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FIM World Championship 500cc MX Series Round 2: Crossodromo Gioiel1 Joel Smets 13) leads the pack out of the first tum at the Italian 500cc MX GP. In race two, he took the holeshot, led by the entire length of the start straight after one lap, and extended his lead by a further five seconds e~rY lap until he led by 30 seconds a er a quarter of an hour. Had he not sla kened his pace, Smets could have lapped virtually the entire field. "I don't know what happened to Andrea [Bartolini] in the first turn, but he took me right out, as he shot out of control across the front of the pack," Smets said of the first moto. "They did a great job on the track after yesterday's rain and I got to second no problem, but then the motor. stalled and I lost so many places. I rode a little cautiously the first few laps after that; I was afraid of it stalling again, but then I saw Andrea not too far ahead, and, after that, [Chris] Burnham and Darryll [King]. and I went for it again in the last few laps." As far as moto two, be said, "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I got the holeshot, but it's always a dilemma as to how to approach the race when you have to set the tempo. I decided to go wide open, and I soon noticed that no one could follow me. It was good practice to ride hard for 15 minutes, but then it was time to change tactic. The difficulty when you slow your pace is to maintain concentra- Story And Photos By ALEX HODGKINSON CASTIGUO.NE DEL LAGO, ITALY, APR. 2 nd who could argue with the Italian race fans? Language can be a barrier, but motocross is international, and just four days before his 31 st birthday, Joel Smets proved that he is one of the world's supreme off-road fourstroke racers, as he snatched his second consecutive win in the still new 500cc GP season. Ironically, the Belgian KTM rider did not, as at the 0l'ening GP in Australia, win both motos, but it was he, not moto winner Marnicq Bervoets, who circulated the hillside track to tumultuous applause from the partisan crowd. The crowd could, in normal circumstances, have been forgiven for wanting to see victory for national hero and defending champion, Andrea Bartolini. But just take the facts. Smets was put in the fence at the first turn of race one and was only 14th at the end of the opening lap. T~elve minutes later he was second, only to bog in a turn and stall the KTM. His was not the only four-stroke, which would prove difficult to restart this day, and, with half the race gone, he was back down to 20th. At the finish he missed second by the length of a wheel. A 18 APRIL 19,'2000' .. Y .. I e n e "'" S Smets extended his series points lead with 3-1 moto finishes. tion, but I did so. That was good practice too." But what about everyone else? The first-moto win was Bervoets' maiden victory in the 500cc class, and he came from the front. "I didn't gate first; Andrea for one got to the turn ahead of me," Bervoets said. "But I turned tight and Andrea was gone, along with everyone else from the outside. I pushed hard for the first three or four laps, and by then I had a 10-second lead and could see the second-place man on many of the loops. I just went into cruise control after that." Spaniard Garcia Vico was second initially, until he stalled his Yamaha and couldn't restart it. He stalked off sulking, leaving his mechanic to retrieve the bike from the far end of the track. They call it, "Latin temperament." Kiwi Darryll King then held second