Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

American Bobby Moore's first-ever 250cc GP win came in England. Consistency. has put Moore in contention for the series championship, which Donny Schmit leads. Moore scores at British GP By Alex Hodgkinson FOXHILL, G.B., JUNE 21 ore than 20,000 spectators witnessed American Bobby Moore of the Rinaldi Yamaha team position himself into realistic contention for the 250cc World Championship MX title by recording the overall victory at the Foxhills Moto Pare British GP. The Yamaha rider combined 2-1-2 moto finishes for his first-ever 250cc GP victory. Moore, who has two 125cc GP victories to his credit, is now fourth in the World Championship 250cc MX Series point standings, 38 points behind the series . points leader, fellow American Donny Schmit. Joining Moore on the victory rostrum were Schmit and another Yankee, defending champion Trampas Parker. Schmit, who recorded DNF-2-1 moto finishes, 'and Parker, who tallied 4-3-7 moto finishes, tied on overall points for the day, but Schmit topped Parker via a higher placing in the tie-breaking third moto. Schmit now has a total of 223 points to Parker's runner-up tally of 193, while currently third is Italian Alessandro Puzar, who carded 13-5-DNF moto finishes. But the hero of the day was home country favorite Rob Herring. The British National MX Champion won the opening moto to register his first success at world level since the Yugoslavian GP four years ago to the week, and his charge through the pack to fourth place in the final moto ensured him of fourth place overall. A second moto fall in which the brake lever broke off prevented the Honda rider a probable top-three finish. The first of three 20-minute plus-two lap motos saw Herring in overwhelm- M 26 ing form. Rounding the first turn in fifth, he swept to third by the time he reached the far end of the track and a lap later was in front and going away. ''It all seemed so easy. I was very determined to get to the front as early as possible and perhaps the others relaxed just a little after gating well," said the jubilant winner. "After about four laps, I made a couple of mistakes and Bob (Moore) got closer, ·but I didn't panic and soon had a decent lead again. I then concentrated on staying clear." Moore quickly realized the fruitlessness of giving chase, however, and continued to lose ground throughout the second half of the race. The holeshot had gone to another Brit Paul Malin, but he had no answer to Herring or Moore. After Moore had gone past on lap three, already five seconds down on Herring, Malin had no difficulty maintaining an unchallenged third to the finish. The 15 points virtually ensured that he would qualify for the full travel indemnity paid to the top 15 on points for the overseas GPs, as main rival Micky Dymond was not having a happy day and went backwards from a sixth place start, eventually quitting after going out of the points. Belgian Evertsen and James Dobb on the two full factory Kawasakis held the next two positions for virtually all of the race with the Dutchman, Evertsen, getting the upper hand throughout, albeit only by a few feet. , With a lap and a half to go, Dobb lined up his challenge but it was to go sadly wrong: "1 had lined up to pass Edwin on the inside off a jump, but Trampas Parker cut inside me. That blocked me and he also got Edwin at exactly the place I had intended to pass," said Dobb. Things got .even worse for the Englishman: "On the last lap, I hit my head on the handlebars and smashed my goggles." Italian Michele Fanton inherited sixth. Parker had a marvellous ride from a first lap 12th. He passed Mike Healey and Bader Manneh in quick succession, the latter having eased his cause by crashing, then set about catching up the leaderboard men, advancing three places in the last three laps. It was a significant move, because both riders ahead of him were in trouble. Schmit had gated second but lost places over successive jumps to Moore and Herring before going down hard along on the straightaway on the way back down the valley. Even a determined drive back through the pack brought no reward, as he ended up one place short of the points. Apart from Moore, it had been a bad race for the Yamaha team. Birthday boy Mamicq Bervoets had got taught up in the first corner tangle with Italian Massimiliano Gazzarata and could not continue with bent handlebars, while Swede Peter Johansson crashed on the first lap after gating eighth. Malin, again, tried hard for tbe holeshot in race two, as ne pushed Schmit wide in the first turn, but the American is not a man to let that happen and muscled his way out of the tum in front of the Kawasaki. Once again, howev~r, Moore eased past his teammate through the first two comers. Schmit said, "If it had not been my teammate then he wouldn't have got through, but it was a good pass and he is riding really well today. I had no answer to his pace." Moore was supreme and with 37 points from two races, he was well on his way to a third-successive GP success in the UK Herring was not going to win the overall. "1 was about 10th on the first lap and trying to gain places," said Herring. "1 was trying to cut inside someone and clipped his rear wheel as I got out of shape. The gear pedal got broken off in the crash. I tried for a couple of laps but I was stuck in second gear and it was pointless. Still, I'll be fresh for the third race. 'fwo out of three won't be bad." Evertsen was initially third, but soon had to make way for puzar and Malin, while Dobb and Parker completed the breakaway. Parker was riding superbly but pas&: ing was difficult on a track where nearly everyone was going the same speed. The American made his move just after half distance to pass the three Kawasakis and the gratefully accepted third as Puzar threw away a 1-2-3 sweep . for the Rinaldi team. The Italian had raced clear in third place but one single mistake was enough to push him back to sixth behind the advancing Parker. Puzar repassed Malin before the finish but could not displace a strong Dobb. Evertsen also tried to repass Malin two laps from the end but lost control when almost alongside and had to settle for eighth behind Johansson. The Swede had gated well but was only 12th after the initial sort-out: "1 got . pushed into the fence when Malin tried to push out Schmit. By the time I got through the lower leaderboard men the first seven were gone." Dymond had crashed down on the first lap, Healey tangled bars with Bervoets coming out of the gate but even he could only gain 10 places during the course of the race, and the German duo of Dietmar Lacher and Bernd Eckenbach had similar rides to the first race. Having temporarily had their current dominance put in doubt during race one, the Rinaldi team immediately took complete control at the start of race three with Schmit edging out Moore this time and puzar slotting into third place behind them.

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