Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

for 12 months of the year for a long tim e now , and it becomes very tiring,' so I may stop racing for as long as th ree months this winter. Do you feel that you have matured this year both as a rider and as a person? Yes, every year you gai n m o re experience and as you get older you realize mo re and mo re that it is importan t no t to make mistakes. I also feel that I know myself better than before. I know my lim its, I know what I have to do, and I know what I must no t do. Whe n I was yo u nger I m ade mistakes which cost me the chance of being World Champio n more often. But that is the sport . I am now reapi ng the rewards for those mistak es, because I have now developed into the person I am; I have learned from my mistakes. Has your family responsibilities with your wife Fabienne and your daughter Maite helped you fo mature? Yes, it has helped me a lot, because m y daughter gives me a lot of pl easure. She gives me sickness as well - I had a cold from here in Heerlen - but I am so much more relaxed in myself because of my happiness at home. For several years I was 'hurting myself a lot, but since Maire was born m y life as change comp letely. . Have you considered your future when your motocross career inevitably finishes in a few years? Your close friend Andre Malherbe has switched to car racing for example. I haven 't reall y thought that far ahea d yet It is more important to co ncentrate most of my efforts on my present career at the momen t. Andre and m yself wi ll actually have a small race between o urselves at the end of th e year. I will race in his car and he will race on my bike for a sma ll challe nge between us, but th at is just . a frien dly affa ir, not because I have a ny serio us th o u gh ts a bout car raci ng. My th ough ts at present are restricted to finish ing this seaso n and arranging another seaso n in mo tocross for next year. I don't thi nk I can loo k further ahead than that if I am going to put myself fully into my career. You are the White Po wer distributor for Belgium. Do you have any other business interests? I have a friendwho is working on the White Power business, and I also have a gymnasium where I can train with other motocrossers. I also have a bike shop, but it is only a small bu siness. I cannot see me becoming a motorcycle deal er onl y wh en I event ually co me to th e end of my career as a motocrosser. But my frie nd tak es care of mos t of th e business side of th ings at present becau se I must concentrate on my raci ng. Do yo u think that the changes which are happening in motocross. are taking it in the right direction? I th in k that th e organization and promotio n of top level motocross in some countries is very good now, but Jobe's opinion of FIM's possible . GP race format change in 1988: ";., it is completely crazy." Jobe: '" cannot do another year li k e th is one with a restricted budget." Jobe, who has a wife and a daughter, now has two World Championships under his belt. in other countries there seems to be a reluctance to adopt a more professio na l approach. The riders and the factories have moved with the times, but so often the natio nal federatio ns and the FIM are living in the past. Am I right ~n thinking that for you Ital y is one of the co un tries which is changing for the bett er, while Belgium is at the other ext reme? Yes. For me Italy is currently the best cou n try for the promotion of motocross, and France 'is also not so bad. Belgium is not the best. I won 't say that it is the wors t, bu t it is not far removed from bein g th e wors t. ] ust look at the state of the sport in Belgium. We have no young riders coming through to th e top, and very few good tracks. And when you don't have those, then it is difficult to ha ve good races. There are ' so me clubs whose tra ck preparation is excellent but th e land which th ey hav e at their disposal is very limited; on the other hand we have some tracks wh ich are potentially very good, but the y were prepared in such a wa y that you can no t race on th em. I am sure th ese are th e reason s th at not so many specta tors come to the races in th e last few years. You mentioned the FIM. We hear that they are considering a change in the GP format from two 45 minute motos to three of 30 minutes. How do you feel about that? This is completely crazy. We are already faced with two p ractices on Sa turday pi us q ua lifica tio n for most riders. T hen o n Su nday we have free practice followed by tim ed practice and two mo tos . T hat means an enormous num ber of tires for examp le, new air filters and ot her parts. If yo u add another mota, then the costs are going to increase even more and particularly the private riders cannot afford it. Then look at the racing. Even now ' the starts are very important, and in every race the time when the race really sta rts to get interesting is during the final 15 minutes. That is when yo u can mak e some headway from a poor start; it is even the time when the strongest riders from a group battling at the front can show their supre~acy. That is when you can see who has good condition. If you have three times 30 minutes, then we are just going to be following each other around for the entire race. Have you had to change th e amoun t of physical training as you have become older? Not really. I have always tried to be as fit as possible, and I try to keep my body as you ng as possible. I have been told that yo u oft en train at several different tracks on ·a single da y. Is that a conscious attempt to maintain yo ur form on a variety of different su r faces - deep sand, grassland, cla y? That differs from day to day. Sometimes I travel from one track to another. Sometimes I stay at the same place all day . It depends how I feel . in myself, how the weather is, and what condition the track is in . There is no point in tra ining on a track which is in a bad state, and I don 't want to ride somewhere where there are hundreds of other riders of differing talent." •

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