Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

FI M World Champ io n shi p M X S erie s R o unds 7 : C irc u it G eorg e s J 0 5e S T O RY A N D PH OTO S By A LEX H OD GKINSO N SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, BELGIUM, JUNE 3-4 he KTM victory roll continued at the Europea n Tr iple GP, the se c on d event of its kind to be completed. Hav ing won three of th e six motos at Va lk e ns wa a rd in Ho lland back in Apri l, th e Aust ria n marque we nt one bette r with a clean sweep of the 125 an d 50 0cc classes at Georges J obe 's new track th a t overlooks the tarm a c s tr ip a t Spa -Fra n co rc ha mp s in th e Ard en n e s . KTM Te a m b o s s Kur t Nic o ll wa s m or e than sa tisfied a fte r Gr a nt La n g s t o n an d Pat ric k C ap s went 1-2 a nd J am e s Dobb won a m ot o in th e 12 5cc cl a ss , while J oe l Smet s a nd Peter J oha nsson led hom e the four-strokes in th e 500cc class. "We ' ll le ave th e Japa ne se the 250s this ye a r," Nico ll said. "We' re no t officiall y represe nted in tha t cla ss ." De fendin g c ha mpion Fr ederic Bo lle y reopened t he 250c c battl e with the overall win for Ho nd a, while Pit Beirer -ga ve Kawa sa ki th e ir first mot o win in th e class . It wa s no t, how e ver, a good ra c e for th e Am e ric an s . Mik e Bro wn h ad t o g ive up the 12 5 c c series lea d desp ite s natch ing third o n the da y, Tr ampa s Parker a nd Jeff Dem e nt got so re with eac h other, and Ryan Hugh es signaled h is tempo - T 38 JUNE 2 1 , 2 0 0 0 ' cu e I e rar y withdraw a l from th e 250cc battle a fte r aga in st ruggling with h is ha nd . O n ly posi t ive ligh t at th e end of USA's tunnel was Scott Shea k's first t o p - s ix fin ish si nce a r r iv in g in Eu rope . The venue , home to Formula One s ince the 19 30 s , ma y be cla ssic , but th e moto c ro ss track wa s not. Th e action, howe ver, wa s intens e and not a lway s strictly in racing terms . 125ccGP Grant Lan gs ton 's second GP win of th e season took h im ba c k to the hea d of th e World 125c c MX Serie s stand ings on Saturd ay , but th e 17 -ye a r-old South Africa n wa s fum ing after th e second mot o . "[J a m e s ] Do bb rode d e lib e rate ly st raig ht into me at th e third corne r," h e s a id. " He p u s h e d m e w it h h is shou lder and p ut m e o ff th e bike . I am so a ngry. When I got ba ck on the bike all I wanted to do wa s to c atc h him up and do it back to him. Some of th e pa s s es I wa s making in tha t ra c e we re totally cr azy ." Indee d his fina l pass of the m oto , to s na tc h th e th ird plac e from ex cha m p Sandro Puzar , whic h clinched th e overa ll, was bre athta king . In to rrential ra in th e Zulu wa rrior turned on a s ixp enc e on th e cambered entrance to the m a in stra ight to pull alon gside th e Ita lian, bang ing ba rs on the wa y. n e vv s Steve Ra mon (6) leads the 125cc class off the start, with American Jeff Dement (8) h ot on his heels. Both ri ders would eventually succomb to Grant Langston 110), who took the ove ra ll and the le ad in the po ints standings. Whe n that wa sn 't goi ng to wo rk , as he he ld th e outside line for th e followin g t u rn , Lan g ston swi tc hed a gai n , c ut ins ide Pu za r over the fo llo wing jump a nd e lbo wed his wa y in fron t at th e c hica ne . But wha t was Dobb ' s ve rs io n of turn three? "I was in the rut a nd ha d m y wheel in front as we we nt into the turn ," he exp laine d . "If I'd s hut off, I'd have be en th e one to go down . Th a t's the so rt of th ing that ha p pens in the first co rners of a race . An ywa y , h e s ho uld be grateful to m e . It got him pumped up an d he wa s pass ing people fo r th e first tim e th is yea r ins te ad o f ho le s ho ttin g . But I p ro ved a ga in that I a m the fastest. " TV foo ta ge confirmed Dobb 's vers io n . Lang ston h a d a lre a dy b e en ease d off line by Patri ck Caps at th e pr ec ed ing c hic a ne a nd his at te m pts t o sal vage th e s itu atio n m e rel y le ft him on a too -tight inside line at tu rn th ree with nowhere to go . Dob b was o n a m issi on a ll we e k e n d . He top p e d a qu a lifi er , a n d s how ed cool nes s to p it s to p o n la p th re e of his winning ride for fres h gog - gl es a fte r h is Roll-O ffs br oke. With fre sh goggle s he hunte d down te amma te Ca ps for a n overwhe lmi ng win. In the o pe ner, wh ich Langst on had d om in ated from the firs t la p aft e r quick ly d isp laci ng Ste ve Ra mon. "I th ink he was ne rvo us lead ing," Lan gston said of Ra mo n. "He left a gap a nd ne ve r ev e n tr ied to clo se it whe n J attacked." Do bb, on the othe r ha nd , had been te rribly unlu ck y. "I tried to turn t ight a t th e first tu rn a n d [Th o m a s] T ra ve rs in i just p ile d int o m e ," Do bb s a id . "I s ho u ld s ti ll ha ve wo n th o ugh. I was ba c k to seve nth with in a q uarter of a n hou r, but t h e n a ro c k da m ag e d th e c lu t c h c a ble. It is so tight he re with all those s harp cli m bs ou t o f tu rn s , it was a re a l ha ndi c a p ." Dobb finish ed 14th . Th ird titl e c a ndi da te Mike Brown s pe n t his d a y s alv agi ng w ha t h e cou ld . "I los t d ri v e in a m udd y p a t ch h al fwa y u p th e start s trai g ht , th e n Dob b a n d T ra v e rs in i we re fa lli n g ac ro s s m e in t h e turn , a nd I g o t t rapped o n the ins id e ," Brown s a id . "By th e t ime I go t to th ird I could see Langsto n , bu t th e re was n' t e n o ug h tim e to catc h h im o r Ca ps , so I saved e ne rgy for ra c e two ." T he . seco nd m oto , run in th e wet co nd it io ns th a t th e q u iet ma n from Tenne ssee so hat es , saw him salva ge a bra ve s ixth from a poor sta rt to end th e day third overa ll bu t unable to go to th e pod ium . . Te a m m an a ge r Dave Th or pe sa id, "Mik e hurt h is an k le a t t h e Br itish c h a mp io ns h ip and c a u g ht it a ga in m idr a ce. It' s not serious, bu t I wa nted hi m t o h a v e it lo o k e d at s t ra ig h t away ." . Me an wh ile , Ca rl Nu n n's s le nder title dr e ams eva po ra ted for th is ye ar a s he fa iled to score. "Brown jus t came straight over on me in the chicane on the second lap of the first rac e and I went down ," .Nunn sa id . "T h e le v e rs we re bent a t all a ng les but I go t ba c k into the points before [Frede ric] Via lie jumpe d stra ight across me on the ste p-up. I kept going , but the bike stayed where it was ." Th e se co nd ra c e wa s little bett e r. Havi ng a lready lo st p la c es wh en he fluffed his first-g ea r c ha nge, Nunn had to p it a few la ps later. "A s to ne jam med the re a r bra ke on, " he ex pla ined . "I'd burnt th e pads out by the time I got to the pits a nd we could dig it out." T h ere was m ore fru s t ra t ion e lsewhere in the paddoc k, too . "Ma n, I'm a ha rd rider myse lf, a nd I' ve b e e n h it by the bes t , b ut I' ve n ev e r b e e n t a k en o u t t h at well befor e ," said J eff Dement aft er he a nd T rampas Pa rk er d is appe a red d ow n field fro m second a nd t h ird ea rly in ra ce one . "He al rea dy h it m e on the first la p , a nd then the second tim e he h it my hip c o m in g into a turn . I

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