Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128245
w in , to give th em th at confide nce again , th ey ca n turn arou nd really qu ic k the ot he r way . From Sweden on , I did that at every race . I'd get a good start, an d th e first thre e o r four l aps, I' d st a r t pull ing away , and that was it. The race was ov er - especia lly fo r Pich on . With Smets, I had to fight him in Sweden and Namur, but after Namur, we went to HoI la nd , and from there on , I did th at eve ry race; I' d pull away from Smet s, and Pich on was already out for the title. ...Joel Smets I ra c ed h im the las t two ye ar s. Fo r m e , it was Sm ets and Pic ho n rac in g fo r the t itl e (th is y ea r). J oel was co m p laining a lot about hi s bik e - tha t it was too slo w and so o n - but he m ade m any pole po siti on s th is y ear . and if yo u ha ve a rea ll y slow bike . you can 't make the pol e pos ition on a Satur da y , bec au se eve ry bo d y is try in g so hard to be th e fast est - espe c ia lly Pich on and myself. I go fo r the pole , and he di d a lot of them , but he just blew it eve ry time in th e st art s, and that was it for J oel. But he's a ver y hard figh t er , and he fig hts till th e end . Mentall y, he is stron ger than Pichon. bec au se he' s been o ut th ere for a lo ng time and has been w innin g m a ny c ha m p i o n shi ps. Pi ch o n on ly wo n two b ut ne ver had the challe nger, and J oe l did in the past. ... bre ak in g J o el R o be r ts ' record for m o st World MX titles Get th is: J oel wo n his la st ti tl e in 19 7 2, and I ra c ed with number 72. and th is ye ar I wo n 72 GPs [o f his c aree r ), a nd I'm born in ' 7 2 (la ughs). It [goi ng for Ro bert s' record ) ha d been a big motiva ti on fo r me and a d ream , like, one day I wa nt to be be tter than him with the resu lts . I've never seen him race , but I heard a lot of good things about Joel. He never broke one bone in his whole career - never o ne - I can 't believe that. For a m otoc ro ss rider, never o ne injury! He was a grea t rid er in the mud; he wo uld sta n d on his foo t pegs and just breee. breee . breee . like he's ridi ng on ice. He'd p arty and wh at ev er. It was a m oti vati on for m e ju st to br eak tha t record . and he enjoyed it. An d I told him th at m any year s ago , I said , " Joel Rob ert - six tim es. b ut St ef an Everts o ne d ay - seve n tim es" ( la ug hs) . I to ld h im th at m an y times. He said it wo uld be an ho nor fo r m e to break [h is) record. He prom ised m e th at th e day I do it, we'l l d rin k a gla ss o f ch am pa gn e o n th e pod ium . Un fortunat ely , he wa s not in Lo k et [B el g ium] , bec au se it was a little bit un expected to wi n th e title that earl y , but he c am e to m e and we ind eed drank a g lass of cham pa gne . He said it was g reat and he was very happy for m e. ...his heroes There are ma ny Belgian heroes, m any th at a lot of people don't eve n know, like A ndre Vromans ; he was the sand king . the y use d to c all him. And J aak Va n Veltoven . Belgium had so m an y g re at ride rs : Gaston Rahier , Syl van Geboers, Eric Geb oers , m y fath er , An d re M alh erbe , Georg es J obe - j ust t oo many t o name , and o ne of my favorites w as Eric Geb o er s, becaus e he was d o ing tric k s and stupid th ings . He st art ed t o j u m p with n o foot a nd no ha nd s and tha t k ind of [st uff). I enjoyed that. But m y bi gg est hero was O' Show [J oh nny ) O'Mara . Th e style he ha d ; he h ad an aw esom e sty le . He ju st im pres sed m e: his na me - the O' Sho w - th e whit e J T cl ot hes; it was so cool. After many yea rs, I sta rt to rac e him , and I was li ke so sc are d to say some th in g to him, bec ause he was m y bi g idol. I remem ber I was raci ng Suzu k i, I was 16, and he cam e ove r to do the Fast cro ss, and he was sittin g next to m e in a c ha ir, and I was , lik e , " A hh ." It was a g reat thing for m e. A fte rward s he got m e into O ak le y . He sta rt ed to work for Oak ley , so we had a 101.of contact s. We still e-mail eac h other. ... his ea rly plans of racing supercross in America In 199 2 , I did Houston , A na he im , Seattle, San D ieg o , Ch a rl otte and D ay t o n a. My best resu lt was ninth, but the pro ble m was , I had to go t o th e arm y in the m onth of December [ 1991 ). Norm all y yo u have t o go for 11 m onths, but we co uld fix it . but I had to go for one m on th . Bu t I was sick all t ha t m onth , be cau se it was freezi ng and we had to put no clothes on. At 6 o' cl ock in the morning, we had to go out in th e free zin g col d , so I got si ck; n o tr ain i ng . Th en , in Januar y , I wa s rel eased and we left fo r th e St at es t o do the superc ro sses, so I had zero tr ain ing, I was like unprep ared . An yw ay , it w as a g reat ex perience to do those sup ercross es. Wh en I was yo ung, it wa s a d rea m to go and race the superc ro sses, bec ause in the '80 s, the supe rc ros ses we re c om ing up rea l ly b ig in Europe, so I gre w up wi th tha t as a k id and th e supercr oss scen e, and in the midd le of the '90 s, it went back down , and at th e m om en t the superc ro ss th in g in Eu ro pe is noth ing any m or e. So I kin d of started t o lose the int erest; al so bec au se I go t inj ur ed . li ke '9 2, when I went t o th e U.S. , I had a big spleen ope ration in the same ye ar. Th e yea r afte r. I had a bad yea r, and '94 was a shit ye ar , and the n fi nally, I los t the inte rest and I dec ided to stay in Europe. I had a desire to race in the U .S . wh en I was young; that 's w hy I we nt t o t he St at e s to do those six supercro sses , j ust t o check it out. ... the Motocross des Nations T he des Na tio ns has always m eant a lot to m e, bec aus e it's a great rac e, bec au se the atm osph ere is ... Ricky Ca rm ic ha e l a s a n inspiration so diffe re nt - everybody 's c o mi ng t o c heer t h ei r co untry . I've been on th e t eam 11 tim es and , lik e last year whe n it d id n 't hap pen , it was ki nd of strang e. I What Ric ky has don e, I' ve realized , is something very im pressive - win ning so m any rac es, and w in ning so many rac es in a ro w . It is so methi ng I' ve always loo k ed up to , bec au se I was never able to w in so ma ny in a row. I alway s ask m yself that questi on: Why ca n' t I do it? If Rick y and Mc Grath can do th at , I can d o th at , t oo . Eac h time I wo n a GP, I thou ght abo ut it - can I w in an othe r one ? They can, th en I ca n . I did [w in) another one an d fin ally I won nin e in a ro w ; actu all y I won more , if yo u count the 12 5s. I've won p robabl y 16 or 17 in a row but I th oug ht a bo u t th a t a l w ay s, a bo ut Ri ck y a n d McGrath, because th ey are the only ones that I can rem ember wh o have won so many in a ro w , and it's somethi ng I wanted to realize. enjoy it , even that I' m big ri val s with J oe l Smet s, but wh en we do th e des Nat ion s, yo u put tha t on the side and do wha t you hav e to do and race for your co un try . It' s j ust an awesome wee ke nd. Wh en I a lway s ra c e t he des Na t i ons , it ' s a b ig pressure b ut a posi tive [on e ] for m e , b ec au se i t always m otivates me even m ore . It' s somethi ng diffe re nt . and yo u' re w ith a t eam . T he wh o le y e a r , yo u' re an ind iv idua l, yo u rac e for yo urself, an d now you' re wi th a t eam ; it's so d ifferent, and I li k e it. T he hype is reall y m uch , but I thi nk it' s im port ant t o have a hype ar ou nd , because otherwi se it's no t important and ther e' s no peopl e com ing. .. . his rel ationship with ... racing heads-up aga ins t Ricky Carmichael a t th e MX · Ca rm ichael At th e d es Na tio ns , we tal ked just brie fl y af terdes Nations wa rd s, bec au se it was very hec t ic, and he had to go Th is ye ar, it was just g rea t that we fina lly had a race together, m e and Ricky. We'v e ra ced tog eth er but never in th e sam e class . T his ye ar . it ha ppene d. and we had a g rea t battle in the half-fi na l. Th ey [th e spec t ato rs] ca m e t o see th e ba ttle and the y saw it, but, un fortunatel y , o nly in the half -fi na l; they wanted to see it in the fi nal. But for m e and Ricky. Ric k y w as, on that day , stronge r; he was the best that d ay . C to th e air port and get ready and go. But befor e the ra c e, we had a big interv iew o n F riday, and we we nt togeth er to m y fath er 's hou se; we had lun ch together and afte rwa rds we went to th e tra ck . So we ta lk ed a lot. It wa s good to hang o ut with him . We'r e p retty bi g frie nds. we resp ect eac h oth er. It' s not th at we hav e a bi g ri va lry between each other; it' s great fun t o ra c e h im , and I th ink for h im it wa s t he sam e II C I e n e _ s • JANUARY 7 . 2004 21