Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

After Gordon Crockard had thrown here ," Beirer sa id . "I k ept m aking away th e first moto lead when his front m istakes loo k in g fo r a wa y past and wheel wash ed out on lap two, Pit Beirer real ized that it was safer to acc ept was Demaria 's closest rival in rac e one . second . Th is is tru ly the Monaco of " I had no problem to close up to MX, but I never had so much fun rid, Yves , but passing is another matter ing a moto rcycl e." BRIEFLY • •• Stefan Ev erts was possi bly handed the get·out he wants from the remaining two years of his Husqvama contract whe n bailiffs . accompa nied by 1 B armed police. descended on the Radson/ L&M camp in the Namur paddock on Friday aftemoon to remove live motorcycles. an engine and a frame. Radson/L&M team owner Dave Grant was adamant: ' My company owes nobody any money. They only took product s owne d by Husqverna. It is something to do with the MV Agusta Motor Vehicle Group and their previous import er in Liege. At this moment I cannot establish exactly what Is going on . but they have gone over the top . I offered to pay a bond. or hand over everything on Sunday evening. but the seques ter refu sed. Ap parently he cannot do so because I wa s not named on the sequest ration order. - He added the next day. " 1have instructed my solicito rs to investigate the possibility of issuing writs, amongst others against Agusta. for the damage to my team and my sponsors. This was all on the front page of the Belgian newspaper s this morning and my spo nso rs are quit e rightly furiou s . " A sked if he w as w o rried abo ut the damage such a move could have on his team's relationship with Agusta. the parent company of Husqvama. Grant replied . ' My first loyalty has to be to my sponsors.' After legal interventi on. it was hoped that the bikes wo uld be retum ed on Saturday mom ing. but event ually they did not appear againt until late that evening. so Darryll King. Miska Aalt onen and Jonny Lindhe. who had been offered Evert s' bikes afte r his strong showinq one week earlier in Grobbendonk. used the team's practi ce bikes after mechanics had worked until 3 a.m. Saturday momi ng to prepare them. Indeed the Kiwi effectively had the very latest development chassis as the frame of his race bike · identical to those built for Evert s with minor improve ments on the basis of midweek tes ting - as it was not ye t at the track at the time the bailiffs swoop ed . Evert s himself was only at Namur as a spectato r. Since Grobbendonk it has been esta blished that the pin in his forearm has been mov ing . and it was du e to be re mov ed on the Monday after N amur . Everts will not race again this year. The legal representatives of the bailiffs stoically refused to answer any questions conceming the actio n. but it was noted that the extensive file was headed ' Agusta. ' while the police showed heavy-handed tactics. threatening press photogra phers that they should not take photographs and demanding and recording their passport details. This is the third time in eight years that the Belgian legal machine , infamous in recent yea rs in other spheres for their actions in such scandals as the Heyse! football stadium disaster and the Charleroi pedophile ring. have seized factory motocross machines. In 1993 they incorrectly impounded works 250c c Kawasakis after a GP at Lomme! when there w as a dispute between third parties over payment for the truck in wh ich they were being transported. while two years ago factory Yamahas being raced by Team W irt z we re taken in a sales tax raid, to be returned within a few day s when it was es tablished that the machines were the property of Yamaha, an innocent party in the affair . 1T0p) A dazed Mamicq Bervoets Is helped off the track after crashing. (A b ov e) Pit Belrer ended u p third overall In the 250cc GP . (Ri g ht) Yv e s Demaria had the honor of being the first rider to w in a 250cc GP at Namur. M ick ael Pichon rode at Namur after Suzuki had appealed the Frenchman's 30·day riding ban imposed as a result of his father's alleged assault on a medical officer and verbal abuse against the medial staff by bot h rider and father at Grobbendonk the previous Sunday. Coro na Suzuki team manager Sylvain Geboers explained. ' Mickael has a separation of the shoulder. and it will be strapped up to allow him to ride. " Eventually Pichon was unabie to score points in Narnur, pulling out of the first moto after 38 minutes after slumping out of the points and not start ing race two , ' The main problem is not the pain. but I'm not strong enough in my left arm. espec ially on this slippery and bumpy track. Now I will have tw o days free and then go swimming to prepare for Luxembourg.' This physical reaction was not totally unexpected. Mark Eastw ood said. ' I had a separation of the collarbone a few years ago. It hurts like hell the first week. but it' s okay one week later. - Asked if father Alain Pichon wo uld be atten ding. Geboers replied. "He can pay to enter the race as a spec tato r. Actio n G roup Int ern at ional and the FIM have asked him to return avoided crashing early in th e race , and the Italian had to let the Swede go without a fight in race two. Jocke Karlsson continued to show his proven form and was fourth on the day after sharing 5-4 moto finish es with Darryll King . "T hat is where I should be ," Karlsson said. " I hope all of the bad luck I have suffered in the past two seasons is behind me and I can carryon this form into 2001. " The po ints lifted Karlsson to sixth in th e standing s. 2S0c cGP The Marseilla ise rang out over th e Citadelle for the first time in the lo ng h istory of the track a fter Yv e s Demaria took a superb double win in the very first 250cc World champi o nsh ip event at Namur. " The tra ck h ere is so ni ce ; you must find a good rhythm and I did that," declared a more talkative than usual Demaria after his w in . N ev er t h e l e ss , the en ig m at ic Fr en chm an could not resist a public display o f displeasure with his rear suspension at the end of race one. his per manent pass." His girlfriend. mother and sister accompanied Mickael Pichon, The FIM has set the CDI (International Disciplinary Court ) appeal hearing for August 15 and a reversal of the decision of the Intemational Jury appears extremely unlikely as the case can only be subjected to revue on judicial gro unds. the fact s of the alleged offense can hardly be contested, and the FIM rule book is quite clear. The appeal can only be considered a delaying tactic by Suzuki. just as Yamaha is doing with the Haga case in World Superbike. but any appeal against a decision of the CDI can only be taken one step furthe r and there will be sufficient time for a further hearing before the final GP at Roggenburg in Switzterland. It will be fascinating to see how long Pichon remains under contract to Suzuki afte r the final GP . And no other Japanese fact ory is likely to be intere sted in him , eve n if he is champion. Carrie S c h m it . widow of two -time World M X champion Don ny Schmit. was at bot h Grobben donk and Namur . Now a school teacher. Car rie had been in Europe since the start of the school F o r his c o m p atrio t s w ho are d is , puting the titl e, it was a strange d ay . Gr itting h is teeth agai nst th e pa in of h i s sepa rated sh ould er , M ic k ae l Pich on continu ed brav ely fo r 38 m in ut e s in ra ce o ne before pu lli ng ou t after dropping fro m an in it ia l fifth to 17th . He did not c ontest ra c e tw o. But Frederi c Boll ey was unabl e to t ake full adv an tag e of h is ri v al ' s injury probl ems and still trails by four points in th e series . He ex ite d third early in ra ce o ne with undi scl o sed "e ng ine probl ems ," accepting a lift on th e rear of Dam ien Den i!' s Kaw asak i back to th e Espl an ad e, before fig hting fo rward from an ini t ial ninth t o take th ird in race t wo . summer bre ak ... First I went walking in the mountains near Aosta in nort hern Italy, but the se last two week s I have been staying with Rene and Angela Lieken s. who have remained good friends since they used to arrange D onny' s race co ntracts . I thought r d com e and look up so me more old friends at the races." And while there. Carrie was given a track pass to take some photos of GP motocross 2000 . It wa s no surprise to Carrie that Paul Cooper holeshot race two in Namur. " Paul pro mised yesterday that he was going to ,' she said. Paul Cooper confirmed that he has signed a one-year contract to ride for Em berso n Yamaha alongside Ju stin Morris in the 250cc GPs next year. They can be expected to use De Carli-tuned engines . Jeff Dem ent is also confirmed with the team for the 125cc class . and his Yamaha may be sent to SRS for tuning. Jo sh Coppin s has been offe red Cooper' s Husqvamas. but said on Saturday. " I think I will stay with Japanese bikes.' Should Pichon 's con tract be terminated . the Kiwi w ou ld mo ve to number-one at Suzu ki. Pit Beirer said that he had still not ac tually signed for anyon e, Should he move to Free Time Yamaha afte r all. Jan De Groot is keen to sign Gord on Crockard . but the Ulste rman is expected to stay with Cas Honda. where he is happy. for another year. The Irishman and the entire Cas Honda team had only decided to contest the Namur GP on Thursday evening after the son of team ow ner Harry Ainsworth. Scott . who was due to race number 98 in the 500cc class at Namur, died instantly on Wednesday evening when his bike landed on him in a crash at a minor Engiish SX race. A member of the team explained. ' Harry insisted that the team was set up to race and that Scot t wo uld have wanted that. too ." Indeed Harry himself was present on Sunday to witn ess Go rdon C rockard 's sec ond place at t he Citadelle. KTM had a message from Joel Smets explaining how to win on the back of the Tvshirts, which were pulled out during the final lap of racing for the celebrations. Rule 1: Be Fast · If there's still someone in front of you . tum to Rule 2: Be Faster. cue I e n e vv s AUGUST 23, 2000 35

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