SEM I ·FI NALS
Again . Vuillemin cru ised to another
win in his sem i , and ag ain , he wa s
ahead of LaR o cco . w ith Portugese
rider Joaquim Rodrigues finishing in
thi rd pla c e ah ead o f Bethys and
Tha in. Copp ins look ed to have the
holeshot , alth ough Vuillemin and
LaRocco used their Supercross experience to nudge the Suzuki rider out. It
took Vuillemin no time at all to pu ll a
three -seco nd ga p o n L aRo cco , wh o
(Right) Mike LaRocco was impressive
in the Final, but he couldn't keep
Vuillemin's pace. He finished a distant
second.
(Below) The soon-to-be-retired Greg
Albertyn was impressive, to say the
least. Riding a Corona SuzukI , he
finished third in the f inal.
ti ng so me sp eed fo r t h e coming
Stad de France
races."
Paris, France
Wh il e the World Supercr oss cham pionship migh t not be the most
important Supercross seri es in the
world, the t rack speed of Vu illemin
pr oved for sure that the young
Fren chman w ill be com ing to Arneri ca in 200 I w ith a littl e ex t ra c o rn pared with w ha t he sta rted wi th in
2000 .
eN
Results: October 20, 2000 (Round 1 of 21
F INA L: 1. Dav id Vu ill e m in (Yam ) ; 2 . Mike
La Rocco (Ho n); 3. Greg A l berty n ( Suz); 4. Jo sh
Cop pi ns (Suz) ; 5 . Rod rig T hai n (KT M) ; 6 . Th eirry
Bethy s ( Hon); 7 . Patrick Paget ( Hon ); 8 . N icolas
Charlier (Kaw); 9. Regis Olivier (Yam) ; 10. Joaquim
Rodriques (Hon).
F1M WORLD CHAl'lPlONSHIP 250
Albertyn . Fred er ic Vi all e wa s fo urth ,
with Regis Oliviera in fifth pla ce.
"I wanted to come ba ck from m y
inj u r y and do well in Paris ," Pich on
said . "1 k now my sp eed is as go od as
t he A mericans', and wh en everyo ne
was getti ng excited early in the ra ce , I
j ust kept my lines and made them do
th e work ."
FINAL
If there had been any doubt, the
F inal proved to ever yo ne that
Vuill emin m eant busn ess, as h e
blitzed out of the start and was gone.
A lb ertyn and LaRo cco tr ied to ke ep in
contact w ith th e Frenchm an . but it
was to no ava il. Vu illemin won from
LaRocco , A lbertyn , Coppins . Thain ,
Bethys , Patrick Paget. Nicolas Charli er and Ol ivier, wi th Rodrigues in 10 th
pla ce. Vuillem in had lapped the corn plete field up to A lbertyn.
As fo r J e r em y M cGrath , the
Supercros s K in g DNFed afte r a col li sio n wi th Pich o n o n la p o ne . It was
th e sam e sc en ar io fo r McG rath as in
1999. when he was forc ed t o wat ch
Vuillemin take the fina l w ith eas e. a
situa tio n McG rath was n o t happy
w it h.
"I crashe d with Pich on and could
n o t go o n," McGra th sa id . "Of
cou rse I came here to win ; it's j ust
th e way it goes . I'm goi ng to Berc y
w ith the hope of w in n ing , and get ·
Wh ile the W o r l d Supercross C h ampion ships have been some thing of a poor series in
recen t yea rs. the prom oters. Action Group. promised a growing series . As for now , the 2000
cham pionship will be run over two rou nds . W hile th er e w as to be a rou nd in Italy . some pro blems
wi th the local officials caused cancellation of the event. The second and final round will be held in
Leipzig. Germany, on November 25. Despite all this , it can be argued that the 45 .000-strong
crowd was an indicator that Supercross in Europe is on the up. and Action Gr oup can be thanked
for that.
D efending World Supercro ss C hampion David Vuillemin was to only co ntes t the first rou nd
of the series , then take a holiday. N ow that Italy has been called off . he may compete in the German ro und . giving himself the chance to rega in his ti tle . Ryan Hughes wa s also meant to ride in
Paris, but after his crash at the THQ U .S. Ope n. he failed to show .
New 125cc Worl d Champi on G r ant Langston prove d once again that he is a capable rider on
the KTM 250. finishing second to Mi ckael Pichon in his heat race . then battling
with Jeremy M cGrath . Pichon and Greg
Albertyn in the semi-final. ' 1 felt good . "
Langst on said. " In the heat Iracel, I got
a bad start and made up a 101 of grou nd
on Pichon . In the semi-final. I again had
good speed . but then made a mistake
and cra shed . I was surprised by how
well I did in the qualificati on race . Even
in the w hoops I was on the pace . and
t h ey ar e my big ge st problem . '
Langston will compete in the German
round and the Bercy Supercross before
heading to Ame rica to prepare for the
U.S. seaso n.
Je re my M c Grath bro ke his fork pr otect or w hen he
cras hed with Pichon in th e final. He then deci ded not to risk
damaging his fork (as he only had one goo d pair in France),
and retired to the pits. M cG rath remain ed in France with
family members and w ill contest the Bercy Su perc ross .
which runs the wee kend after the W orld Supercross round.
Oth er news comi ng out of France was that another Aust ralian will r ace in Europe in 200 1, Whil e Andrew
M cFarlane wi ll race for the Rinaldi Yamaha factory in the
500c c c lass, and Ch ad Reed w ill ride for the Fact o ry
Kawa sak i team in the 250 cc class. it is now unders tood
that 17-year-old Brett M etcalfe will race a 125cc TM for the
factory t eam .It' s amazing to thi nk tha t three Austra lians w ill
all race for factory teams in 2001 . especially when yo u add
in the fact tha t Mi ch ael Byrne will race for J e ff Emig' s
TheEdgeS ports.com team in the USA .
c
ue
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NOVEMBER 8 , 2000
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