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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128624
FIM W o r ld C hampionship 2 5 0 c c MX S erie s Round 1 1 : B ela Horizonte first moto before c ra s hing and finis hing out of the top 10 . Th a t second place wou ld have go ne along nicely with h is second -moto win . Defend ing c ha m p Frederic Bolley c erta inly had his c ha nces, too. A couple of crashe s in the firs t moto and another while leading the second moto spoiled his day . Ye t all was not lo s t fo r the Fre nc hm an , as he st ill gained a few poi nts o n Pichon , which he has been doing a lot of as late. Th e day s t a rted o ut we t , as an e a rly morning rai n had riders a nd mechanics on edge, bu t no big down pour materialized until late in th e sec ond moto . Still , with on e s ho wer e a rly in the morning a nd another o ne du ring th e start sessi o n , the tra c k did become a little muddy and s lippery, but most o f th e rid ers enjoyed th e da mp conditions. "We just hope that it will not rain aga in today ," said Micka e l Masch io , S TO RY AND P HOTOS BY M IT CH F RIEDMA N BElO HORIZONTE, BRAZIL, JULY 16 re nc hm a n Yves Demaria got back on tr ack by winn ing his first GP since la s t year 's 5 0 0 c c ro u n d in France. In Brazil , De m a ria captured t h e overall win with a fourth - b u t could have very well bee n a third - in t he first moto and a well -deserved second p la c e in the second mo to. Dema ria ' s day did not s tart off a s though he wa s goi ng to win th e overa ll after he pulled up to th e st art line in th e firs t moto wit h a very upset s tom ach, bu t he qui c kly pu t that out of h is m ind a s soon as th e starting ga te dropped. Th e re we re other ride rs on the da y th at h a d th e ir c ha nce s to win th e Brazilia n GP, including current series leader Mickae l Pichon. Pic hon had at lea st second pla ce in the bag in the F 42 AUGUST 2, 2000' cue I e n eVIls When the 250cc GP series headed over the Atlantic to Brazil. Yves Demaria finally ended his drought with an overall win. The victory came via 42 moto scores. who was th e fa ste st guy in the warm up sessi o n. Maschio clocked a 2:07 :015 , whi ch was significantl y slower than h is previ ous day ' s I :5 7: 0 74 in q ua lify ing and in much better conditions . Bolle y, Collin D'ugmore , Pichon, Paul Cooper, De m a ria , Clau di o Fe de rici , Veh vil a in en , Pit Be ire r and Mar co Kova la ine n tra iled Ma s chio in q ua lifying tim es . When it wa s tim e to g et dow n to b u sin e ss , th ou gh , it was F red e r ic who nai led the holeshot in the first moto. Ma schio , J o sh C o p p in s , Pic hon a nd the rest of the pack fol lowed him into the first corner. Bolley was involved in a p ile up with a bun c h of other riders a nd got back going in 2 7th place, but he wou ldn 't stay there for long. After one lap , Maschio had taken over the le a d, followed by Fe derici , Pichon , Beirer , Copp ins , Cooper , Demaria, Theybers and Vehvilainen. Pichon was pushing hard beh ind Federici, and passed him on the second lap , but Fede rici passed him back. Beirer, meanwhile, crashed on the third la p a nd lost three positions. By the fourth lap , Ma s c hio wa s still lea di ng wit h Federici and Picho n three s e c onds behind him; Coppins was s eve n s e c on d s b a c k , Co op e r nine seconds , a nd Dema ria and Be irer 10 and 11 seconds. Bolley had move d up to 16th. Th e gap betwe e n Ma s ch io , Federici a nd Pichon was getting smaller and s m a lle r, and after 15 m inutes , th e y were all together. Pich on was pushing hard and his e ffo rts were re wa rded with a pass for se con d pla ce midrace. Th e Cor ona S uzuki rider seemed real ly s mooth on his ma chine , but so was Maschio on his Yamaha . La te in the ra c e , though , Pichon suddenly cra shed in a co rne r and was left with a bro ke n front brake lever and a shot to the head . From that point o n, it was all he could do just to finis h th e race without a fron t br a ke, as he wa s losing on e position after anot he r d uring the last 10 m inu tes . He would salvage 13th. After Pich on c rashed, Maschio had his hands fu ll with Feder ici but someho w mana ged to keep Feder ici at ba y to win his first moto of the ye a r. Fed erici and Copp ins , who had been run ning in fourth place fo r most of th e ra ce until Dema ria s uffered his sec ond crash of the moto o n la p 19, followed Ma s ch io across the finish line. Coppin s a ccepted the g ift from De maria , wh ich la nd ed him a podi um finish . Bo lle y e nded up finishing fifth. "I like thi s tra c k; fast a nd te c hn ic a l," Masch io sa id. " I was sec o nd o ve ra ll last year and I hope to win th is yea r. I had a g o od s ta rt in th e first moto and m y bike was perfect. I was rea lly happy to see th e rain this morn ing , but hope fu lly it wo n 't rain aga in so th e tra ck will be really perfect [for the second rnoto] ." "It' s my first t im e here in Brazil and yesterday 1 d idn 't have a good feeli ng with the track and had a bad result in qualifying ," Federici said. "I was happy to see th e rain th is morning . I had a good sta rt in the first race a nd p ush ed to ca tch Mic ka e l [Ma s c hio], bu t he was rea lly fast today . Wh en Pic ho n p a s s ed me I sa w new line s and us ed the m, but it wa s no t poss ible to join Ma schi o ." The sun wa s now s hining (but not fo r long ) for t he start of th e second mo to a nd Fe de rici ha d his wish come true, however, th er e was nothing Fe de ric i cou ld do about Coppins' quick reaction off the gate. Co ppins nailed the holeshot ahead of Federici.