World Championship for the fourth.
time in his career.
Bervoets did his part for Belgium's
effort, passing Liles late in the race to
take second overall and first in the
250cc class, completing an impressive
double-class win by the Yamaha rider.
Liles finished in third place ahead of
fellow countryman LaRocco, who was
fourth on-track and second 250cc in
a comeback ride that mirrored the
determination of teammate Emig in
the previous moto.
"I knew I had to get up and get back
out there (into the race) and get back
up in the points to keep our chances
alive," said LaRocco, who missed part
of the post-race press conference while
receiving medical attention for the
. bruising he suffered in the first turn
crash.
Bayle followed LaRocco across the
line in fifth, after crashing late in the
race when he slipped off his Honda
in a deeply w.hooped-out sweeper. Jobe
was sixth overall and fourth 500cc,
dashing any hopes of a Belgian victory
after running off the track midrace
when he reportedly attempted a heavy
take-out move on Liles. The pair
clashed, but it was Jobe who came off
the worst; striking a trackside fence and
dropping two places in the incident._
DeMaria,. Herring, Evertsen and
Johansson rounded out the top 10
placings in race three.
Nicoll's third-moto victory secured
third place for the Great Britain team,
behind the U.S. and Belgium teams.
Bayle and DeMaria locked up fourth
overall for France, the best result for
. the team since finishing runner-up on
home soil in 1988.
While the American squad reveled
in their hard-earned win, spraying one
another with champagne at the victory
ceremony, the longest faces of the day
belonged to the runner-up Belgian
squad of Jobe, Bervoets and Everts.
Their frustrated mood was summed
up by burly Belgian. team manager
Johnny Strijbos, who had seen his
team finish second for the thirdconsecutive year. "We are very disappointed to run seconq," said Strjbos.
"We should've won this MX des
Nations."
eN
Results
TEAM STANDINGS: I. USA (Billy Liles. Mike
LaRocco. Jeff Emig) 9; 2. Belgium (Georges Jobe,
Marnciq BervoelS, Stefans Everts) 12; 3. Great Britain
(Kurt Nicoll. Robb Herring, Jamie Dobb) 16; 4.
France (Jean-Michel Bayle. Yves DeMaria. Frederic
Bolley) 17; 5. Sweden (Marcus Hansson. Peter
Johansson, Joakim Karlsson) 22; 6. Australia (Jason
Marshall. Dale Britton. Kim Ashkenzai) 36; 7.
Holland (Edwin Evertsen. Pe
