Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

FI M W orld Cha m p io n ship 250 0 0 MX 5 eries MANTOVA, ITALY, APR. 30 i c k a e l Pichon pulled off an i mp ressi v e do ub le w in i n th e Ita lian 250 MX GP at Mantova to build yet further on his championship lead. A quarter of the way through the series he leads defending champion Frederic Bo lley by 39 points. The GP also marked the return to race action for Ryan Hughes, one of two other riders to have recorded a moto win th is year. Unbeaten in his two prev ious visits to Mantova for the early season Inv it ational Classic , the A merican knew before the start that his cha nces were slender. "I've o nly been back in Eu rope for the last week," he said . "I have been out practicing an d my speed is go od for a few laps, but..." Asked if he could ride without pa in in his broken wrist, Hughes replied , "I could say yes, but I'd be lying. But I gotta try ." And how he tried , more than dou bling his previous seasonal points score with 22 points from 4-7 moto fin ishe s. Ryno 's on ly previous sco re had been 20 points from a moto wi n in Sp a in, t he o nly GP moto he h ad previo usl y been ab le t o contest this year. T he fi rst moto was a walkover, as Pich o n quickly de moted the quick - starting Lauris Fre ibergs and Ale x Belometti , while his major rivals struggled t o advance up the leaderboard. It was 15 m inut es before Fed erici and Bolley co uld get to second and th ird , respective ly , and by then the Suzuki was a quarter of a minute ahead . When Bolley took second five minutes later the two Frenchmen declared a truce; it would have been pointless for either to push harder, and on th e first hot race da y of the summer, both were to need all their energy in rac e two. The duo led the pack already on the first lap of race two and fo r 20 m in utes Pichon seemed in co ntr ol. " T h e n I go t stomach c r a m p s," Pi ch on said. " W e touched the first t im e Fred attacked, so I decided it was better to let him past the second t ime. I just tried to stay close enough to give myself a chance if it cleared . After a coupl e of la ps the pain was gone and I rushed him aga in. But that was a hard race. I think we have all given 100 percent." Bolley agreed that neither had held back this ti me. " I had n o answe r when Mickael c ame again," Boll ey said. "I had fe lt co nfident earlier in the race and had no difficulty to pass, but I go t cram ps in my leg. Today wa s the firs t hot race and we were all suffe rin g by the end." In their wake was also plenty of action . 44 n STORY AND PHOTOS BY ALEX HODGK INSON M MAY 17.2000' cu e • e eVIl's Pit Beirer had already crashed at tu rn two in the first moto. "T here were riders everywhere in those fi rst few turns." Beirer said . " I had to go for it, the bik e side-swiped one way and the n the ot her and I was o n the ground. Fro m dead last I had to go for it - and I wen t down tw ice again. I ended up only 10th , bu t I couldn 't just sit at the back of the pack ." In r a c e two , the German was a close th ird at th e finish . "My start was not so good, and I spent a lot of time getting up to third," Beirer said. " It was just a silly littl e m is take the firs t ti me I came onto Ryno, but it lost me th e ti me I was m issing at th e fin ish t o th e w inner. If I hadn' t gone down I co u ld have won . I know I was the only one not suffering physica lly at the finish ." Hughes accumulated 22 points on hi s c o me ba c k at a track where he had pr eviously never lost. After push ing forward to fourth at a constant pac e i n ra ce one , he said , " I took so m e tablets and the pain from my hand was bearable , but m y bo dy is drained already in race one. I ex pected I wo uld ha ve pr ob lem s lasti ng th e ra c e because I co uldn't do more tha n five or six lap s at o nce th is week , so I tried to control m y tem po righ t from the start of the race. I guess I paced myself right because I never fe lt so tired after a race in my whole life." M ickael Pichon recorded h is second win of the 250cc GP series, winning both motos In Italy. The second moto, in which he was initia lly th ird , was in th e end mu ch harder . A fter starti ng so well the A m er ic an had to try to maintain the pace . He did so for 15 minutes, but was to pay for it as the race went on. He even tuall y had to d ro p back to seventh , nipped at the finish by Gordon Crockard , who had ridden a fan tas tic ride after being dragged to the floor in turn one . It was noticeable that Hughes 's major problem came on the big table- tops , where he was una ble t o j u m p with his usu al vigo r, and nearly all of th e passes on him happened th ere. Cras hes w ere nu me rous on t he rugged track , a com bination of big table-tops and soft rutted sand . Not a typical Italian track at all. Yve s Demaria damaged his neck and was initiall y unconscious in a crash over the second table -top on the first lap of race one, wh ich left his helmet split, M ickael Masc hio ha d h an d p r obl em s , t h e sy mp to ms of w h ich so u nd like a t ra p pe d n er v e , which saw him crash out tw ice , and Remy Van Rees p ulled out before he joined th em in cas ualty . "My wris t i s still not righ t ," Va n Rees sai d. "I was virtually rid ing oneha nde d. I held seve nth for as long as I

• Cover