Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

F'lf/Ilf/IotocrossGP World Champion Stefan Ellerfs e Stefan Everts just keeps getting better with age Th en we go t to the second GP. and that went a lot better, but we had some touchi ng and fi na lly I finis hed n inth, bec a u se I h ad to cha nge a front whee l. We broke six or seven spokes an d made a pit stop - it was m y first-ever p it stop. Anyway . I fi nish ed n inth and los t a lo t of poi nts. T hen we we nt to Germany, and it wasn 't m y best rac e, beca use I only fin ished fourth . I was too m uch look ing to Picho n and Smets. I was not ra ci ng m y own thing and doing my own thing . It was not phys ic ally a problem , it was not a bike problem , it was just m y own problem between m y two ears . and I k ne w th at . So I had a long di scussion with Michele [Rin ald i] afte r th e German GP in th e airport , and we t alk ed and talked, and then . 10 da ys before the Ital i an GP, he ca me up with th e ide a to do t he 125 [class] . Actually, I had the plan already la st year; I also had it in m y contract that I wanted to do some 125 c c GPs, bu t not in th e beg inn ing. Bu t th e time sc hed ule ca me and it wa s so t ight that w e said , "O ka y, let 's fo rget ab out it at the m oment. · Th en we go t to Italy and I dec ided to do it , and the stress fell o ff m y sho ulde rs, like I'm go in g to ha ve fun on the 250cc f o ur- stro ke and rid e t he 12 5s . I don 't have to win, I do n't have to do this, and I just go t going, and the ball started ro lling. I won th e next GP classes, and from that m oment o n I was so strong, and I just won nine GPs in a row. By K IT P AL ME R PH OT OS BY G EO FF M EYER AND P A LM ER 1') a u can say th at h e's j ust abou t don e it all: w on a ll three GP crow ns, w on more Worl d MX titles .y and GP races than a nyo ne, w on th ree GPs in th e same day an d, j us t this y ear alon e, won a Sup etm oterd race and, perhaps most imp ressive of all, overail ed th e moth er of a ll off-road races - th e In ternational Six Day s En du ro. Okay, so Stefa n Ev er ts hasn 't beaten Ricky Carmicha el head s-up ye t, but give h im ti me. He 's sti ll work ing on th at one, and he usu ally acco mp lis hes w hat he sets out to do . His record book is proof of that. Wh eth er you li ke th e g uy or you don 't, no one in their right mind can deny what this Belg ian has accomplished throughout his career. A nd what is truly remarkable is that Everts, the son of leg endary m o tocr osser Ha rry Ev erts , is showing no signs w hatsoever of slow ing dow n - even at 3 1 years of age. In fac t, he on ly seems to be gelling faster: In 20 03, he thoro ug h ly beat Mickael Pich on , w ho dom in at ed the 250cc World Cha mpionship last yea r; he gave the alway s-str ong Joe l Sm ets a thrashing in th e GPs; a nd h e a lso gave 23-yea r-o ld Ri ck y Carm ic h ael (w ho h as si nce turn ed 24) a serio us race at the Motocross des Nstions. He even beat the fast es t off-roa d racers in th e w orld a t th eir ow n game last month at the ISDE in Brazil, thoug h some of th e off-roa d guys wi ll tell y ou th at th is year's ISDE w asn 't a tr ue con test of one 's cit-rosa ability 20 JAN UARY 7 , 2004 ' i:: U c • e n (in oth er w ord s, it w as more motocross than ott-toea technical ) . Still , Everts ' wi£l at the ISDE w as im pressiv e, no maller w ha t anyo ne says. Everts ' pop u larity in Eu rop e has swe lled to mo n umental prop orti ons, w hich w as clearly eviden t at th e ISDE - despite it being held in Sout h A me rica. If y ou wanted to fin d Everts, a ll y ou had to do wa s look for the large crowd, and he'd be in the cen ter of it - and he'd a lways ha v e a smile on his face, tryin g to accom moda te eac h a nd eve ry au tog rap h -see ki ng fan, as"well as the hundreds ol jou me tists th at each wa nted a p iece of h im , too. Including us. Somehow, betwee n raci ng, cha ng ing ti res, haVing di nner. having brea kfast. ette ndinq press conferences, and catching a few waves at the beach, Everts graciously found the time to grant our request for a short in terview, wh ich we conducted one evening during the middle of the Six Day s. S tefan Everts on ... ... the 2003 GP season My p reseaso n went reall y good . T hen we go to the first GP. I was so m ot iv at ed and expec ti ng so m uch fro m m yself th at it did n't work o ut for m e. I put so much pressure on m yself, and Pich on won th e first o ne , but I saw th at he was fa st, bu t not so impressive fast. I felt tha t if I co uld perfor m at m y best tha t I was able to stay with him and ma yb e beat him. eVIls ...Mickael Pichon Pich on wo n the firs t th ree GPs; he rode good, but when I beat hi m in It aly , he was beaten [m entally], But he hadn't lost the cham pi ons hip yet, bec aus e I was sti ll many points behind him . I had to c atch 25 points - that's one GP, and tha t' s a lot . It took m any GPs to break him m entally . bu t I kn ew also fro m the pas t tha t Mi c ka el has bee n w in ning a lot the las t two years . bu t he nev er had on e co m petitor to give h im the ch alle nge. and I believe tha t if I coul d be ab le to stay with him an d give him the chall enge, that finally he would m ak e a mistake or break his confidence . As soo n as I w on in Ita ly , a li tt le o f hi s confidence was br oken . Not bro ke n fi nally, bec au se it' s too soon in the se aso n . In Bu lgaria , I won again. Austr ia wa s a very tou gh race wi th a bi g fig ht, but finally I wo n the figh t. and fo r m e that was th e m ost im port ant race . becau se Pich on rod e at his best and I rod e at m y best , and I won that GP. T hat was a very good step, because I felt he was racing at his m axim um and I was racing at m y m ax imum, and I co uld ju st give that half a perc ent m o re - it was no t mu ch . Th e differenc e wa s n ot much , but it wa s enoug h t o wi n , After that po in t. I was not think ing abo ut [Pich on ] any mo re . I was just th in kin g ab o ut m y own rac e and focusin g on the starts and just the first th ree or four laps, to ride as hard as I c an an d ma k e th e ga p and break the m im mediately in th e race. Becau se, as soon as they fee l they m ig ht have a chance to

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