer was fifth and Fede rici sixth. In the 12Scc class, Chiodi flash ed across the fin ish line with th e and the German team. and guys like him can play a big part overall results end up : " ,. ,nhow the Everts Whil e it still is not etched in sto ne. it looks as though 'S t e f a n will . " , It looks as though Team Kawasaki will be attendlnq the fast-approachbe exiting the 250cc class for the 500cc, class in 2000 . " I'm real happy with the way things hav e gone with Husqvarna." Everts said, " I have had ' ing round of the W orld Supercro ss Series at the Pasadena Rose Bow l. to work . w ith a si tuat io n that. at 'time s . wa s ve",y di ffic ult (referri ng "to - W e have th e majori ty of our test ing do ne and w e are loo king for ' a · 'chance to race 'our bikes." said Bruce Stjernstrom while in Braz il. ~ With Honda). Now I am dealing with Husqvam a. that has never work ed ' with a new guys (J ohn D owd and ' Larry W ard) and new bikes: we want to see ' big rider . and they will be motivated to produ ce a great bike because their ' , image depends on' it. If I do we ll on the bike I can help make Husqvama a howwe do in batt le co nditions . ~ " big brand-name like Yamaha. Suzuki. Kawasaki or Honda. I am very excitSatu rday afternoon' s qualifying s e s sio n s provi ded sonie high drama ed about the pot ential in wo rking w ith Husqvarna, - . for the 20 ' teams present in Brazil. Do ne in three individual segments . . . 125. 250 and Ope n. the sessions allowed each team to see whena they In Brazil. Stefan E-':erts was cUri~us to see if there were si ill repercussio ns stoo d against one another. The first sess ion was ' the 125cc bikes, 'w ith back in America regarding his now -famous " Am e rican s are c o w a rds" American Ricky Carmichael pulling the fastest time at the,very end of the quote refering to the lack of American-based riders.that showed up to race , session. w ith a 2: 13.229. Second, quick est was Italian A lessio Chiodi. · the Budds C reek U.S, G P. " Hey. have people st ill been talking about what wi th a 2: 14.00 0 . Third fastest was David Vuillernin at 2:14 .426. Kevin I said abo ut the Americans?- asked Everts with a smile. . W indham wa s the fast est 250cc class rider. flying around the lndaiatuba circuit w ith a 2:10.320 . Second fastest was St efan Evert s w ho circ ulated J oel ,S m ets was in good spirits on Satu rday aft ernoon. happy to be in ' the track 'at 2 :11.84 3. Finland's Marko Kovalainen was third quickest 'with Brazil representing his co untry at the M XdN , "Thr's is the easiest race of a 2:13.670 .. Interesti ngly . Carmic hael' s t ime w ould have made him the the year for me to ge't motivated. - said the four-stoke 'star. - I played footthird-fastest 250cc rider. The last session to go was the Op en class. wi th , ball (socce r) for eight years: and J really like team spo rts , I like to do well Italian And rea Bart ol ini t he leading ' man 'w it h a 2 :12.4 71. Belgian J oel . ' for the team .and my ent husiasm for thi s race helps moti vate my teammates.' It 's myfavorite race of the year and, to me, it feels like it' s Bel: Smets w as second wi th a2:14,559 lap andFredericBolley third with a 2:15,38 7. A merican M ike LaRocco . riding a 250c c Honda. was fift h at gium vs . all the other teams, Wh en I am at the M ot ocross des N ations. I ' 2:16.781 : " . . ' , really feel like l'rn part o f a team. instead of a .G rand Prix rider. " . ' Fo;l~wing i he firs t :practice' se~sion. R ic'ky 'C~rmichael was 'pleased , Natio~~ win~ers. E~erts> Three mulii-time ' Belgian M6tocr'o ss des namely with his time. but' not ve ry enthusiastic abou t thetrack. "Yeah, it's all , Smet s and M arnicq Bervoet s. will all face' off against one another next year r igh t ." he 'said w hile taki ng o ff his boot s: "But it' s so easy : There 's ' in the FIM 500cc class. "All three of us will ride four-sto kes in the Open . class next year.", said Sme ts, wi th Evert s listening in, -W e are happy to .now here out there to make up time . - . ' .have ali three of us ra'cing in the same class, but only one ofus can win. Thankfully we willh ave the M otocross des Nations to win together ..Wi th Amer ican Honda Teani M anager Cliff'White wor king back home in Torrance . Californ ia, tuner Mike, Gosselaar was tapped to keep an eye .on not only U .S.-born Honda rider s Kevin Wi ndham and M ike laRocco . T~ set ' the field for Sunday' s main 'events: three qua lifYing races w ere but also Frenchman and American Hond a racer Sebastien Tort elli. " Yeah: held on' Sat urday afternoon : In the first race. the 125cc .c1ass. Englishma'n I'm here helping out ' - ,I guess 'it' s bett er I get mugged than Chff. " joked James Dobb led from the start only to be passed by Ricky Carmichael on Gosselaar in regard to Sao Paulo's not orious reputation for pickpoc kets lap two . However. Carmichael. eager to pull away, washed out in coroner and purse snatchers . At leastGoss elaar didn't have to worry about the : ' and hitthe gro und. He got to his feet quickly and began 'reeling in Dobb latt er. . ' . once again. A few laps later . h e fell yet again. Undaunted. Carmichael go t up and charged hard and narrowly missed Dobb by half a bike length at the Six-Time 250 ccWorid Ch ampi on Joel Robert was. once again. 'acting finish. " The first time I fell. l.was just being ,too aggress ive. " said R.C . as field mar shal for Team Bel gium. D esig nat ed as Team M anag e r . "The second 'time he blew the berm up and there was nothing left for me Robert had his hand s full in Brazil. : , (J oell Sm et s and (Patrtc krCe ps' -to hit:Besides that: I felt really good out there." The second qualifier for the 250 cc bikes was a Kevin W indham affair. Grabbing the holeshot and bik es didn't get here until 10 p.m. last night." 'he said w hile puffing on had to come back here at 7 a.m. , 'methodically pulling 'away lap after lap, the M otoci oss des Nations rook ie his eve r-pre se nt cigarette: "Then and fini sh 'everything up: W e' have t wo ve rY st rong riders (Eve rts and " won theheat overGerman Pit Beirer by 6:89 seco nds . In the final heat of ,Smets) that want to finish their season on a 'good note: Stefan missed ' the dey..new 500 cc World Champion Andrea Bartolini took an impressive mo st ' of 't he year wi th a broken' l eg' and .Joel 'has struggled with bik e . "win' over Frederic Bolleyand a' hard· chargin g M ike LaRocco : who was , problem s all season. - Wh en pre ssed on how Team Belgium migh t do. , impressive in a calculated c harge toward the front: . ' . · Robe rt "took' the politic ally correc troute: - Cap s will be t he guy t o put ' , . . . . . .our team ove rthe top. If hedoes notqet a goo d result in the first moto , ' Due to a co mbinatio n of injuries and lack of budget. Sweden and New :the team wil l knowit will have to work very hard to make' up the differ- . Zealand did not atte nd the 1999 running 'o f the M XdN_ ' .' . · . ..' ' .. · ence .. But if h e ,does we ll, I think we' will do ve ry wei ! '· look at how ' it ' .worked last y ear at Foxhill (where Caps was the top 125cc finisher in ' Upcoming des Nations schedu le' 2000,' Saint Jean d·Angel y. the first mot o) . However . I t hink' ltaIY. Am erica. France and Belgiu m w ill ' Fran c e : 2001 : It aly : 200 2. K e s t er . B el qiurn : 2003 . TBA; 2004 . ·be very st rong. .There are .teams w ith one good rid er .: like (Pitl. Beire( · Valkenswaard . Holland, ' . a we MX (A b ove left ) Carm ichael (left) and Windham were obvio u sly disappointed with their team's results. (Above) One of Carm ic hael's crashes result ed in this broken throttle cable . win, wi th Dobb second and Vuillemin third . Af ter th e comp letion of the second mota, Team Italy led . the overall scores wi th 26 poin ts over Holland (39 poi nts), Grea t Britain (43) , Be lgium (46) and France (49). Team USA was in 16th, just a h ea d of Japan, Slovenia, Bra zil a nd Arge ntina. MOTO THREE Th e s ta rt of m ot a th r ee was nervous tim e for th e nations that still had a sh ot at the Chamberla in Tro ph y. And w hen the ga te dropped , it was Bartolini and hi s Yamah a d ivin g int o the fir s t turn w it h a no th er ama zi n g ho lesh ot, th e fou r-ha ngers having an obvio us horsep ower adva n tage o n th e s ta rt hill. In h is wa ke - a nd h olding tru e to th eir mast er plan - wer e Sme ts a nd Everts . Windh am, m eanwhile, w ho h ad al so ga ted well, was caug ht behind a fallen rid er, d ropping all the way back to 24th pl a ce. Elsew he re, b oth LaR o cco (i n 18th) an d Tortelli (in 24th ) we re in dire s tra it s a n d well ou t o f th e h u n t. For four con se cu tive la ps, Srne ts a nd h is Hus aberg shadowed Bartolini and w as loo king over his shou lder, encou ra gin gly, fo r tea m m at e Ev er ts . O ne lap lat er , Sme ts w aved Everts by and th e two fle w in formation . At th is poin t, thi ngs looked good for Belgi um, but in th e b a t of a n e ye , Sm e ts ' Hu sab er g tu rne d into a pumpkin, spu ttering to a stop at th e side of the tra ck, the gas line no w separa ted from th e tank . Smets rode the bike back to the signa ling area and rested his head in d isappointment upon th e crossbar. It was all ov er for Belgium. Una wa re of wha t had happened with his teammate, Ever ts took on the chase o f Bartolini, m ak in g hi s move on lap , nin e, and di sa ppear in g with th e lead . Running in third was a rock-solid Frederic Bell ey, w ith Fede rici in a sa fe and secu re fourth . Whil e all of this w a s going on, Tor telli, Wind ham and Lak occo were m oun t in g im p ress ive run s through the field . By la p 11, Tortelli had motored all the way up to fifth, disp lacing Fed erici one position . A lap later, the two Americans - LaRocco and Windham - had sla mmed and banged thei r wa y into sixth and ninth; respectively. And tha t' s how it wou ld end. With one lap to go, the Italian contingent, bearing flags, shed d ing tears and all, began gathering a t the finish ar ea . And when Bartolini came rolling across the line, a large roar went up from both the Italian mob and the teeming gra ndstands . After 53 yea rs, and a number of near misses, Italy fina lly had their first CN Motocross des N ations win. Motocross des Nations In daiatuba, Braz il Results: Septe m be r 26, 1999 O/A : 1. Ita ly; 2, Fra nce; 3, Belgiu m; 4. United Sta tes: 5. Great Brita in; 6. Holland; 7. Spain, 8. Australia; 9. Germany ; 10. Ja pa n. . ~ ' Ql .c o U o 11

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