Fred Bolley secures first 250cc pole of season.

Team Rinaldi Yamaha rider Frederic Bolley claimed 250cc pole position for the FIM Motocross Grand Prix of the Netherlands at Valkenswaard yesterday. The Frenchman headed the timing screens for the latter half of the 40 minute session and eventually earned the top spot with a lap of 1min 49.6secs, only 3 hundredths of a second ahead of reigning Champion and winner in 2001 Mickael Pichon riding the Team Geboers Suzuki.

Number 1 CAS Honda man Jussi Vehvilainen bounced over the Dutch sand to take third position and lead the only other rider in the 1min 50secs bracket who was Josh Coppins, representing the Berni Honda racing team. Coppins left his best circulation until almost the last minute of the session as did 125cc World Champion and now riding the new factory 250 KTM, Jamie Dobb, who clocked the fifth best time.

In the 500cc classification Joel Smets was the only man to dip under the 1min 50secs time barrier and his impressive speed around Valkenswaard gave the Belgian pole for tomorrow's Grand Prix. Smets won the 2001 event and the most successful 500 rider ever now stands as race favourite. Smets' fastest effort today was over a second faster than defending Champion and Rinaldi Yamaha rider Stefan Everts who just managed to better team-mate Marnicq Bervoets, creating a familiar 'all-Belgian' top three in the senior category.

Andrea Bartolini on the new Honda four-stoke along with Javier Garcia Vico riding the Telefonica Movistar KTM rounded off the top five.

Smets' team-mate Yves Demaria crashed spectacularly in the second Free Practice session and wrenched ligaments in his shoulder as well as receiving a hefty blow to the head. The French rider, making his return to the 500 class after two years in the 250s, lost control of his KTM coming off one of the biggest jumps on the Eurocircuit and was thrown heavily over the front of the bike. Despite initial fears that he had broken a collarbone it is believed that the multi-French Champion will be back in action in just over a week and almost certain for the next round of the World Championships in three weeks time at Bellpuig, Spain.

Steve Ramon guided his factory KTM to first position in the gate for tomorrow's 125cc GP. He just beat team-mate Erik Eggens in the timed session for the top ten automatically qualified riders with Mark De Reuver, Patrick Caps and Christian Stevanini also in the top group.