German GP: Qualifying

| May 12, 2001

The weather was perfect in Teutschenthal for qualifying today, with a dry track on this busy day with the new GP schedule. On this fast and nice track, James Dobb and Chicco Chiodi won the 125cc qualifying races, while Frederic Bolley beat Mickael Pichon and got his first pole position of the season.

For Dobb, the leader of the 125cc World Championship, qualifying seemed to be just a formality, as the KTM rider got his fifth consecutive success in his qualifying race! Dobb was second in the opening lap in Germany, and then passed Cherubini in the second lap to win this race, followed by Eric Eggens and Steve Ramon. Sword was leading most of the second qualifying race on his Husqvarna, but Chiodi passed him on the last lap to get his first success of the season, two weeks after a disappointing Belgian round. Patrick Caps finished third despite his holeshot, and Norwegian Gundersen ultimately didn’t appear in Teutschenthal.

The 250 qualifying session was exciting, especially in the last minutes, as the track was dryer and faster at this moment. Pichon was again the fastest top rider in action, taking the pole after 15 minutes. He improved his time twice, but finally Bolley beat him in the last two minutes and got his first pole in a long time.

“I don’t remember when my last pole was,” said Bolley. “It was so far [back]! I’m happy to be back on a sunny track, and I really like this one where I got my title last year. All the team has worked hard since Genk, and with a good start I’m expecting to win tomorrow.”

Pichon finished second, followed by Yves Demaria and Pit Beirer – fourth for his home GP.

Since his comeback in Europe after one season in the U.S., Shayne King hasn’t had good results in the GPs despite a very good qualifying session in Spain. On the fast track of Teutschenthal, he got his first pole on his KTM, beating Joel Smets, Stephan Everts and Aaltonen. King was 0.7 seconds faster than his rivals, but in this class the positions were closer than usual, with the top seven riders within two seconds of one another. The race could be exciting tomorrow on a dry track!

125 Qualifier 1: 1. Dobb ; 2. Eggens ; 3. Ramon ; 4. Belometti ; 5. Traversini ; 6. Dorsch; 7. Mackenzie; 8. Guidetty; 9. Leok T; 10. Strijbos; 11. Dupasquier; 12. Church.

125 Qualifier 2: 1. Chiodi ; 2. Sword ; 3. Caps ; 4. Stevanini; 5. Breugelmans; 6. Sorby; 7. Jarvela; 8. Jorgensen; 9. Dobes; 10. Seguy; 11. Tureluren; 12. Pyrhonen.

125 LCQ: 1. Camerlengo; 2. Charlier; 3. Cherubini; 4. Siegl; 5. Kallonen; 6. Bricca.

250 Qualifier: 1. Bolley, 1’57”815; 2. Pichon, 1’58”312; 3. Demaria, 1 ’59’’209; 4. Beirer, 1’59”54; 5. Coppins, 1’59”668; 6. Aubert , 2’00’’274; 7. Kovalainen, 2’00’’333; 8. Cooper , 2’00’’479; 9. Federici, 2’00’’591; 10. Theybers, 2’00’’693.

500 Qualifier: 1. King, 1’59’’324; 2. Smets, 2’00’’04; 3. Everts, 2’00’’072; 4. Aaltonen, 2’00’’256; 5. Bervoets, 2 ’00’’5; 6. Garcia Vico, 2’01’’137; 7. Lindhe, 2’01’’347; 8. Johansson, 2’01’’ 401; 9. Burnham, 2’01’’643; 10. Eckenbach, 2’01’’927.

By Freelance