Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

lhe riders' strike, which nearly came to fruition in Bellpuig, Spain, last week. apparently won't ever happen . The riders had a meeting with youthstream president Giuseppe Luongo, and Luongo told them ~ they strike, they will never race grand prix motocross again, or at least as longas [the 'routhstream group] is in control . With Youthstream havinga long-term contract with the FI M. it seems unlikelythat riders, such as Joel Smets, Mickael Pichon andStefan Everts, would put their GP careers in jeopardy, although all three are lookingat the '05 season as their chance to put pressure on youthstream. lhe main issue for the riders is that this year only the top 10 riders are being paid prize money, while next year no prize money willbe paid to the riders. Mickael Pichon was the most outspoken about the issue. "I made 200 euro in Spain," Pichon said. ''I'm a former World Champion, and I didn't make hardly anything. Luongo is ridingaround nice in a new car; he has a new boat, a big house , and people in this sport are not making any money. I have friends who have done the first three rounds andmade nothing. I've talked to them about going to America, and Iwill be on the phone to Americato try and line something up for them. As for next year, we willwork together for something . It's going to be better organized so we can make something happen. This year we got the rider contracts on January 18and had to have them back to youthstream on January 19. We need more time to make thesedecisions." Luongo is not abou t to make a change to his future plans, andhe is loo king at the future of the sport with open eyes and hope fUllya better future. "Maybe some of these riders should get realjobs ~ they can't afford to race," he said. "I think we need to look at the sport. It's in trouble in Euro pe , and there is not the money around like before. The teams can't find sponsors. We are alreatly 100,000 euro behind budget because some major sponsors have pulled out. people likeAlpinestars. We need to be serious about the situation. We will lose probably 500,000 euro each year for the first two or three years. It's not that we are making big money, not at all, but we believe that the sport willcorne good, so we are willing to work for the future ." here proved I am back. I still have some work to do, and today I was able to control the second moto, which was good for me. I have had so much bad luck in the last few races, and I came here with a slight back injury from Zolder. I can now look forward Luongo also mentioned about the 2005 calendar. saying China and Japan are nearly sure and Australia is a good chance to hap pen . All three are important stops for the series if the Grand Prix scene is to be taken more seriously. "China is 99.9 percent sure." Luongo said. "We have govemment back ing, and Japan is 80 percent sure, while Australia is SOpercent sure. We will probably race in Perth or Melboume in Australia and in Sugo in japan; they have a motocross circuit right near the road racing facility." to the series, knowi ng I am in with a good chance. I've got some points to make up. but I know I can do that now. It's been I I months since I won my last grand pri x. It's a good feeling. I went through a bad period. I never give up and even after my injury, and all I thought about was getting to the top level of the podium. I p ushed hard and was able to keep it with Everts." In the MX2 class, it was N e w Zealand's Ben Townley who ca ptu red t he overall wi th 1-2 results, while seco nd place went to Stephen Sword with a 3-1 ta lly. A 2- 3 m oto sc ore gave Ma rc de Re uve r t hird . In what is begin ning to look like a battle between Townley and Sword for the cham pionship, the two head into round four in Holland tie d for first place. For Townley it's the new challenge by Sword that will bring out the best in the KTM factory r ider. " I was surprised by his speed, fo r sure," Townley said of Sword. " H e' s gett ing confident, and in the second race I just couldn't get him. He held it together, and I hit the wall in the later stages of the race. I honestly think he will be my biggest rival in the series. I think he will be tougher than de Reuver. I hurt my ba ck on Weather played a minor roll in the event. Unlike the opening two ro und s, where heavy rain caused the riders all sorts of p rob lems, in Portugal the rain storms that have lashed Europe held out. It had rained all week in Portugal, although Saturday and Sunday saw sunshine, and the tra ck dried up enough for so me good racing , although the circuit was ve ry rough, with th ick mud on the o utside lines. Hike Brown made a q uick tri p to England to tes t the CAS Hon da 2S0F machin e . It is ru mo red t hat Brown might race in the next Grand Prix, in Valken swaard , Holland , on Ap ril 24. Kurt N icoll mentioned that Aust ralian Jay Harmont will race the AlMA 12Scc Supercros s Seri es in 2005, with suppo rt fro m the KTM factory. Marmont will be included in the sam e team , as grand prix rider Marc de Reuve r. N icoll, ho wever, woul d no t ma ke a stat ement o n james Stewart , althou gh he did say tha t t he ta lks were co ming along, and with oth er rumors mentioni ng Chad Reed go ing to Honda, the Stewart camp have become more interested in the KTM offer. Saturday - not sure what it is, just w oke up and fe lt pain in my back. Then, on Sunday, I woke up and felt a littl e sick , some type of virus or something ." In the opening MX I race, Everts was just about perfect, taking the lead early and holding on until the end. He did have some work to do early, as Pic hon and (Top) Pi chon chases down Stefan Everts. (Above) Ben Townley went 1-2 fo r the MX2· class win. Kenneth Gundersen pressu red the leader but for only a short time. Otherwise. Everts had clear sa iling. The Suzuki 4S0cc machines conti nue to have problems. joel Smets said that he might have stalled the bike in the seco nd mo to, although it was clear the bike just sto pped , leaving Smets st ran ded after the first moto. It's been the third Grand Prix in a row that Smets has had this problem. "I co uld maybe blame mysel f," Smets said. "I do n't know if I stalled it or if it just stopped. I was devastated afte r this happe ning again. Now, with some time off before the next Gp,we can look at the problem." "My start was good ," Everts said . "I www.cyclenews.com CYCLE NEWS • APRil 14, 2004 37

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