Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Rich Oliver: Racing Into Retirement Since the end of 2003, when the AMA killed the 250 Grand Prix class after Rich Oliver effectively slaughtered the competition for his fifth 250cc title, Oliver has been semi-retired from racing. But the Roadracing World 250/50 support race run in conjunction with the Toyota 200 at Willow Springs - is too easy a payday to keep Oliver away. So he and mechanic Robert Ward dusted off the trusty old Yamaha TZ250, threw some fresh parts in the motor and, despite not racing in a year, were instantly on the pace, going on to easily win a third straight 250/50. So we caught up with Oliver to see what he's been up to lately. en: What have you been doing with yourself for the past year? richoliver: Primarily working at the Mystery School and running that program. That's sort of my new race team now, and I devote 99 percent of energy into that. en: How much has the Mystery School grown since you created It a few years ago? richoliver: It started out with a fairly small group that we would have every year, around 100-150 students, to around 300 students now. So we've grown quite a bit. en: Are you having a lot of fun with it? richoliver: It's so fun to ride dirt track, and when I raced for Kenny Roberts, we had to. That was part of our training program and I just fell in love with it. It's the greatest job in the world for me. To instruct people at my house, on my track, with my fleet of TTR Yamaha 125s and just ride all day, it's great. en: So what brings you back out this year to the Roadraclng World 250/S0? richoliver: You know, I miss riding my road racer. Its something that I did for so long in my life and I never really gave it up. I sort of got eliminated by the AMA more than I retired. Willow Springs does such a great job of putting on the 250/50 with Roadracing World's help, and they do a great job with the prize money and let me come back down here and at least make back the money I've invested in this [to do the race]. I told myself when the class [250 Grand PriX] stopped that I would not pay to go racing. I'll get paid to go racing, but I will not pay to go racing. en: Other than this event, can you see yourself racing in the future? richoliver: I don't really see anything coming up in the future. I still feel fast, and I enjoy riding, but I really like doing my school, and I've been working for Shoei Helmets. I've been doing the Shoei University, where I've been going around the country, instructing the dealers about how the helmets are made and showing them the features of the helmets and stuff like that. So that has been taking up a lot of time as well. I'm trying to segue way over into a life past racing with my Mystery School and the Shoei University and various things for Yamaha. lap time] my first practice session, which is way ahead of where I was last year when I came back. Now I'm down to a 22.5 on the first day, so I guess its all coming back. I guess you don't forget. I feel like I'm just letting it happen and I'm not forcing it, just letting it come back to me, and I feel it's getting more precise every lap. en: How did It feel to get back on the bike after a year? richoliver: It felt great. It's an amazing bike and I forget how fast it is and how well it handles. Iwent 23-flat [I :23-minute en: If they run the 2SO/S0 again next year, will you be back? richoliver: If I can get parts, yes, I'll rebuild it one more time [laughs]. Slake Canner Joel Smets: Calling It A Career Germany would probably be his last, thanks to an untimely knee injury. It happens to them all - retirement. For some athletes, it's a well-planned departure, as it was with multiple-time World MX Champions Eric Geboers and Georges Jobe, both departing their game while on top of World Championships. For others, it's not so glamorous. Oftentimes, injury forces the inevitable. For fIVe-time World MX Champion Joel Smets, it was, unfortunately, the latter. Uttle did Smets know that this year's Grand Prix of en: So what happened in Germany? joelsmets: It was probably the slowest corner on the track; I didn't even crash, I just fell down. There were two ruts next to each other. I had planned on riding into the first rut, but then my front wheel slipped into the next one, and I lost a little balance. I put my foot down to get my balance back, but it got stuck in the rut. Iwas standing still and the bike fell over and, with my full weight on my seat, the handlebar pushed against my leg - the leg went in, but the foot stayed in the rut. I heard something crack and I felt the pain. I looked over and could see my leg sitting next to me - in the wrong position. So I then had the shock, I knew at that moment that my year was over, and probably my career. en: But you thought about retiring before that. didn't you? joelsmets: I had made the decision to stop racing before the injury. I was 90- percent sure I was not coming back in 2006, I was not addicted anymore. One of the facts was the sickness [that he had last year] and also my age. It's been 16 years racing, and I had had enough. I didn't want to leave the sport like I did in Gaildorf [Germany]; that was also a reason why I was crying like hell after the crash, from the pain, but also from the fact it was probably over for me. en: Many people say you were taking risks on the track this year, and perhaps that's why your results weren't so stellar this year and why you got hurt. joelsmets: That was not the case. I have never been the smoothest rider out there. It's people's imagination. I felt I had been riding really well, instead of fighting the bike. The reason I didn't make good results in the middle of the season was because I wasn't fighting the bike, I was slowing down, my motivation was going. It had a lot to do with the sickness I had to go through last year. It made me think about other things. I was thinking more about my family and other things outside motocross. I didn't realize until the last couple of weeks, but I think motocross was not as important as before. Other things were. en: Will you still race at some level? Perhaps the Belgium Nationals? joelsmets: If I am going to do the Belgian Championship next year, then I want to fight for podiums. I want to push in training, and I don't think that will be a problem for me, as I love training. I also have to find the motivation again, but my program will only be half the races, so the motivation won't be a problem. en: Will you ever race a GP again? Maybe a one-off race here and there? Namur, perhaps? joelsmets: I would never say never, but I am not sure I would do a Grand Prix again. I have not thought about it. I mean if I didn't get a seeding for a Grand Prix, I don't care.

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