three the 1994 championship was a three men affair between Hansson and his private Honda, Martens on his factory Husqvarna and Smets on his factory Vertemati. The first half of the season was really open as six different riders won the first six rounds, and by mid season Hansson was leading the championship from Smets by 10 points and Martens by 14 points. In the second part of the season Smets lost his chances with two DNF and going to the penultimate round in Belgium there was only four points between Marcus and Jacky. Marcus scored his fourth GP win of the season and increased his leadership, but
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in the first race of the final round in Germany he crashed with Van Doorn and lost his advantage! The last heat of the season was decisive for the championship, as both riders were tight with 315 points. Neither Marcus nor Jacky were able to fight for the win, but with a fourth position Hansson defeated Martens who crashed and finished only tenth. It was the last time that a two-stroke machine won the 500cc championship and
also the last time that a Swedish rider claimed a World title, eleven years after Carlqvist. Although Hansson had signed for the Belgacom team of Georges Jobe, he never had the possibility to defend his title as he got injured during a Supercross event and was forced to retire after a brief but brilliant career. Photos and text: Pascal Hudiquert
1988: 33rd in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki) 1990: 17th in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki) 1991: 21th in the 250 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki) 1992: 10th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Kawasaki) 1993: 4th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Honda). Winner of 1 GP 1994: 500 Motocross World Champion (Honda). Winner of 4 GP