Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

F IM World Cham pionship B DDcc MX Series Roun d 4 : C ircuit EI Calvaria o elseh "'t: S T O RY AND P HOT O S By G EO FF M EYE R ra ci ng . Th er e is no co m petition and I fe el this ye a r will n ot be see n as a real World Championship." What Everts said , how ever, did not matter to Smets, but what did matter to the facto ry -b acked KTM rider was to add to h is previous Australian and Italian GP wins , whic h he did. As the rider completed Saturday 's rain-d renched quali fication, the tall , blonde Smets wa s already the man to beat. Smets cloc ked a time of 2 m inutes and 15.30 seconds, nearly a se c o nd qu ic k er t h a n second - p laced Andrea Bart olini, with Bart olini's Yamaha teammate Marn icq Bervoets in th ird pla ce . Furthe r ba c k ca me KTM rider Shayne King in s ixth place , with Husq varn a 's Darry ll King in ninth place. "I do n 't r e ally lik e the track , " Smets sa id. "It's rough and they ha ve brought in spe cial s an d , whi ch h a s turned to mud . It will ta ke some co ncentrating to not crash o n th is track a n d pa s sing w ill a ls o b e d iffi cul t , sta rt s wil l be m ore im po rta nt than OS(]NA, SPAIN, APRIL 23 o t much has cha nged in the World 500cc Motocross Ch ampion s hips , as Joel S mets continues to ro ll over his riva ls with ease. His lat e st thra s h ing came in Spa in , where he ca pt ured his third win in the se ries after to ppi ng both motos re latively easily. "I don 't fe e l I a m rid ing a ny fa ster th an in the p ast ," Smets sa id af te rwa rds . "I kno w KTM ha s helped m e very much , and the Husaberg I ha d ridd en for the past few ye a rs was a t the end of it' s d ev e lopment lev el , I think racing would'v e been e asier in Spain had I had Ste fan Ev erts chasing me , rather than winn in g both races so easily ." The injured Ev erts wa s in Spa in but only as a s pe cta tor. As a guest to his sponsors, he had some sting ing wo rds for Smets. Hav ing watched th e Spanish 500cc GP a n d th e Dutch 500cc GP t wo weeks earli e r, h e la be led the Open cla ss c ha m pions hip a joke, e ve n going as far a s to say that nob od y c o u ld tak e th e 2000 series serio u s ly. The s e we re harsh words a nd somet hi ng th at wil l certainly fuel Smets ' de s ire when Everts does re turn to action s o me t ime in the future . "I am not im p res sed at a ll," Everts said. "I don't see anything but boring Sunday dawned with s uns hine and althou gh the track had dried out, the rou gh e dge had not been taken a wa y . Some areas that th e riders had asked to be were not and, once a gai n , it wa s a professiona l ev ent run on a s em iprofessional circuit. W ith the ho le shot of p rem ier im port a nce it was no surpris e that Smets b o lted in to turn one and led the rid ers up a s light hill section of 44 n N MAY 10. 2000 ' c ue • e usual. " e vv s the tra c k. In se cond a nd th ird pla ces ca me Peter Johansson a n d Andrea Bartolini, wit h Darryll King in fourth and Marni cq B ervoets fifth. Ne w Ze a la nder Shayne King, making o ne o f h is fe w Eu ropean appea rances , he ld ninth p lace . As Smets crui sed out front, Johansson and Da rryll King had problems. "Bartolini passed me on the sec ond corner," J oha ns s on s aid. "I ha d real trouble getting near Smets . I fe lt I had the speed , but Bartolini wa s just quicker in that s pot on the track and it cost me a lot of time ." Dar ry ll Kin g , who h ad , in fac t , ente red t he firs t turn in third pla c e , fo u nd h im s e lf in la s t, a s th e field headed over the back section of th e undulati ng Osuna track. "I got into the s e cond turn alri gh t," King sa id. "Then as I s hifte d into sec ond gear a nd o pene d th e thro ttle, th e bike h it neutra l. Like an id iot, J got up with the other rider s all ra cing off into th e d ista nc e. " King 's yo u nge r brother , Sh a y.ne , was not as un lucky a s his older sib ling Darryll, as he found passing a little les s difficult . "I got an ok ay start," King said. "I was in the top 1O. Th is track wa s re al tou gh for pass ing, [but] due to racing S upercross th e past few months , I was rea lly a g g ress ive, us ing Superc ro ss mov es a nd getting by guys that wa y." Smets , though , was having little trouble with an yone , o nly the tra ck Joel Smets w as in a cla ss a ll hi s own at th e Spanish 500cc GP . He wo,\ bot h motos going away_ giving him a challenge, as he crosse d the finish line for th e win . "It m igh t'v e looked ea s y, but it was not ," Smets said. "You ha ve to watch every corner, ev ery line you to ok . I got a great sta rt and t hat setup my ra c e really . I wa nted to set a quick pace ea rly and try and get away from everyo ne , it worked out perfect for me. " In seco nd pl a c e was Be rv o e t s , comi ng back from h is less - t ha n imp re s s ive start , th e Ya ma ha rider pa s sed Yamaha te a m m ate Ba rto lin i with la ps runn ing ou t, bu t h is hope of catc h ing Sm e t s woul d n e v er t a k e s hape . "O nce I could g et b y Andr ea, I look ed for J oel," Bervoets s ai d . "He wa s long g on e, n o p o int try in g to ca tc h h im , I'm really di sa ppo in te d , I've onl y lost a few points to him, but I ne ed to gain poi nts ." Third -placed Bartolini had waged a wa r on J oh an sson, but the two wer e m a king s ev eral e rror s . But Bartolini ma de just one less than the Swedi sh ride r. "We we re all over the place, " Bartolini s aid . "I held se cond for while , th en nearly c ras hed, th en Peter made a m is take . We were nev er going to get to Smets th e way we were riding . I'm happy though , I'v e on ly just started a

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