Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SOOcc World Champion Joel Smets By Alex Hodgkinson T 18 he story of Joel Smets' rise up the world motocross rankings, culminating to date when, at the age of 26, he clinched the 500cc world crown on the last Sunday of August, is one of craft and dedication from the first early rides on a borrowed air-cooled Yamaha just nine years ago. There was no glittering youth career for the son of workin.J;-class parents at Dessel in the desolate landscape of northern Belgium. Indeed, his first full GP season in 1991 saw the then-22-yearold, his wife, and mechanic Ludo van der Veken set out for the GPs on Friday evening after work in a small truck with a tent for accomodation and a single Honda to take 17th in the world. Fourth the following year on a Honda, he switched to four-strokes with the Vertemati brothers in 1993 for the first of two consecutive FIM bronze medals. German contributor Alex Hodgkinson spoke to the new champ on the eve of his title-clinching rides in Germany. What has made the difference this year? I think it is a combination of three things. First of all my experience, that I am more matured. Mental strength: is so important. I have an inherent desire to win every race, and I have had to overcome this. Take France last year. The first crash was at the start and that can always happen to anyone, but then I crashed twice again. I was trying to recover too quickly and ended up with no!hing. I can handle that better now. I have my exuberance better under control. The first moto at Namur was perhaps the most significant of the championship battle because I got up off the ground to finish third and Parker only got to 13th. The Joel Smets of previous years could not have done that. I took calculated risks in the early laps because I had to, but in previous years I would have crashed again through trying too hard for the entire race. . Also, my physical condition has been getting better every year. I think the body gets stronger with age, but I only started to work professionally as a motocrosser four years ago. You cannot build such a strong conditional base in one year. It wasn't a matter of doing things wrongly. My trainer and I have only amended my training plan slightly over the years, but it takes years, not months or weeks, to build up to the level of fitness which I now have. I have felt stronger every year. I don't think you have to be stronger to race a fourstroke. . Finally, I feel very confident with the bike. My bikes when I was with the Vertemati brothers were very good. I couLd never have made such good results if that were not the case, but this year the bike is tailored to my style. Alvaro and Guido made a high-revving bike and I had to adapt my style to get the best out of the bike. My mechanic, Ludo, has prepared the Husaberg this year around my natural riding style. I was already completely at home with the long-stroke motor by the time the GPs started because I had been testing it since September last year. We knew that I would leave at the end of the year, and Alvaro and Guido saw that it was better for all of us to let me go straight away. I like to have smooth power lower in the power range because I like to ride difficult lines rather than blast around the outside. When the motor is very aggressive on low rpm, then it is more difficult to ride smoothly. It is also more tiring, of course. You need to adapt a riding style like (Rudi) Van Leeuwen, always a gear lower and letting it all hangout. My natural style is more· relaxed and this, added to my physical strength, he~ps me to still be charging at the end of the 45' minute GP motos when others are tired. Did the departure of Marcus Hansson from_the class and Jac'ky Martens' injuries help? Sure, that meant two potential champions were out of the way, but the competition is at least as strong this year. I can tell you, the racing in the SODs is getting faster every y~ar. I feel that I am riding better,and stronger than ih previous years, but the opposition is still close. And although I was third in 1993 and 1994, I won a lot of motos. How strong was the challenge of Trampas Parker? There was never any doubt that we could not underestimate the new challenge of Parker and the KTM. You don't win two.World Championships without being very good. I must admit that the power of his KTM has surprised me more than once this year, both on sand tracks and the fast, open grassland tracks. It was a real surprise. He didn't really have a weakness on any particular type of track. The most important points which Trampas lost were in Ireland and Namur, and they are completely different. He even went on to win at the Dutch GP on a track which was very similar conditions to Ireland. He seemed very hard on the bike at times. For example he always jumped so far. Really far. You know, one of my supporters said to me earlier in the summer that I mustn't be riding so hard this. year because I wasn't jumping so far. I said, "Dh, yes I am, it'S just that Trampas jumps that much further!" It ,was close in the points all season. Which were your worst races? I think the biggest setback I had all year was in Austria. I had a bad race and I don't know why because I like Sitten. dod so much. Perhaps I was just overconfident. I had won the opening GP in Portugal and I had won both motos so easily in Austria last year. I was counting the 40 points before the first moto started and I ended up with 1O! The fourth place in 1992 was probably a little flattering to your ability at the . time. Did it help you? It was very close for that fourth place in 1992. The first three were way ahead on points, but if I had dropped one score then I could have been seventh. I got the verdict because I was the most consis'tent over the entire season. I have to admit that it was good for me. I,had come from 17th the year before wHen I was still working during the week. It certainly he1ped my career. Of course it was always my dream to be champion, but from '92 I started to believe that r really could do it. It really gave me the incentive to work even harder, because it was as though there were only three more guys I had to pass. I have to admit that the main reason for switching to a four-stroke was financial. I liked my Honda, but I could not even get a screw for free. I had to pay everything. I had already done that in '92 when I was riding professionally for the first time. That means that I should be earning money, but even with all of my sponsorship income the balance at the end of the year was zero. It couldn't go on like that, so I was looking for another solution. I had already been riding a friend's Husaberg for fun all through the year and it was such fun to ride. I think my riding style is made for four-strokes, but the Vertemati has may more of the riding characteristics of the two-strokes I was used to riding and maybe that helped me to adapt so quickly. . Their bike is still a four-stroke, however, and I learned so much about riding one in those two years. After a few GPs in '93 I thought that I coqld ride a four-stroke, but now I see that I am still learning. This year you are riding for the Husaberg factory and the Belgian importer. 1 feel happy in the team. I still like the relationship with my supporters, but we need to have some private atmosphere to work in a professional way. We are all young guys and we are all working with the same goal, to win the world title. Most of my supporters understand that I need to have quiet sometimes on race day, but they want to be with their rider. I notice the inscription on the door of your tru'ck which states: "Specially supported by my fan clubs. Thanks, all of you." How important are your fans? Financially, my supporters are not so important anymore, but at the begin· ning of my career they were vital. I could never have done it without them. They helped me so much, and that is why they are so important for me. They helped me when I was nothing, and I could not tum my back on them now. I feel like my results now' are a way of repaying them for what they did for me. What are your plans for 1996? It looks as though I will stay with the same team in 1996. I mean, if I got a spectacular offer to do something else, then I would have to think about it. After all, I am a professional. But at the moment I expect to stay with this team. I would even change to the 250s if the offer was right, but for the same money I would definitely stay on 500. You know I have only raced a 2"50 a few times. I started off on a 500 when I was 17 years old. I think I could do what Nicoll has done and race a 250 at the highest level, but it would take at least one year for me to reach that level. I will never do that as a private rider. If any· one wanted me to ride 250 GPs, they would have to give me a deal for two years and understand that it would take time. Tell us how you got started, exactly. I am one of three children. I have an elder brother and a younger sister, and my parents have always. insisted on treating us equally. They didn't have the money to buy all three of us a bike, so I had to wait. They could just about have afforded a bike for me, but that would have meant my brother and sister had to go without. I really respect their decision. There was never any fayoritism between us, and that is how it should be. When I was 17 I got the chance to ride the bike of my uncle who was riding for fun in one of the amateur federa- . ,tions. He was setting up his own business and didn't have the time to race regularly anymore, so he let me ride his bike. It was an air-cooled Yamaha. That's how I started on a 500. I was twice Belgian champion at BMX and I played football for eight years. Did you ever consider a career in cycling? That is very big in Belgium. No, if I would have gone into cycling, then it would have been cross-country. It was the acrobatics which fascinated meinEMX. (N

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