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/128633
always finish ed in front of Marnicq. Marn icq was se c ond a ll the time. Now Marnicq finished second to m e , so if this cha m pionship has no va lue , then also Ste fan's c ha mpio nsh ips have no va lue . That's re a lity. I'm not trying to put my champio nships on a hig her level tha n Stefan's. but people think about it a little bit wrong , because it looked so easy . I was winning with a half a m inute in front every t ime, so that made it look ea s y, but for sure it wasn't. That be ing t he ca se, I suppose yo u don ' t feel a ny nee d to give you rself an additiona l cha lle nge, say by s wit c hing t o a 250 or go ing to race in the States . No, I'm ha ppy with what I'm doi ng . It m ight sound a little bit like I'm not a m bitious or whatever, but for sure that's not the case, becau se I st ill like to win reall y bad. And you a lso hav e to know that I rode m y first motorcycle when I was 17 - when I was 17! I'm su re in the St at es a lot of people just don 't kn ow about that, be cause they a ll sta rt when they 're re a lly kids. I sta rte d when I was 17, and it was a 500! S o I've nev er raced another motor cycle othe r than a 500. Some people m ight s ay, "O h yeah , if he wants to be a rea l rider, th en he needs to ride a 250 ," but I don 't think that's th e c ase. Already th e leve l is pretty mu ch e ve n , and it has alw a y s been like that , thro ugho ut th e years. In Eu rope , some peop le have tried to man ipulate the sport in an artificial way , but it didn't work . Th e y tri ed to put the 250 above e ve rybo dy e lse, but th e s po rt' s level has never been like that - even with th e 125s. So I don 't feel like I ha ve to do somethi ng e lse to prov e m ys e lf. [Ra c in g in th e U.S .] woul d be a little bit of an extra c hallenge to m e , because th e way the spo rt is evo lv in g now in Eu rop e d oesn 't rea lly ma ke m e happy . That's wh y I sta rte d p la ying with the idea . But the th ing is , I had a two -year de a l with KTM. a nd I'm the ir ho t guy in Eu ro pe , so the re is no chance. S pe a king of KTM, how does th is tea m c ompare to Husabe rg? Hus a be rg was a sma ll company. We a lways had a mo re familiar re lati o ns hi p , and I felt really hap p y wit h t ha t. That 's a lso the way I grew up . Wh e n I sta rte d ridin g , I alw a y s h a d m y fa m ily a ro und, a nd a lwa ys people that belie ved in m e , and people th at would sta y with me ev en if I wa sn' t winning . And I had th e s ame feeling , pretty much , with Husaberg . They rea lly respected m e a lot, be c a use I'm a rider, b ut a lso just bec a us e I'm J oel S mets , a nd I a m the wa y I a m . I'm not say ing that's no t the c ase with KTM, but [Hus aberg] wa s a s maller com pany, a nd I kne w e verybod y a t the com pany - I had p ersona l co nta c t with everybod y. And not jus t a business contact , bu t also a personal touch. At KTM, o f cours e I ha ve a ve ry clos e re lationship with the pe opl e from th e team I'm working with , a nd also I kn ow the big boss , a nd I know the di rector and those peop le. But it's d iffere nt· th ey're yo ur bo sses. Com p a re d to Hus a berg , whe re they 're my boss e s , but they're also m y frie nds . Tog et he r, we were re ally like a fa m ily . And now wit h the team , it's pretty m uch the same, but with the fac tory , it's just a huge ' factory - a ve ry professional fa ctor y. I've ne ve r wo rked with a Ja panese com pa ny , but from wh a t I've he ard , they say the Ja panese are still a little bit less socia l, with less personal contact · a little m ore jus t busine s s . I think KTM ha s found th e rig ht com prom ise betwe en t he Ja pa nese co m pa nies a nd Husaberg - th e right tou ch betwe en th e famil y affai r a nd th e bu s ines s . It's right in th e m iddl e , and th at sui ts me pe rfe ct. What about equipment? I won three c hamp ions hips o n my Hus abe rg , so I c a n' t s a y th at was a shit bike . I always liked that bike . It was pretty much ha nd -made, but it was a good bike. But last year, it was at the end of its ev o lution - at the e nd of development. We needed new stuff, and we were too much at the limit of that bike , so that's why we had so many problems. It was a good bike , but definitel y KTM, at the mo me nt , the four-stroke and even th e 125 , th ese bikes are really competitive a nd rea lly mod ern race bikes. You m ent ioned t h at y o u' re not happy with some of the changes in the sport. What is it that you're against? Th e ma in thing that I do n't like is th e one- moto idea . I d on 't mind tripl e -h eade rs , and I don 't mind a good promotion for th e sport. I would be stu pid t o say that. And I don't mind making more money . Becaus e we are in Europe , a nd I think we have always kept up the popularity, but financia lly we were b e hind a little bit. We ' re o nly making the same money that Roger DeCoster did 20 years ago, or that th e fa ctory riders did a t the beg inning of the '80 s . So in that way , we wer e pretty much behi nd , a nd that's pos itive if we ca n do thos e things . But as fa r as I understand from the promoter, the only way to ra ise the promotional level is to go to one moto , and that's what I regret. Because I would rather see a promotion around th e s po rt, a nd not try to fit the sport into th e pr omoti on . What a re your plans for th e fut ure? That's a good one . Of course I would like to stay invo lved in the sport, because motocross is my life, and I th ink I hav e a pr ett y goo d v is ion o f mot ocr oss and how motocr os s could be . I'm not stuc k in the past, but I lea rned a lot from the past. You don 't ha ve to be super-conservative, an d yo u do n 't ha ve to sti ck too mu ch with traditions, but I th ink the fact that we race two motos is not a tradition - tha t' s the defini tion of th e s port. It's like s occ er is two time s 45 min ute s, and motocross used to be two times 45 m inutes. So I think that's like se lling the spi rit of the s po rt a little bit. And that as an idea I'm not happy with, but the promoter, Action Group, has a lot of go od ideas. It's just a p ity that doesn't fit in their strategy. But in the future, I don' t know e xa ctly wha t I'll do , but I hope I can stay involved a littl e b it with the sport. Because I've grown up with the s po rt. I sta rte d ra cing really la te , bu t my par ents were motocross t enthusias ts, a nd th e y say I went to my firs t ra c e whe n I was o nly th ree weeks old . Fo r 30 yea rs now , I'm wa tc hing m ot ocross. I'm 3 1, but the first year I don 't remember so well an ym ore. I remember ra ces fro m when I wa s ar ound three . four yea rs old . What I want to sa y is. I've seen th e s po rt evolving in go od a nd wro ng d irections , so it wou ld be silly , I th ink, to just qu it completely the sport and go a no the r di re ction , be cause then you have to start fro m scratch aga in. But it c ould be like working with kids , or run ning my own team , or working with th e federation , beca use in Belgium it's still a little bit of a mess. As long as there is still some ambition - something positive to look at - then it's alright, but if it's just to hang around and to take money somewhere - "He y, pay me , I'm Joel Smets" - that's no good. I need to find a job where I can br ing in s omething. In the past there have been ex-motocross riders that stayed in the sport, but behaved the wrong wa y - s elling their name , and asking for a lot of money, but not putting in the effort they were pa id to. I hope I ca n get a good job, and I will be pa id well, but if I'm paid well, I also want to work for my money - I want to ea m it. I:N When Smets f i rst le arned to ride" at the age of 17 - it . was on an open b ike. He has never raced anything else. eye I e n e _ S • OCTOBER 4 , 2000 15