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FI M World Championship MX S e ri e s Round 6 : Crossstrecke N iedemolzham STORY AN D PHOTOS BY ALEX H OD GKI NSO N SCHWANENSTADT, AUSTRIA, MAY 14 TM snatched the victory th at they so d e a rly wanted at Schwanen st a dt , the track site located ju st a few mil es fro m th e Ma tti gh ofen fa cto ry. But th e winn er of 500cc GP wa s not s e rie s le ader J oel Smets; inste ad it wa s Pe ter J ohan s s on wh o did t he hon ors. Th ird in the first ra c e behind th e tw o Rin a ld i Yamaha t eam r id ers Marni cq Berv oets a nd Andrea Bartoli n i - the 34-yea r-old Swede , J ohans s on , d om inated t he se cond moto from the first lap to clinch the overa ll win . "A perfect race ," he said. "l was already leading on the fi rs t la p , I could extend m y le a d quickly to around 10 seconds and the n just se ttled down to maintain my advantage. , could have won the first race too, but it was m y own fault I lost. I also started well in that race a nd was second as we came round the last corner of the first lap . I just turned on the gas too ea rly a nd s pu n round 360 d e gr e e s . I worked my way back to th ird place by half distance and was c atchi ng th e Yam aha s , but th en I started to ha ve difficulti e s with th e backmarkers. The tra ck was so fast toda y and I had to take so me risks to pass th e m to avoid los ing an y ground again . The surfa ce was ve ry slick a nd I nearly we nt down w hen I dived insi de o ne a fte r half a n ho ur of t he ra ce . It was wiser to settle for third." K 38 MAY 31 , 2000' cue I. e (A bo ve) Peter Johansson was the surprise w inner at the 500cc GP in Austria. A second-moto win put h im over the top. (Right and below) Joel Smets didn't have one of h i s better days but he still came out well in points. (Below rig ht ) Andre Bartolini (1) led most of the second moto before Johansson (55) got h im. So what ha ppened to Smets ? The thr e e -time c h a m p io n has nev er won at Schwanenstadt and for th e 20th , and final , World champi onsh ip race a t the glorious Nieder holzham track, that d id not change. Nevertheless , the Be lg ia n extended his points le a d as te rrib le luck hit nevvs Bervoets a n d t h e Ri n a ldi Yamah a team . _ Bervoets led home teammate Bartol ini in a supe rb first moto 1-2, but wa s knocked off a t th e first corn er of race two a n d h is mac hi ne was too badly damag ed to conti nue . Smets crashed fo ur t imes in th e two ra c es on his way to 9-3 moto finis hes , bu t tha t still me a nt he scored 22 points , two more tha n Be rvo ets. Th e series le a de r was philoso phica l. "T he points you ma ke on your ba d day s can be e ve n more impor tan t t h an th o s e yo u get when you w in ," S mets said . "They all c o u n t towa rds t h e champi onship , and I ha ve to have a ba d day so metime." Fo r Smets , fastest in qualifying , the problems s tarted at the gate. "[Avo ] Leok was ne xt to me and went too early ," Smets sa id. "He hit the gate so hard , that m ine was shak ing also , and I a lso started to go. Still I got back to seventh at th e end of the first lap before I crashed for th e first time ." Afte r two more crashes in the n e xt three laps h e was 29th and could not risk using his front brake except in an emerg ency , as the cable was loose and in dang er o f fo uli ng the front whee l. Incredib ly he finis hed ninth . Barto lin i led for mo re tha n h alf an hou r.