Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

FIM Wor ld Cha mpionsh ip 125e e MX S e r ie s R o und 6 : Foxhill Mot a P a r e S T O RY A ND PH OT OS By A LEX H O DGKIN SO N SWINDON, ENGLAND, MAY 27 h ile th e powers- that-be pretend they are still working on the rac e format for next yea r's Trip le He a de r MX GPs , th e Brit ish w e a t h e r u ne a rt hed its very ow n vers ion at Foxhill. Qu alificatio n for a ll th ree c lasse s o n Frid a y, two 125 motos on Sa turda y, a nd the n we a ll go home before th e mai n prog ram on Sunda y. Yes , th e Foxh ill T riple He ad er wa s decl ar e d a was ho ut ju st befor e 9: 00 p .m. Saturd a y e ve n ing , so the 250 a nd 500cc classes ne ver got to race. After mo re st orms in th e nigh t, the re wer e dea r blu e skie s a nd b ril lian t s uns hi ne o ver t he s o uthe rn En ql isf countrys id e fro m d a wn to d usk o n Sunda y. Te nn es se e 's Mike Brown retained h is lea d in the standi ngs , bu t it was Eng la nd 's J ames Dobb who bla sted b a c k into co nte nt io n for the Wo rld 125 cc MX Cham pio ns h ip with h is second win of the se a son , this one in his home round a t Foxh iil. But th e sens atio n of th e da y was Ke nnet h Gundersen . Th e 19 yea r old be cam e the firs t Nor we g ian eve r to win a MX GP moto when he wo n th e first m ud dy h e at by more th a n o ne minute. A first -la p crash in ra ce two cost th e Cha mp KTM rider a s hot at th e overa ll. Afte r a month of rai n , whic h per s is ted in to t h e n ig h t , fine we at her g ree ted t h e 125 c c r id er s a s th e y gathered in th e pre -p a re , but a s th e s tart t ime a p p ro ac hed da rk clo uds ga the red again and both moto s we re to be run partially in ra in. Cha m pionsh ip le a d e r Mike Brown got a ' s upe rb start in he at one to c ut across th e factory KTMs entering turn W 28 JUNE 1 4 . 2000' C U,c I e Grant Langston and Leon Glesbers mix It up on the Foxhill track during Saturday's 125cc portion of the GP triple-header. Sunday's 250 and !500cc GP were cancelled because of the wet conditions. one , but Dobb wa s right in his whe e ltracks with J ohnny Aubert in th eir wak e , wh ile Gunders en , Carl Nunn a nd Grant Langston wer e c ha lleng ing Sandro Puzar for fourt h. "It was so e a s y to m ak e m ist a kes out there tha t I decided right from the start to m ak e s ure I m ad e as few as possible and wait ed for the othe r rid e rs to c rash," ex p la ine d a n effe rve s ce nt Gunde rsen after his win. And th e ta ct ic so on pa id off. Puza r a nd Langs ton wer e t he firs t t o g o, a s t he It a lian s lamm ed th e a dva ncing South Afric a n, while Dob b ha d a lready m ad e on e uns uc c e ssful push on Brown before the Am e rica n c rash e d o n a s ho rt , trick y cli m b to ha nd th e Brit th e lead . But ju st o ne lap later Dobb had also s lum ped , to fourth right a he a d of th e America n. "I hit t he face o f th e jump a nd it th rew m e si d ew a ys," Do b b sai d ., "I was luc ky to get away without getting hurt." It was o nly o ne more lap be fo re the pressure from beh ind on Gu nde rse n was a lso gone as Nunn crashed a t th e other e nd of the tra ck . Wit hi n a few yards his race was slowed , as m ud ha d j a m m ed t he leve rs an d the clutc h was still biting as Carl tried to a cc e lera te . "I thou gh t I was just gett ing whee lsp in in th e m ud ," Nun n said. So Aubert led , but Gunde rsen was putting him un d er p re ss ure an d the Fre nc h m a n was th e n e xt to fr y a c lutch afte r a co llis ion h a d pushe d him back to a te m pora ry third . "We ca me o n a ba c k m a r k er , " Gun der sen sa id . "I we nt fo r the insid e ne""s and got t h rou gh , but Johnn y mu st ha ve tangled with him ." Th e Norw egian n ow led hand s o mely, but h e increased h is lead eve ry lap with mature tactics and gritty riding. "T h e b iggest problems were the lapped riders and the uphill sections," Gunderson said. "I adopted the same tactic with the lappers as 1 had used to move into the lead. None of those guys back there were racing more than about 500 feet without making a mistake. I had no pressure from behind and just waited for them to get o ut of m y way . There was always a danger of stopping on the climbs, but when 1 got wheelspin 1 just put my entire effort into keeping go ing , and 1 got up every time ." Dobb s oon realiz ed th e futility of cha sing the Norwegian , wh ile Brown was m or e th an ha p py with third . "The big m ista ke I usu ally make in mu d is that I alw ay s try too hard and end up cras hing, " Brown said . "I don 't like riding in the st uff, but I think th at rac e proved I do n't ha ve a probl e m. " Th ere had been occasional threats from be h in d , but they had all se lfd estructed . Sw edish pr ivateer Petri J rve la was having a great ride . "I was c atc hing Brown fast, " h e sai d . "That should 've be e n my first podium , but t he piston broke. I felt th e e ng ine los ing po wer a lre a dy the lap be fore ." Lan gst on had a lso gotten close to h is championship riva l a s he re c ove re d fro m a n ea rly fa ll, but a se co nd trip to ea rth left him battling to ' ca tc h S te ve Ramon fo r fourth at the e nd . "I ha d him on the inside a t the last co rner," La ngston sa id , "b ut th en m y line got blo c ke d by St ephen Sword . He was trying to get out of our way , but he could not ha ve realized where I was go ing to go, so Ra m o n got m e ba c k." (Ri g ht ) Jame s Dobb was credited w i t h the overall win. (Belo w) Jeff Dement (left) rides around a stuck Mike Brown, who finished sev enth overall but maintained his series points le a d. Pa tr ic k Ca ps s a lva ge d s ixt h with vis ion from just one ey e a fte r taking a rock early on , a nd the Bel gi an wa s the last m an on the same lap as Gun dersen. Tra mpas Parke r h ad a lrea dy stop pe d for fresh go gg les at the en d of the first lap . "I collided with Phiiippe Dupa squier at the first turn, the n I got filled in with mud at th e ba c k of the track ," Parker said. "It was better to stop s t ra igh t away fo r a fresh pai r and clean gloves. There are too many rocks out there to ride without in the pack." This was a lesson Scott Sheak le a rned on his way to ninth. "My goggles got so full of mud with in a couple of I,aps th at 1 could see no thing ," Sheak said, "but after throwing them away I got mud and rocks in my eyes and now 1 can see even le ss. " Another Amer ican in an even worse predicament was Jeff Dement. "T he padd ing ca m e loos e in m y helmet and it ke pt fa lling down over m y eyes," he sa id . Inevitably th e su n sh one thro ug hout th e inte rva l, bu t the rain returned for ra ce two . Dob b le d th ro ug ho ut , bu t in t he end it was the red fla g , whic h saved him. "I don 't know why they re d -flag ge d it , but I' m happy they d id , " Dob b said. "The front mudgua rd s napped in

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