Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

; INTERVIEW 125(( MX World Champ_ion_S_te_fa_n_Ev_er_ts ~W By Davey Coombs ~ c.o C'-£ ::>- .... Ci:l ;j hen 125cc World Champion Stefan Everts lined up at the starti n g gate on january 18 for th e first AMA Camel Supercross of his career in Houston, T exas , it marked a mi lestone in the 19-year-old Belgian's life. It wasn 't the fact th at Everts was finally in America - he'd been here twice as a kid . It wa sn' t because Houston was his firs t big stadium race - the Suzuki factory rid er had already compe ted in major indoo r even ts all over th e world. What mad e Everts' Not so basic training ~ ~~~:~~~Ja~~~n~~~s~fs~~~~~~e the fact that he was no longer in th ~ 16 army. "I n Belgium every boy must go into the army wh en he is 18 years old, " says Everts of his conscription. " He must stay for II months. My army service started on Decemb er 2, th e day after the T okyo Supercross, so I was to stay in through September. I had to learn to shoot a gun , stand in lin e for a lon g tim e, and march. You know, 'One-two, one-two.' But after the first mon th it was fixed so th at I didn't have to stay." Everts was released on December 31, 1991 wh en 'a gove rn me nt offic ia l pulled him out of th e ranks to work as an intern. "T he ministers from Belgium can each take one boy from the army to work in their office. Sylvain Geboers (Everts' team manager ) fixed it so that I wou ld be chosen to work in an office." So wh y is Everts racing supercross in American rather than pouring coffee or sorting papers in Belgium? "They don 't need me," he says. Not that American su percross racers need Everts, either. Starting in the sp ring of 1989, Fr en chman j eanMichel Ba yle began a deva stating a ssault on the prest igious Camel Supercross Series tour, culminating in last year' s sensa tional , triple crown victory in which he not only won the Cam el Supercross title, but the 250 and 500cc outdoor National Championships as well . Bayle's success seems to have left some Americans with a bad taste for touring international stars lik e Everts. At the Anaheim Supercross , both Europeans were booed during the opening rider in trod uctions by the partisan crowd. Everts says that such unkind cuts don 't bother him. " I am not here to take any rider 's factory ride awa y," says Everts. "I ride for Suzuki of japan and I am only here to prepare for my first year in the 250cc World Championships. Am erican Suzuki is helping me with a truck and a mechanic, and they have been a great help. I do not plan to return after the GPs to race the (fall 125cc) Nationals. And after that, I do not know." .Even though Everts says th at a Bayle-lik e extended American stay is not at the top of his list, many draw comparisons between the two European stars. "I do not think about Bayle or what Bayle has done," says Everts. " I never think about what he is doing. My visit is almost the same as his was in '89, but this was my idea. But I am sure some people see it the same." With Everts riding with number I I I, th e number Bayle first used in 'th e V .S. , and training for the 250cc class after a 125cc titl e, it 's not hard to understand th e feeling of deja-vu . " I thin k that Everts looks up to Bayle a lot, his qual ities and all ," says fivetim e 500cc World Champion Roger DeCoster , who was in strumental in Bayle's initial American tour and remains one of the Frenchman's bosses at Honda. " He wants to do things the same way tltat Bayle did. Stefan came over here to learn th e circuits and American way of racing, bu t it's a little different than it was for Bayle. Stefan has support from Amercian Suzuki and japan, while Bayle had to bu y his own motorcycles and mostly ,support himself. Maybe , it's different now because of Bayle." How does Everts compare to Bayle? " He's relatively close to wher e Bayle was in his first supercrosses,' says twotime Camel Supercross Champion jeff Stanton. "They have the same style; Everts just seems to be copying what Bayle did. He 's young and he's still learning. He 'll do good. " Stanton doesn 't foresee an y problems with another foreign inv ader coming over to his turf. "I' ve raced enough with him to know what he 's after . He just wants to be the best, so let him come over," said Stanton. The idea to come across the Atlantic to try racing supercross first developed in Everts ' mind after th e Paris Supercross in 1990. " I won the 125cc class a t Bercy that year, wh ich led som e to thi n k th at I would be coming even sooner," said Evert s. " I asked Syvain abo u t th e possibi lity of coming here to race and tra in because I knew it would be good tra ining for th e GP s. We asked Suzuki of j apan to think abo ut it and th ey said they were interested. So now I am fina lly here. " It is d ifferen t to race agains t the Ame rica ns now . When th ey ar e in Eu ropean su percr osses th ey do not try so h ard . It is like , you get th e hol esh ot, you win . If a rider starts fifth, he will fini sh fift h. Not everyone is fighting to get to th e front. Now everybody is figh tin g, trying hard to win (in th e V .S.). They are much faster here." The resu lts prov e Everts' point. After beating many of the top Ameri can s in the Masters of Motocross Series last fall , he has yet to be a factor in the fina l results of an American supercross. In Houston the Belgian ran third for 12 laps before wear in g ou t. , " Because of th e army I was not able to tra in a ll th rough December," said Everts of hi s late-race fade to ninthp lace, "T hat's why I didn 't rid e the first race in Orland o. Still, I was not disa ppointed. My goa l is to win the 250cc Worl d Champ ion ship, no t Hou ston ." _ Everts also ear ned ninth-place at Anaheim on e week later. During his visit, Everts ha s been living in a motorhome with his mother Francine, his mechanic Harry Nolte, and his trainer Will y Lendon. Everts speaks English exceptionally well for someone who has never studied the language in a classroo m. " I learned to spea k English at the ra ces from the other riders and mechanics who can spea k it," says Everts. " I also watch the movies and listen to the music on the radio. " Since arri ving in Ameri ca, Everts ha s made lot s of friends on the supercross circui t, though he says he and Suzuki teammates La rr y Ward and Guy Cooper get al ong best. "Stefan and I have been friends since we met in Europe," says Ward. " We're about the sam e age and when I go to Europe he helps me out a lot , so now I'm just trying to retu rn the favor." Before the Houston race Ward drove Everts 30 miles in order to get numbers ironed on the back of his jerseys. Everts' teammate for the 1992 World titl e chase will be California's Mike Healey, the wild child of GP motocross. H is partnership with th e verydi scipl ined Everts at first rais ed some eyebrows in Euro pe. " Mike is very fast and he is a friend," says Everts of Healey. "H e knows the (250cc) circuit and I can learn , many ' things from h iin. They say it is a strange combinatio n, but I am sure it will work." Though they will soo n be shari ng p it space all over the world, Everts and Healy have not seen much of each other since Everts' arrival in America. Stefan's father Harry, a four -time World Champion and Stefan 's lifelong coach, didn't make the trip to America. ' " We have a sport shop back at our home, " sa id Everts, who lives in Maaseik, near th e German and Du tch borders of northern Belgium. " He is home getting all of the new stuff in and taking care of th e bu siness. He is not here, but he thinks (what I'm doing) is a good idea." The relationship between Everts and his amb itious father has received plenty of attention in the motorcycle press, but Stefan says that the pressure his father has put on him to race was never that big of a deal. " I started riding when I was four years old behind our house. My father did not pu sh me to race. But then as I got close to winning a World Champ ionship he pushed me a lot. We never got to race together. When I started on the big bikes in 1988, he stop ped!" Everts' fath er keeps tabs on him from Belgium, bu t ano ther interested party just across the stadium pits is defending 250cc World Champion T rampas Parker. Like Everts, Parker is in America to hone his skills for the coming GP wars. "I've been watching Stefan a little, but right now th ere's no positioning going on between us because we are both here for the same reason, and that's to ge t ready for th e World Championships," says Parker, a native of Louisiana. " Stefan and I are friend s, so there's no problem now and I don 't think th ere will be one in th e future. The best man will win. I'v e proved before that I'm willing to do the work it takes to get th e (World) titl e and Stefan has proved that he can get the job done, too. I think it's going to be a grea t season , no t just because he's coming (to the 250cc class) to try to win my titl e, but becau se every one of the other 39 rid ers is goi ng to be a threat." Bob Moor e chased Everts through-

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