Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW e Following in his father's footstep_s Motocrosser Stefan Everts I suppose th at so u nds a littl e stra nge, but we're ri vals for th e .125cc World Cham pi onship . We have a norm al relatio nship with eac h ot her, b u t we are not big friends. When the G Ps ar e finished, ·we are closer to each ot her. T hat was th e case last year. U ntil the end o f August we ar e rivals. I th in k th e results thi s year have sh own that on e of us shou ld win. Las t yea r he (Sch m it) was fas ter th an me, but no t an ym ore. By Alex Hodgkinson hen Stefan Everts won his first 125cc Grand Prix in Hungary, he became the second son of a famous father to win a World Cham pionship MX GP. The first father-son GP pairing had been Dave and Kurt Nicoll, but sin ce Kur t broke his leg at th e Dutch 500cc GP the English fam ily has no cha nce of also crea ting such a ge nera tio n double wh en it comes to winning World Championship titl es. Th e Belgi an fami ly has ev er y chance . If Stefan Everts enters the record books this year as 125cc Wor ld Champio n , it will be just 10 years after his fath er Harry won h is last crown in th e same cla ss. The 18-year-old Bieffe Suzuki team s- . ter has a co m m a n d i n g lead ov er Am eri can Bob Moore in the 125cc Wor ld Championship' wi th only two rounds remai ning and , shou ld he clinch the titl e, he will also topple Dave Strijbos as the you ngest-ever MX Wo rl d Champion. Stri jbos was 18 years and 296 da ys old when h e cl inched th e 125cc crown in 1986; Everts will be 24 days younger when the final round of th is year's ti tle chase is h eld i n j apan o n Augu st 18 , although he is lik ely to cl in ch the ti tle two weeks ea rl ier at the Germa n G P. W "When (my father) Harry gives me advice it is usually something to do with riding. If he notices something, then he will suggest to me that I might try a different line or something." . ***** Were you satisfied with your results in th e first three GPs even though Donny Sch m it was th e overall winner each time? I was happy eno ug h with my perfor- . mances. I had some bad luck with some from the start of th e season with Schmit on th e Bieffe Suzu ki team? We hav e been treated as equal number ones right from th e start. We both get full facto ry bikes and the same part s and service. But we a re both free to test the bik es and set them up how we wan t. We go our own wa ys on th at: but the ma terial which we receive fro m Suzuki is exa ctly the same. 'H had achieved my first aim in the very first moto of the championship when I finally won a GP moto. I proved to myself and everyone else that I could win.l 20 . crashes a n d ba d starts, b u t I was confident that m y da y would come before too long. I had ac hieved my firs t aim in the very first mot o of the cham pionship wh en I finally won a G P moto. I proved to myself and everyo ne else that I co uld win. I knew that it was just a mat ter of tim e before I wo n overall also. I was confident before racing in Hungary, bu t even i f it hadn 't happen ed th ere, I wo uld ha ve been optim istic for th e foll owi ng G Ps i n Swi tzer land o r Belgiu m. When Schmit was injured at th e fourth round in Hungary, you became the favorite for the title. Did you think you could win the title before the Hungarian GP where you beat Sch mit in the first moto? I thin k so. I knew even before Hungary tha t I was read y to beat him (Sch mi t). I kn ow I ca n do it . I di d it in Ital y. I did it in France. Both tim es I bea t him fai r and squar e. It wasn't as th ough I had go tten away a nd he was stuck in th e pack . I was positive th a t" I was ready to defea t him reg ularl y. H ave you been treated on equal term s Although you are developing the bikes individually, you presumably tell each ot her if you find any problems. No , we tell th e tea m ma nager (Sylvain Geboers). And he tells the other rider? That's up to hi m, but we are telling him so that he ca n ad vise (Suzuki in) japan. If we break something, th en (Suzuki in ) j apan decides whe ther or not to change it. It so u n ds m ore like you are two indiv idual riders with a common team manager rather than a team. Did you feel th at yo u were equal number on es on th e team? After all , Sch mit is the reigning champion and you are just 18 years of age. . I th in k it was more o f a problem for him (Sch m it) th an it was for m e. H e is th e champion. H e ca n lose his tit le. I ca n o nly win . After he won' both mo tos at th e thi rd G P thi s year in H o lland, he was feel ing stro ng aga in , . I know that. Bu t I showed him in th e first moto in Hungary tha t neither of us ha d a chance if th e other got away a t th e start. After the first ra ce in Hungary he kn ew th a t he had only won in Holla nd because he got the starts both times and I was down ' in th e pack. . You have two fam ous men tors - you r fa th er Harry , who is a lso yo u r mechanic, and you r team manager Sylvain G eboers. Is th ere an y con flict between the ad vice you receive from them? The advice I get from Sylvain is mostly ab ou t th e bike, wh a t he wou ld like us to change and so on. Wh en Harr y gives me advice it is usually' someth ing to do' with rid ing. If he . notices someth ing, then he will suggest to me tha t I m igh t try a d ifferent line or som eth ing. There is no real conflict. T here is a prett y distinct div iding li ne. It was nothing co nsciou s, it just happen ed like tha t. To what exten t are you Stefan Everts the famous motocross rider, and to what extent are you still learning? Wh en I think back to th e tests wh ich we di d at the beginning of th e year, I was lea rning to feel th e difference betw een o ne cylinder a nd a nothe r. It is someth ing which I have to work ou t for myself, but both Sylvain and Harry ca n help me a little bit. Have you always had an interest for the technical side of racing? No t so much , b ut they have enco u raged me to learn how dif ferent settings feel so th a t I can know myself what ough t to be changed, what is not good and what sort of th ings we can do to make th e bi ke as good as possib le for each tra ck. I realize how im po rta nt it is to lea rn th at , a nd that increases my int erest in the tech nical aspect of bikes:

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