Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

500cc World MX Champion Marcus Hansson A t Holz Ge Husqv to ad guis 24-y Swe Lun Haka Worl Unli riders, Ma stardom from riding when 1 w three or four races a year to !'i until 1 was 16," he says. "I was a real hobby rider - no training or anything like that." It was during those times that Marcus acquired the nickname of Bubben, which has stuck to this day. His elder brother [ocke, us ride rs who narro . ever make the fina good national run elite, gave Marcus t the closest translati kid." When Marcus st often, it was clea observers that he was family with the ski still the gradual ad ings came slowly. A 1988 didn't help. "It which put me on m ning of last year. know what it is very strange. It knocks me ou t for six weeks, so that 1 am exhausted just by walking around, and then one day suddenly it is g~ne again. They call it a virus, but that is the term they use for . anything they can't explain." The breakthrough year was 1991. "I was riding well in the early part of the year but then 1 crashed and broke my collarbone. I saw myself as a 250 rider at the time, but the injury meant that I missed the first half of the Swedish champ ionship in that class. The 500 series started later, so I decided to race that." Marcus had never ridden the big bikes until then, but he took to them like a duck to water, winning nearly every remaining race in the series. He was also selected to ride the big bike at the MX des Nations in Valkenswaard, Holland, and led both motos for a time . He returned to the 250cc GP scene for the later races that summer, recording his best results to date . "That was the year I realized that 1 could be a champion if I worked at it," says Hansson. "I lost the Swedish GP to Pekka Vehkonen in the final corner. "I was firmly committed to the big bikes by then . My victories at home plus my Nations performance gave me the incentive to switch for 1992." It proved the right move. "I still think 1 could make good results in the 250s - I am Swedish Supercross champion - but I like riding SODs so much." Contrary to the common view, Marcus believes that racing a 500 fast requires style. "You just have to stay on the gas with a 250; with a 500 you have to have a better technique and feeling for the motorcycle." Nineteen ninety-two was the year of the great three-way struggle for supremacy between Georges Iobe, Kurt Nicoll and Billy Liles, but by the end of the summer Hansson was on them, running them all into the ground at Namu r. Consistency has been Hansson's hall- mark this year, but it was not always so. That first GP moto win had been fola week later by a terrible perforLuxembo urg, at the same ck where Marcus defeated year. "1 don't have amur, uld low. I mak t my td e hea ng, yo e bad da "It is nothing special, just Marzocchi front forks, pipes and silencers and few . ' modifications made by myself with a friend. "1 have always been pretty good in the start. That I have been consistently ood this ear is all dow lief in first ing out is so ou are me races, particularly t, that Marcus faded d . "I think that came ain time during the very good training it different to before, but 'then I missed a little bit of training at the beginning of the year . You can't do it all in the gym; you have to ride the bike, and I was simply no t finishing motos on the Husaberg. It is not easy to start your real build-up only a couple of tti!! first GP. Sportsmen at ort need to build up adually and then keep tire season . You try to re even in the closing sis must be there from ries, ed quite hard when I da, but I had to push for the first GP in only I needed to reduce the e or I would be burnt e a !e}V problems in e had sorted that out 't ular emphasis on En liysio who was also a vital member of Jorgen Nilsson's effort last year . "Eric is masseur and advisor on fiIness training. He knows something of how to train to advantage and he has good contacts to the docto rs where we go, to test my condition. The blood test is very important. I think that is also a part of the reason why I can stay sO consistent, because there can be something wrong - sickness, exhaustion - which needs to be taken care of immediately. The blood-test results warn you something is building up before you notice it externally." Just how hard have Hansson, Jacky Martens and Joel Smets been riding this year? "1 think we are hard all the time. It is not like 10 years ago when you raced hard for 10 minutes, took a breather, and then charged in the final quarter. At least I know that I am going as fast as I can all the time. A little bit of planning, but you have to go for it from the beginningnow." Ask his rivals and they will tell you that aggression, hard but fair, has also been more evident in Hansson's riding this summer. "1 had n't really been aware of it," he responds. "But maybe that comes with th e train in g . I am stronger and that enables me to be more aggressive." And that aggression certainly boiled over at the final round in Germany when Hansson was fined 3000 Swiss Francs (around $2000) for physically assaulting Gert Jan Van Doorn at the completion of moto one. "That was something I had to do . Van Doom was purposely knocking into me to prevent 'me moving up the leaderboard during the first three laps. He was only interested in stopping me from winning the World title. I was boiling up so much inside that I could never have competed in race two if I had not hit him straightaway. 1 can live with the fine and 1 am champion anyway, but Van Doom must live for the rest of his career with the fact that ~veryone knows wha t he is!"

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