Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Belgium's Georges Jobe, 2 6 , became the second rider in hi story to win the 5 0 0cc World Cham pio nship as a privateer. Nineteen hundred and eighty-seven has' marked the return of Belgium motocross to the top with World Championship wins in both the 250 and 500cc classes after two years in the wilderness. That may not seem very long for most countries, but Belgium. has a long history of world 30 do minan ce in the sport , ha ving pro vided an FIM Champion in a t least o ne class every year betw een 1968 and 1984 wit h th e exceptio n of 1978; th e hi ghl ights were 1975 and 1980 when Roger DeCo ster, Harry Everts and Gaston Rahier, and Andre Malherb e, Georges J obe and Everts cli nched all three crowns. Th is year Erik Geboers has 'won hi s th ird cro wn and H on da 's first in the 250cc class, while J obe has also scored a perso nal ha t tri ck with th e title in th e sport's premier 500cc class. The 26-year- old from Retinne in the Fren ch- speaking part of hi s cou ntry, has also mad e an other piece of hi story by becoming th e firs t privateer to win a world title since Bill Nilsson clinched th e sport 's firstever World Ch ampionsh ip 30 years ago. You are a private rider this year, but what is the extent of your assistance from HRC? I have received my machinery from th em , bu t it 's standard material. I do not receive any special parts, but the availabilit y of any parts I need is made much ea sier because my mechanic, J ean-Marie Hacking, has workshop faciliti es a t th e HRC European base in Aal st, Belgium. It is much easier for J ean-Marie to work there with everythi ng o n hand. You have been offered such things as the Showa front forks. Yes, HRC gave m e p roduction Sho wa front forks, which I have been able to test. I had some problems in Italy, so I used the fork s there, but I feel th e White Power forks suit me better and I use th em all of the time . now. What is the nature of your relationship with yo ur private sponsors such as Johnson and Nashua? Is it merely financial or do they get involved in the running of your team? Nas hua are just a straigh t sponsor who contracted me to race for the m in Bel giu m. J o hn so n signed a n ag reeme nt with me on th e same . basis, but they also have a struc ture for p romotion. They work more closely wit h the pr ess, indeed th ey ha ve th eir own press service for th e di stribution of r esults a n d th ey naturall y conce ntrate so me effort into pr omoting me as an individual. They occas ionall y orga ni ze press co n ferences, but th eir promotion revolves around the Belgian races. When you left Kawasaki, you said . that you felt that you needed a new challenge to face in creating your own privately sponsored team. Are you satisfied with the-way this has worked out? Up to now it has worked out fine with good results and good organization. I am also very happy with the bike and the ent h usias m from both sides in my relationship with th e sponsors has been high. I th ink a happy team is a team wh ich works well , and th ere is then great encouragement to carry on the effo rts and to win. Without mentioning numbers, has it been a financial success? No. T h is year I have had to invest capi tal fro m my ow n pocket, bu t this was the only way for me to a pproach the sport in the way I wanted. I am very happy that I have don e it this way, however , fo r m y personal sat isfactio n, and I ho pe tha t th e investment will have proved worthwhile by reco upi ng it next year. Do you feel that you have set an example for other riders? Do you feel that you have destroyed the myth that only a full y works-supported rider can be champion? Yes. The mai n ai m this year was to show to th e sponors that it is possible to be co mpe titive thi s way. Clearly if the y ar e to invest more in th e future th en th ey must feel that th ey are deriv ing ben efits from th e relationship, and I hope tha t it will also show ot her sponsors that the ir involvement can bring dividends. I am sure that present-day motocross needs a new outlook, because the factories ar e slowin g down in th eir di rect involvement through their racing budgets. The best way to show sponsors that there is something in the sport for them is to go out there and do it by giving them an example to follow. Outside concerns are interested in promoting their products, so wh en the y see that they are able to do so in motocross the y will be more interested for th e future. Despite your obvious satisfaction with the way everything has gone, would it be difficult for you to reject any offer of a full works contact for next year? That wo ul d be a difficult choice. I have been totally absorbed in winn in g the crown up to now, so I haven 't really though t abou t it too deeply. I must say th at I have been very satisfied with th e way things have worked ou t th is year and I would like to co ntin ue working with the same people after th ey have shown fai th in me this year, and I hope th ey feel that th ey can increase th eir support. But that would be very important. I cannot do another year lik e this o ne with th e res tricted budget, how ever. I think m y success . ca n help th e o ther riders and th e sport in gen er al ; o nce we have attracted o ne set of spo nsors, then I feel sure that their com peti tio n will als o §tart to look at the potential benefits. If priva te sponso rs can no t come up with sufficient fin ance and I have lucrative offers from th e factories, then, ·of course, I must choose the latter because otherwise I cannot carry on racing.

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