Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

IS Champion Stefan Everts INTERVIEW What about Vohland? He was goin g reall y fast in those firs t few GPs, bUI in Italy J think he thought he could go faster than himself. Tha t's . why he made mistakes . He was so confid en t, too co nf ident in himself . Tha t' s dan gerous. You must alwa ys recogni ze your limits. By Alex Hodgkin son tefan Everts is well on his way to becoming the most successful GP motocrosser of all time. At the tender age of 24, he alread y has four world titles (I25cc in 1991 an d 250cc in '95, '96 a nd ' 97); his 33 GP w ins have moved him to fourth on the all-time win list behind Joel Robert (SO), Eric Geboers (38) and Roger De Cos ter (37); and his nine ·G P wins in a si ngle season is a 250cc recor d - one which has onl y eve r been bet tered bv Sebastien Tortell i in an y class, with Torte lli havin g won 10 125 GPs las t yea r. Bervoets? He didn't ride like he did last year. Last yea r he rode some races mu ch, mu ch stro nger, but this yea r he didn't ride an y races that good, and he had so me bad luck. That plays a big role, too. This year J didn't have any bad luck. On e observer sugg este d earlier in the year that, after yo ur great battles with The 1997 season wa s also the one in Albertyn in '93 and '94, you had "gone down" to the level of the opposit ion in '95 and ' 96, but that the arri va l o f whi ch Everts equalled or beat all of his fath er Ha rry's records (four world titles, 26 GP wins and 9 in a season). They are a unique father-son pairing. We spoke to Everts recently about the ups and downs of his 10 yea rs in the sport, wh ich have bee n as productive as an yon e could hav e hoped for ,....., .... <1> ..c o .... u o 16 on th e co m p e ti ti v e international motocross scene. Of course, the young champion had a lot to say . Wh y w ere you so dominan t this year? I haven' t really thought abou t it. I had a v e ry con s ist ent s eas o n, a nd that is im porta nt. Every year in the sport you try something new in you r preparation, and I think J fou nd the right way. You learn from the mistakes of the past and also from what has worked good . Every year you are striving to do things perfectly, and this year I think J came pretty dose to finding it. Even then, the first few races didn't go SO good for me. We didn't hav e the bike set up 100 percent a t the time. It was no t just a new bike - it was a new concept, and we had to get to know it. We were making small cha nges, and slowly every thing came together. The bike got better, J got my riding toget her, and my ph ysical condition was gelling better, Also, I alway s had good sta rts , and that is important. I have not always done that in the years before. How much wa s that down to you and how much to the bike? The bike starts really, really good. And I was consistent. I didn' t make any stupid mistakes. I wa s three times fo urth and two times fifth thi s yea r. The other 25 motos, J wa s on th e podium . Tw o of those fourth places were at the first GP in Spain, and many peop le were disappointed . I felt I cou ld d o much, mu ch better. Are you a ble tu me n ta lly han' dle that sort of day now? Are you ab le to tell yourself, "This isn 't my day, so J w ill race fo r what is possible, and ne xt week wiH be mi ne again .... ? I knew that I could do much better, and I wasn't up set with the resu lt. It was a very hard race, and I had given everything I ha d that d a y, but better th an fou rt h was not possibl e. But I knew I cou ld improve, and tw o fourths is not bad when yo u ha ve had a bad d a y . Ma ny people would be happy with a sco re like that. It wa s im po r tant that I d id n't let it screw up my mind . J told myself, "Okay, let' s sta rt it slow ly and just build it up. On e da y we are going to get to a good form, perhaps next week, perhaps in a few weeks, but let's hang in there as best I can until I find it, and let's work at getting there." Were the re tim e s later in the year th at you could accep t some thi ng les s than a w in, because w inning the w ar is more impo rtant lhan winning every bailIe? Yes; there was the French GP, for example. I had w on th e fir st mor o, and J cou ld be content to finish second in race two . I wa s still winning the GP, 1 was Tortelli was th e impetu s fo r y o u to raise your game again. That is a poss ibility. But you must also not forget that I got really, really sick at the start of last year and that put me one mo n th beh in d , a nd tha t wa s the tim e that Bervoets was winning five GPs in a row. He rod e good, rea lly good , but I was also sick. I was not righ t physically, so I w as not in a position to stop him (from) winning. When my health started to come be tter again, then I started winning again. People forgelthat. They say, "Yeah, every year Everts does a few bad races ," so they were waiting for it, but I didn't do any this yea r for the simple reason tha t 1 didn' t get hu rt , J always stayed fit, I di dn' t get sick and I could ke ep to my trai ni ng sche d u le how J wanted to all year. It's really difficult to do that for seven or eight months without anything happening. How does it feel to be in a team which re volves completely around you? It wo rks bot h ways. The team is also feeling good an d motivat ed because of my results. But yes, I feel ve ry comfortable in the tea m. Every thing works th e way I wo uld like it to, bu t Dave (Grant) organizes everyth in g and takes th e p ressure off me. We know that not everything is 100 percent yet, but this is our first year an d we are working on that for the future. But I think we did pretty d amned good in ou r first year. Did you have to keep g iving y o urs e lf new goals to ke ep yourself motivated through ./ the year once you were so far scori ng the mos t points on the da y, an d I wa s increasing my lead in the points standings, so I decided to ride safe. But I also won more tha n half of the motos through the year. I eventu ally won 16 out of 30. Ho w s trong was the oppo sition th is year ? First, let's talk about Tortelli. Everybody was making a really big thing about him. He was alread y World Champion before we had the first race. J, too, expected him to be really fast, but J knew he di dn't ha ve the expe rience ye t a nd tha t he wo uld make a lo t o f mis takes. You cannot gain the experience which I now have in o ne season. I kn ow that from myself. J was also 18 once, a nd I was also there, and I also mad e mistakes. J knew from the beginning that that was my biggest advantage over him . I knew that he would be faster than me in some races, but it wou ld n' t break me mentallv. I knew there would aL'O be races w here I w as faster than him and he made mis takes . It w as just a matter of experience. That's why he made mistakes. ahead in the points that you could have afforded to relax and still won the title? Reall y not. 1 wa s en joy ing myself so mu ch , and I just wa n ted to ke ep wi nn in g sim p ly for the pleasure of w in ning, both for mysel f and the team . I even surp rised myself when I carried on winning even after the titl e was cer tai n. After I had cl inc hed th e title in Poland, I di d n' t expect it, beca use no mailer how hard you try not to do so, it is easy to give up. I know that, because that is what J did in the yea rs befo re w he n I was a lrea d y champion before the final motu. It was really satisfying to carry on winning, to show that I can do tha t even after I have achieved my goa l of winning the tille. Are the milestones - things like eq ua ll ing and beating your father's records, being the first rider since Joel Robert to win three 250cc titles in succession, and so on - important to you ? Yes , for sure I am aware of it , but I don 't let it beco me an obses sion. It is just nice to rewri te the record books . I feel pro ud when I se t new record s, bu t if I do n't

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