Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

m o ve a head and disappea r into th e d istance in ra ce one. Bol ley h ad b e en ini tia lly fourth . "My best sta rt thi s yea r," Bolle y said . "Tha t make s m e happy for the rest of th e ye a r." But d id not ma ke life ea sy for h im s elf even though he wa s c lea rly th e fastest m an o n th e tra c k . "I cras he d th re e times ," Boll e y said. "The first time I ha d jus t pa ssed Coppins for second ." But after rem ounting in fifth, the champi o n needed ju st o n e la p to regain th ird from Pich on , as Masch io stopped for fresh goggles. Passing Co ppins proved more difficult, but he finall y made it with tw o laps to go , and o n the penultim at e la p g ot a bonus , a s Pichon went ou t of fifth. The Suzu ki's rear shock had exploded , allegedly beca use of the impact when the lower mou nting bolt fe ll ou t. F u rthe r ba c k , Pit Beirer ha d been ca usi ng havoc . "I d id n 't get a good start," ex p lai ne d Go rdon Crocka rd . "But / we nt all th e wa y ba c k to 20th wh en I c rashe d into a ha y bal e , which had b e en di sl od g ed wh en Be ir er c ra s he d ." The Irishman re c ov ered remark a b ly to seve nth, but th e Ge rm an had to s ett le for 12th . Both of th e se riders figu red promi n en t ly in r a c e t wo , as F e d e r ic i crashed hard after leadi ng early o n a nd wre c ked hi s Ya ma ha . Cro ckard th en in he ri te d the le ad , but was unable to pu sh too ha rd . "I've been s uffe ring with s tomac h c ra m ps 'a ll week a n d was violently si c k afte r the first ra c e ," he s ai d . "I wa s just trying to keep a steady pa ce to finish. " But Gordon is a difficul t m an to pa s s at t he bes t o f t im e s , a nd then th e re wa s Be irer. "He was ridi ng so wild, I didn 't wa nt to race with him ," admitted Bo lle y late r. Beirer crashed ex iting th e co rner wh er e h e h a d s lip ped p a s s ed Crockard a fter 20 minute s. That wa s still not th e e nd of Be irer 's a nt ics . Ten mi nu te s la te r, he got a kick on th e approa ch to a jump a nd c rashed a fte r a front wh e el la nd ing . Then with fo ur laps to go , c a me his final departu re as th e rear bra ke d isc - a floatin g design which had probably b een d amag ed in th e earl ier (Le ft l Frederic Bolley moved into the 250cc series lead with two rounds left. (Right1 Mamicq Bervoets (55) finally won his second GP of the year; unfortunately for him, it came right after Joel 5 m ets had already clinched the 500cc Championship. (Be low) The rear suspension broke on M ickael Pichon's Suz uki, which cost him the 250 cc points le ad. crashes - s hea red off the hu b , a nd the Ge rm an we nt s traight into an adve rtis ing board wit h a n a lmighty thud b efo re tr e atin g o n loo ke rs to a ta nt rum, as h e kicked th e bik e a nd threw a way his he lm et a nd g og gles , seei ng his hopes of thir d in th e series fa de . Beir er 's ex it from th e battl e a t th e fr ont was th e si gnal for Boll e y t o m ove in on the Crockard for the win , while Cop pins unse lfish ly ga ve up his third pla ce. "I lo ok e d ro un d and saw Pich on a nd decided it wa s th e best t hi ng I could do for the te a m aft er all of th e troubl e we have ha d latel y." Copp ins said. But the move cost him fou r po ints in the e nd , as Paul Cooper, riding like a ma n possessed as he re c o ve red from a first -turn collision, pushed th e Kiwi down to fifth . " I co uld see Jos h was go ing to ba ck off fo r Pic ho n , so I put in th e ex tra effort to get close e no ugh to go for h im too ," Cooper s a id. SOOccGP It wa s th e s ame o ld story in ra c e o ne, as Smet s pa ss ed Andre a Bartol ini o n th e seco nd lap to exte nd his record moto win s equen ce . "The re wa s a he av y roost from th e r ear whe els , so I wanted t o pa ss Andrea qui c kly ," Smet s said. contro l of his Honda on th e s lic k s urfa ce , a s the front wh eel thr eatened to br eak aw ay a t regul ar inte rvals , and th e rear wh e el kept tr ying to s wing aroun d a nd p a ss th e fro nt just as ofte n . In race two it was Bartolin i's turn to cras h o n lap one , toge t he r with Da rryll King and Siggi Ba uer, before recovering from 2 5th to fifth. "I could have got second, bu t I fell off when I c a u g h t u p to Pe te r a nd trie d to pass him with 15 minutes still to race ," Ba rtolin i said. Be rvo ets , on the other hand , took the lead o n the fi rs t d ownhill and never relinquish ed it, despite early pressure by Smets . "T he Machi ne ", as team boss Kurt Nicoll ca lls S mets, ha d adva nced from sevent h to sit on Bervoets ' re ar wheel within thre e la ps be for e th e first of thr e e crashes. Rem ountin g 16 t h, Sm et s had a lrea dy re passe d Ba rt olin i to tak e fifth whe n he fell for the sec ond time as h e s e t hi s s ig hts o n the seco nd pl a ce, whi ch wo ul d hav e clin ch e d him th e ove ra ll victo ry, but his third trip to the gr ound put Sm ets back to 10th bef ore a fina l c ha rge s a lvag ed secon d ove rall t o th e d el ight o f Berv oets . J ohans s on was fo u rtlT;'" un abl e to stay with Ma x Barto lini a nd Aa lton en . "I was rid ing so ba d a nd h ad no feeli ng for the tra c k ," J ohansson s aid. "Then- I fe ll ha lfway through th e race. Th at b roke my rhyth m and th e he at got me." Karlsson again ga te d well a nd held a s trong second 15 m inute s into the race unti l he clipped the rea r whe el of Barto lini a fter the Ita lian had slice d under h im in a turn; Kar lso n remounte d for eighth . eN Th e Ital ian wa s s atis fied with h is form. "I too k too lon g to sett le a nd th at let J oel get a wa y," Barto lini s aid . "But I was a b le to foll ow hi s s p eed the n to th e e nd of th e ra ce ." Yam a ha teammate Bervo ets was in trouble . "I didn't get a good sta rt, and th en th er e was a c o llis io n o n th e b a c k s t rai g ht on th e fi rs t lap , " Bervo et s sa id. S ixte en th on la p o ne , Be rvo e t s eventua lly got to third, but only a fte r more dr ama. "A rock hit m e on th e rig ht hand , t he o ne whic h I hur t la s t we e k ," Be rvo et s s aid . "I wa sn 't a b le to trai n all wee k becaus e of the swelling a nd the pai n . I had an injectio n befor e the race a nd it was so nu m b that I was having diffic u lty fee ling the fr on t brake. / still felt tha t roc k, so it wou ld have be en m o re pa inful if I had not had the injection." J oh ans son had a poo r ride by his st a nda rds . "I hit th e ga te a nd had to co me from n in th ," J ohan s s on sa id . "But I wa s n ot r id in g well . / kn ew where Marnicq would try to pass me a nd tried to ride in tigh t , but he went e ve n tighter. I tried to p ass him ba ck o n th e la st lap , but h e c lose d th e g ap ." J ocke Ka rls s on had gated we ll in fifth but was rid ing too aggressively in low gears a nd never looked totally in cue I e Circuit Kuelebierg Folkendange, Luxembourg Results: AugusllZ-13, ZOOO (Round 14 of 161 125 MOTO 1: 1. Mike Brown (Hon) ; 2 . Grant Langston (KTM) ; 3. T rampas Parker (TM) ; 4 . Cedric Melotte ( KT M ); 5 . Steve Ram on (Kaw); 6 . Cristian Reveglle (Suz ); 7 . Patrick Caps ( KT M); 8 . T homa s Trevers tnl (Hu s); 9 . Steve Boniface (Hon); 10 . Carl Nunn (Yam); 11. Enrico Oddenino (KTM); 12 . Brian Jorgensen (Yam); 13 . Sve n Breugelmans (Yam); 14 . Crist ian Stevanini ( Hus); 15. Stephen Sword (Hon). 125 MOT O 2 : 1. Mik e Brown ( Hon) ; 2. Grant Lan gston ( KTM); 3. J ames Dobb ( KTM) ; 4 . Lui gi Segu y ( Yam ) ; 5 . Stephen Sword ( Hon); 6 . Erik Came rleng o ( S uz } : 7 . Patr ick C a ps (K TM ) ; 8 . Thomas Tra versiru ( Hus); 9 . Cristian Steve ruru (Hus}; 10 . Crtsti an Ra veqlt a ( Sue): t I. Brian Jorgensen n e _ S • A U G U ST 30, 2000 29

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