Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

FIM World Championship Motocross S erie s F inal R o und : Stelle MX C o u rse By old s choo l, doub le -mot o , non -t riple he a de r GPs in history. "Th is season I was not like e ve ryo ne knows Pit [to be ]," s aid Beire r, who will switc h to Free Time Yamaha in 200 1. "I'm ve ry happy I could go hard for th e finish. With thi s win I can th ank J a n [DeG root, te am ma nager] for the gr eat two ye a rs we had togeth er. Toda y I a lso go t two little pres en ts . Jo sh d id no t go so good . I did not ex pect to win and I did not expect to get three [in the series]; we got both today, so it was a little payba ck time." "J oe l had a very strong se ason th is year ," Bervoets sa id . "I wanted to c h a lle n ge him m ore in the Gr and s Pr ix. In the beginn ing of the yea r I was c ha llenging him a few times , but then I had problems. Halfwa y thr ou gh the season he was too strong for m e . You will see tha t Yamaha will wor k very ha rd o n the development of the bike , and hopefully next year we will be stro nger agai n." CH RIS J O N NUM P HOTO S BY G EOFF MEYER ROGGENBURG, SWITZERLAND, SEP. 3 it h t h e last of the yea r's World Mot o c ross Champ ions havin g be en decided jus t o ne we ek earlier, a nd attention th e re for e redirected to the Motocros s des Nations jus t o ne wee k after , the fina l GP of 2000 sat in kind of a no-ma n's lan d , ma king its locatio n in fa mou s ly neu tra l Switze rlan d somehow a ppropria te. Erstwhile t itle contender Mickael Pic hon opted to undergo early surgery and sit out the event comple tely , a n d the inc lem ent weather acted as somewhat of a damper (liter a lly) , limit ing spectator turnout to approximate ly 12 ,0 00 - next to nothing for a typi cal GP. As c o u ld b e e x p e ct e d , n ewly crowned champions Frederic Bolley and J o e l S m ets h a d off days, no d o ubt no t overl y co nce rned wi th a race th at , fo r th em , was re la t ive ly unimpor t ant . Bu t don 't te ll Germ a n P it Be ir er o r B el g ian Ma rnicq Be rvoets th at th is race wasn' t im portan t , and don 't te ll motocross tradition ali sts that it had no signifi cance. Winfie ld/Mot o rex's Be ire r, and fa ctor y Ya maha 's Bervo ets eac h a to ne d for disa p poi nting sea sons by winning a t Ro g g e n bu rg . Beirer in the 250cc class and Bervoets in the 500cc class - at what amounts to the last of the W 38 S EPT E M B ER 20 , 2000 ' eye 2S0cc T he firs t m o t o wa s a ll De m aria , wi t h th e Fr en chm an g ra bbi ng the hol esh ot a nd leadin g all 19 la p s o n h is Free T im e Yam a ha , le a ving th e other 29 rider s to de a l with the mud. Jos h Co ppi ns was a n early vic ti m , going down in the second turn , while rece ntly re-crowned champ ion Fr ed eric Bolley went off the course on his I e n Oe 'IIV S One of the preseason favorites for the t itle, Team Windfield/Motorex Kawasaki's Pit Beirer recorded his first overall win of the season at the last round of the series in Roggenburg, Switzerland. PAMO Honda and got s t uck on th e s lippe ry, gr a s s -c ov e re d h ills ide. He ha d lost co nside ra ble tim e b y th e time he slit hered his wa y ba c k up to the track, and afte r circu lat ing a couple of times , he opted to pu ll off. That left a n impressive Mickael Maschio in second , but he was soon jo ined by Windfield/Mo to rex Kawasa ki teammate Be irer , and the two red, yellow and gr een Kawasaki s went a t it for s evera l laps before Beirer got by on lap e ight. Be irer th en set out after th e dista nt Demaria , but ev ery time h e a ppeared destin ed to catch the lea der, a bobble wou ld open th e gap again . Beirer made a final effort on the last la p, but De m a ria was abl e to hold o n for the win . "I knew t hat th e sec re t wit h the tra ck was t o do no m is t a k e s : De m aria said , "And even th ou gh Pit was pus hing ve ry har d , I didn 't m ak e a m ist ak e t o win . I k ne w th at Pi t wo uld pu sh ve ry hard a t the e nd , so I saved something for the last la p." "I was not very luck y the first la p: Beirer sa id. "I a lmost crashed in there with Coppins. So I had to come ba ck from se venth position. It was hard work , and Yves was already go ne by eight or nine seconds. Then I thought I will see if he can also push to his last lap." After completing lap one in sec ond , Italia n Claudio Fe de ric i s lipped first to th ird , then fourth, but he got by Masch io near ra c e 's end to take thi rd and disprove the not ion that Italians don 't ma ke good mud riders . Masch io was fourth , whil e Crockard rod e nearly the entire race in the fifth s pot. American Ryan Hughe s m a de it to s ixth in h is se cond GP back from a n inj ured wrist , o ne spot ahead of a recovered Coppi ns . While mot o one ha d th e mud , to rrenti a l ra in was added to the m ix for moto two , wh ich was do mi na te d b y Masch io from start to finish . Demari a got a worse sta rt, a nd a fte r strugg ling for a wh ile in the s lop , the mote -on e winn er o pte d to pull off. Ma schi o 's o n ly r e al c ha lle nge ca me from h is tea m m ate , but th is time he wa s dete rm ined to ke ep Be ire r be hind him . Ag a in a nd again , th e German would close, but his go ggles wo uld fill with m ud or he would bobbie, an d Maschio wou ld on c e aga in esta blish a s light c us hio n. With th e conditions so wet , t h e pa c k soo n st retc he d o ut s ing le -file , a nd the t op -f ou r p o s it ion s never c h a nged . Fre nc h Honda rider Pierre Pa g et p ut in a very im p ressive a nd popu la r ride for th ird , h ol d in g off repe at ed adva nces fro m Fede ric i. Eve n fifth -place Bolle y a nd s ixth place Michal Kad le cek ne ver c ha nged t hei r re sp e c t ive p ositio ns after th e s e cond la p , and Gordon Croc kard in s e venth wa s th e fin al rid er to c o mpet e the full 17 laps . "If I lost the GP, it's only my fault." Maschi o sa id . "I m a de a m istake , and th is is where I lost. Th is season wa s d ifficu lt for m e becaus e I was injured ; it 's rea lly im po rta nt to finish with a [rnot o] win like this , be caus e th e n you a re confide nt for next se a s on." "Eve rybod y knows tha t the whole team ha d a difficult year," Beirer said. "S o it was difficult , but everybody kept pu s hing and working so hard , so I think that this is a ve ry little present that we should have , now - the last GP win." SOOcc With AC/De's "Hell's Be lls" b lasting o ve r the tra c k's P.A. sy s te m a nd rain pouring out of the sky, last year's champ and this year's cham p powered down the start stra ight in front of the 40- rid e r p a c k . S me ts gra b be d the point , while Andrea Ba rtol ini's Yarna ha thumpe r s lipped ba ck a spot, then s o o n re -s e c ure d seco nd , bu t Smets ha d a lrea dy checke d out by that point. " In s om e wa ys , ma yb e th e rai n h e lp ed , " Sm e t s sa id foll o wing hi s record 23rd moto win of the s e ason . "It kept the m ud we t; wh en the mu d ge ts dry it stic ks to th e bik e ." The big Belg ian rode flawlessl y through the wate r and much out in

• Cover