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/128184
night. The track is really soft, and there are rocks and glass in the dirt. On lap five, I went down and couldn't get up quick enough to keep the lead." In the second main, it was Steve Ramon who appeared to have the win in the bag, although on the last lap Evans pushed past to win ahead of Ramon, Aubert, Caps and Johnson. On Sunday afternoon, the small Belgian crowd in attendance witnessed a victory by local hero Ramon. The first semifinal win went to Aubert, ahead of Kovalainen, Plotts, Vialle and Atkins. Evans looked good to win the first semifinal, although after three crashes in the midstages of the race, the American finished ninth and thus would have to find his way to the finals via the lastchance qualifier. Semi two saw Johnson pull off a great win ahead of Caps, Ramon, Smets and Iven. Smets had held his own against Ramon and Caps early, although he slowly dropped off their pace for his fourth-place finish. Evans made up for his accidentridden semifinal by taking an easy win in the last-chance and making his way to the final. In the first main, Ramon gated well, with Johnson, Caps and Aubert close behind. It was Evans, though, who showed a great fighting spirit. Coming off the second row of the grid (due to his last-chance win), the American managed to enter the first lap in 10th place before getting into a battle with Kovalainen. Johnson, in the meantime, had crashed out, leaving Evans as the only other American in the field. Evans couldn't make his way past the Finnish rider, though, and had to settle for sixth place. In the second main event, it was again Ramon who led, while Evans continued again from the second row of the grid - something that cost him any chance of the weekend overall. Ramon used his better conditioning in the second final to take his second win of the night and the weekend, ahead of Aubert, Caps, Kovalainen and Evans, who once again rode brilliantly on a track that allowed for very little passing. For Ramon, though, it was his night. "I was a little tired on Saturday," Ramon said. "I also suffered from arm pump, although on Sunday I didn't make one mistake and was able to control both mains. I knew Aubert was behind me in one of the finals, although I just rode my own tempo and didn't let him bother me." eN Vlaanderen Stadium Blaermeersen, Belgium Results: November 23-24, Z002 O/A: 1. Steve Ramon (KTM); 2. Johnny Aubert (YlIm); 3. Tyler Evans (Suz): 4. Petrick Caps (KTM); 5. Merko Koval8inen (Kaw); 6. Stefan Ludwig (Kaw); 7. Frederic Vialle (Yllm): 8. Dlimien Plotts (Hon); 9. Donny Theybers (KTM); 10. Neil Prince (Hon) II. Peter Iven (KTM) 12. Doug Dehacn (Hon); 13. Cllsey Johnson (Yam); 14. William Poll: 15. Daryl Atkins: 16. Joel Smets (KTM). "CYCLE NEWS NEVER COVERS THE RACES IN MY AREA... ' DON'T JUST WHINE ABOUT IT••• WRITE ABOUT 'T! If you don't see local coverage in Cycle News of events in your area, you can help by becoming a Cycle News contributor. You write the story (and shoot photos) at your local club and track events, and submit the story to us for publication. We'll even pay you for what we print. All you have to do is call the Cycle News headquarters at 714·751·7433 (weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. p.s. T.; Tuesday thru Friday) and ask for a "contributor kit". We'll send you all the details about how to write local stories for Cycle News. REMEMBER... We can't run it if we don't get it! cue I e n e _ S • DECEMBER 1 1, 2002 31