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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127859
then it is not the end of the world. It is
more important to rid e sma rt. to use
your brain s, rather tha n to do someth ing
silly tryi ng to set records. It really is so
important not to get hurt.
Speak in g of Joel Robert, I g uess yo u
mus t have known him be fo re, but how
was it to be w ith him as team manager
for the Nations ?
We had so me good contact before and
he's a nice guy, but it was som eth ing
new to be with him for the practice sessions and the race at Nismes. It is a real
honor to work with him, this man who
holds all of the recor ds. He's really good
to work with. He kn ew that Marnicq ,
Joel (Smets) and me a re profession als ,
and he wasn't trying to teach us little
things to remember. He kn ows we
know wh at to do when it comes tu riding, and it's real importa nt to know tha t
he ha s co n fid en ce in you . Some team
managers are always trying to tell you
no t to forget to do this, and to do that,
as though you are a kid . Joel treats us
as eq uals .
Wh y did you go to the United St ates
for the Unadilla National this season ?
It just kind of fit in to the schedule
after the South American GPs . I
wanted to have the experien ce of
rid ing there, to see how the system
works , a n d I want to g o ba ck .
When I wa s younge r, I want ed to
go over there and ride supercross,
but I'm too old now to start riding U.S. supercro ss serio usly , so
I wan t so go the re and win an
outdoor National. I'll be goin g
back wh en it is p ossibl e . I
didn't wi n this year, but I had
the sa me s peed , a nd I know
what I am facing now.
T h e ' 97 C R250 go t a bad name
wh en it first came out becau se of the
alt itude McG rath and the ot her Americans ha d toward it. bu t you proved it is
a win ner. How do you eval uate it?
When we first go t them, of co urse the
bikes were something co m plete ly differe nt. Wha t did anyone expcct? It was
a completely new frame, a new concept,
bu t many peop le did n't give it time.
Just because some thi ng doesn't fit righ t
from the first mo men t, that doesn' t
mean it is wrong. You have to give a
new bike so me time an d wo rk wi th it.
It' s real im po rta nt to ge t so me experience with it, to find ou t wh at you need
to cha nge. Th e firs t three races of this
ye a r, I was simp ly gat he ri ng ex perience, see ing how it wa s working on different tracks. It is so different in practice
to a race . No matt er ho w mu ch you
practice, yo u can't force yourself to ride
on the edge like you can in a race. It
was in those races that we fo und the
things we needed to cha nge. In a way, it
is better this way . If you like things
st rai ght awa y, you can tire o f th em
awful qui ck , hut if yo u have had to
work hard to ge t your bike the way yo u
reall y want it, then you are going to
love it. And I love mv bike, belie ve me.
It is so nice to handle, the power in the
en gine. Is so good a nd so nice. It's beau tiful.
Can we take a look back at your career
sin ce yo u were a kid ? You didn 't race
until yo u were, wh at, l S?
I d id do a couple of races wh en I was 10
or II , bu t I didn't tak e them all that seri ously. We went wh en m y dad go t hurt
and couldn't race himself - o therwise, I
wo uld be going with him. But it wa sn't
like those kids who g o racing evt:'ry
weekend when they are so young. I'm
glad it happened that wa y. Some kid s
start racin g when they are 6 and they
are sick of it when they are 16. I started
ridi ng when I was 3 1/2, but my father
never pushed me. Sometimes ( wa s rid ing m y b ike when ever I cou ld for
weeks, other times I didn't even look at
it fo r m on ths . It was fu n. I jus t ro de
when I wanted to, and if I wa nted to do
some thing else, I d id that. Then, w hen I
was 15, this new class came in Belgium,
and it was just perfect for me to start my
career. l was ready to start racing then,
and everything went with the flow and
jus t cam e naturally. Nobody need ed to
pu sh me.
In '89, '90 , you were then integ rated
into the Suzuki GI' team. You su ffered
some injuries. Did you feel under pressure because of your name and th is bi g
chance which wa s offered to you?
I had a lot of pressure, but I don 't th ink I
realized myself how big th at p ressure
was at the time. I was jus t a teen-ager
doing what he wanted to d o, a nd I did
pretty good. I was really lucky to get on
the team with Sylvain Geboers in o nly
my seco nd yea r of racing. I go t so mu ch
ex pe rie nce, from being in the team at
that age, which has helped me .
Do yo u th ink you wou ld h ave been
ch a m pio n i n ' 91 if D o n n y Sch m it
hadn't gollen hurt?
It is difficult to say , but I believe so. You
know, so mu ch happened on on e da y.
The first mot o in Hungary, I had wo n
and really beaten Donny head to head
fur the first tim e. It was a turning point.
The second moto, he got hur t and we
never got the chan ce to race head-on in
th e next few GPs, but that first-moto
win gave me the belief that I could beat
him and had also show n Donny that I
could.
In '92, yo u we nt to the 250cc clas s and
you made an immed iate impact to lead
the championship early in the seri es
until you crashed at Northeim and lost
your spleen.
The season started really surprising for
me , w inn ing th e fi rs t ro u nd at
Val kenswaard a n d th en havin g tw o
goo d races in the nex t round in Swi tzerlan d . My season had s tarted so good then came that crash in Ge rmany, and I
lost my points lead and I lost my sp leen .
Was it di fficult to come back from that
injury?
.
0 , no t at all . I missed too many races to
cha lleng e for th e titl e, but I was ba ck
running within two weeks . My first GP
back riding was in Finland, and I was
pretty disappointed not to win th at. I
won the first two motos but DNPd the
th ird o ne a nd finis he d second on th e
day. To nearl y win the G P on my com eback was great for my co nfidence.
The '93 and '94 seasons hosted the tw o
great battles with Albee.
I think I lost '93 mentally, like Marni cq
d id las t yea r, bu t in '94 I lost because of
bad luck. People sa id I wa s mentall y
weak, but if o ther people had had to go
through th em se lv es wh at I did that
yea r, they wouldn't say that. Alread y at
the first GP in Spai n, I should hav e won
both motos and DNPd both tim es, then
I br oke my collarbone, missed one GP,
rod e th e next one with it strapped up.
So much shit happened that year, and I
still almost came back. But then I lost it
in Cerrnanv, It almost broke
my heart in·two.
Bu t since then, y o u h ave
take n three lilies in a row.
Those thr ee yeu s of losing
championships taught me a lot.
It mad e m e r eally s t ro ng . It
s ho w ed me how vou ha ve to
put your disapointments behind
you and to keep goi ng no matter
what. ( mean, in '96, I had all of
these problems with the fue l. but I
was just above it. I built up thi s
invi sibl e w a ll a ro u nd me. and
didn't let that whole thing hit m e
m entally . It jus t bo unc ed off that
wall . No matter wh at they say about
the fuel. if it was legal or just ou tside
the limi ts, it wa s not so mething ov er
which I had an y co ntro l and it was
no t so methi ng which gave m e any
adva ntage. Some people say Everts
got his points back because it was him,
bu t th ere a re a lways ca se s of the m
ov erlooki ng rules when they are no t
ex actly the same as in th e book . Th is
year we raced in South A merica with
aviation fuel because th e normal fuel
there was not good. and in Ind onesia
the track was 60 kil ometers per hour
(near ly 40 mph ) average . T hat is way
too fast. You know, they can close their
eyes when it suits them...
.
You hav e ri dden for three factori e s.
How did yo u co me to cha nge ? First,
let's discuss your move from Suzuki to
Kawasaki.
It w as m y o w n decision. It wa s at a
stage in my life when I wanted to go a
litt le bit my ow n way. My father had
al w ays been my mech anic a t Suzuki,
a nd I felt in myself tha t I wanted to do
th in gs m y way. I wa nted to make m y
own d e ci s ion s , to not ha ve anyone
telling me to do this and do that. It was
a hard situation with mv dad. We had a
bad relatio ns hi p for afew yea rs, and
going tu Kawasaki was what I felt I had
to do - to do something for my own, to
make a big decision for myself. It helped
me gro w stronger and prepared me to
make even bigger decisions for mys elf
in the future. It gave me confidence in
myself. When I look back at it now, from
a di stance , it wa s what gave me confi dence to make d ecisions for my self in
the future and to know what to do .
You won Kawasaki's first-ever MX CP
title and then left them. The injunctions which Kawa saki in England
slapped on you at the time prevented
us talking about it then. So tell us now:
Why did you leave?
I was real ly d isa ~poin ted in Kawasaki. I
was looking forward to a long -term relationship aft er giving them their first
world title , but they jus t wanted to con tinue on th e ..arne basis, and for me that
wa s not enoug h . I think a first w orld
title, aft er so man y yea rs, w as som ething special. I wanted us to build on it
lon g-term. a lso financially of course, but
they said it wasn't possible.
And how do you see the fu ture?
I still fccl mo tiva ted - especially for next
yea r, to d o ano ther good season. I don't
know af ter th at, bu t I al rea dy feel the
confidence to do the training, because
tha t's the hardest work - to build everything up for the season. Racing is fun.
An d are yo u loo king at those records:
Six w o rl d titl es? 50 GP w i n s ? The
Triple Crown?
Yes, the 5