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/128603
Stefan E"erts By ERIC JOHNSON lxadly 12 months after a season-ruining injury, the fourtime Worl~ Champion breaks his arm on the same track O n Sunday, February 20, at the wind-whipped Sain Romain track in Southern France - just a few miles inland from the Golfe du Lion - lightning struck GP hero Stefan Everts. For the second-consecutive year, the Belgian was struck down by an injury at the annual Beaucaire Classic Grand Prix warm-up race. Last February, Everts severely injured his knee while attempting to stop himself from crashing on a downhill. In effect, the injury destroyed his 1999 250cc Grand Prix season. Then, exactly 365 days later, while racing along in 19th place on lap seven of the second moto at the 23rd annual edition of The Classic, Everts flew off the track, breaking his arm on a fence post. Immediately flown back to Belgium, the star-crossed 27 -year-old had the injured arm operated on that same evening by Professor Gyselincnk - the same doctor who repaired his knee last February. ,./': As could be expected, Eve~ts was devastated by the injury. Slated to,I~ race in the FIM 500cc World Champi- ~~~~ onship Series for the first time in ,. 2000, he was just coming off an exhaustive - and very productive winter of testing with new employer Husqvarna. In Beaucaire, to put the finishing touches on the booming Husqvarna 570, Evert's day ended in the surgery ward, his quest to win his fifth World Championship severely hindered. However, all is not lost. The surgery went well, and as of Cycle News contributor Eric Johnson's telephone conversation with Everts at his Dilsen, Belgium, home, it appears that Everts will likely be back by the second round of the series in Castiglione del Lago, Italy on April 2,2000. , 28 MARCH 8, 2000' cue I e n e _ Q A Stefan, first and most importantly, how are you doing? well, I was really, really down the first day after the accident. To get injured at the same track exactly one year later, you begin to ask yourself, "How can this happen? Why me?" I had been working so hard for this year, and everything was going in the right direction - the bike, the team, my riding - then it all just fell in the water. Q A What happened? Is it true you clipped a part of the fence? I didn't hit the fence, I hit a pole. Normally, when I hit a post or something like that it will break right off. I didn't expect such a big crash. I fell immediately and I knew right away that something was wrong. When I got up I could feel my arm moving in different directions, and I had to hold the broken arm with my other hand. It felt like jelly. Q After what you went through at Beaucaire last February, how did you react when you figured out what had happened that afternoon? I started screaming. It was so awful because not only did I realize I was hurt pretty badly, but I could feel the bones all messed up. A Did the organizers get help to you immeditely? well, I just sat down next to the fence. The race was only halfway through, and there was nothing anybody could do because I was in such a bad position. Nobody could get to me. Eventually the Red Cross got to me and walked me up the hill and into a tent. A doctor came· in, and it took him and the medical people a very long time to get my shirt and gloves off. Everybody was running around and a little 'bit confused. But I could understand because there had been a big crash in the race before. Eventually, they got me in a car and took me to the hospitaL A Q A HOW did things go once you arrived at the hospital? We got to the hospital and gave me some pain killers and put something into the arm. The muscle around the area was so tense that it actually pulled the bone together. At one point, one of my arms was a few centimeters shorter than the other because the broken bones had fused together. They then put something like a cast around it, and we began looking for a way home. Q YOU flew home immediately that evening, correct? Yes. My girlfriend Kelly looked around and organized a private jet to come pick me up. Eric Geboers [the five-time World Champion] arranged it because he is in that business now. They picked me up, and at 10:15 p.m. we arrived in Belgium. My doctor was wa iting for me, A so