Stephan Everts - Legend!

Published: 27th September 2006

Author: Words and photos by Alex Hodgkinson

The son of a four-time world champion, Stefan Everts was born to race. Over 18 years of GPs he's rewritten the record books with his 10 world titles, 100 GP wins and ?? moto victories. As the 33-year-old Belgian prepares to roll up to the gate for the last time, we take a look back at a glittering career...

Stefan Everts goes to Ernee this weekend to set the seal on an unprecedented GP career stretching over 18 years in which the 33-year-old has won 10 world titles, been second four times and third once, taking 100 (to Ernee) overall GP wins and counting with 167 (to Namur) moto successes along the way.
The record champ took time out recently to natter with Alex Hodgkinson about milestones - some good, some bad. In a beat poet-style stream-of-consciousness interview, 'Orrible 'Odge threw a few names and places at Stefan and let the voice recorder roll...

DBR: Aged 16 in Maastricht...
SE: "I had been riding a 250 for a couple of years already but it was the first time I had raced one. It was a tough one to jump on a 250 in a big supercross and I struggled. I had some big crashes and I wasn't under control. That's unusual for me and I think that race came too soon.
"I have always had the feeling that I want to be in control no matter what I do, whether I am riding my bike or anything else. I rode a lot of BMX when I was a kid and when I tried a new double jump I always had to be sure in myself that I could clear it. I have always been mad with myself when I crash.
"But when you are young and still growing in the GP sport you have to search for your limits and sometimes it can hurt. But there's no way around it if you want to win.
"There was no plan to start my adult career at Maastricht, it just happened that that race was the day after my 16th birthday. I hadn't really been waiting for that birthday to come like so many Belgian teenagers before me because I got lucky - the Belgian federation had brought in a new class for 15 and 16-year-olds in 1988 called the 'Beloften', that means 'promise for the future', so I had already had a few races on a 125."

DBR: Kaposvar 1991...
SE: "I can never forget my first GP victory. I had already had some big battles with Donny Schmit that year and he had usually been winning but that day I made fastest time in qualification, got good starts and he couldn't catch me.
"When you chase your first title it's always difficult to know if you are going about it the right way, you just take it one race at a time and try to stay consistent. Now I know what I am doing and have things under control but back then I was still searching for the right attitude.
"I think that day convinced me that I could go for the title but on the other hand it put more pressure on me because Donny crashed in the second moto and I took over the lead in the series and that makes stress. But I won the next two GPs and I was on my way."

DBR: Northeim 1992...
SE: "That's another day I will never forget because I was 20 minutes away from being dead. It was my first year in the 250s and I was leading the series from the first GP but I crashed with Bader Manneh at the start of the first moto and had to pull out of the race with bent handlebars.
"My head was not so clear that day and I crashed again at the start of the second moto. I had so much pain in my stomach but I was so disappointed at losing the points lead that I didn't want to go to the Red Cross. At first I just went back to the motorhome but then the doctor came and told me this was serious, I had burst my spleen and I must go immediately to the hospital.
"It was a very painful day but one thing I will never forget is that when I woke up early the next morning, between six and seven, the first thing I saw was Donny and Carrie Schmit standing next to my bed. That was very emotional, the sign which they gave to me by simply being there."

DBR: Sylvain Geboers...
SE: "He was a very important person in my career. He gave me a great opportunity - getting me a place in the factory Suzuki team straight away when I was 16 - and I raced for him for five years. The first title came very fast and I am very thankful and it is sad that it ended up with bad feelings.
"That came because I wanted a new challenge. I wanted to make my own decisions and Sylvain always wanted to tell me how to do everything. I had started there as a boy but we came to the point where I was leaving and he couldn't control me anymore. I think it was a tough moment for him but I needed to do that, to grow and to become my own person."

DBR: Giuseppe Luongo...
SE: "He is a very strong person in motorsport and has been around for a lot longer than many people realise. He was already involved when he organised the Masters of Motocross in the late '80s and then the Bieffe Suzuki team with Sylvain.
"We all want to achieve something in life and that goes for Giuseppe too. He is trying to make motocross bigger and, if he succeeds, then everyone will profit. At one point some people have been the victim of certain things but hopefully that will turn around and I hope that he will succeed. In his position you have to be a very strong person but you can never satisfy everybody. We had our ups and downs but for me that is in the past and we have to look to the future. I think that goes for both of us."

DBR: US supercross...
SE: "When I was a teenager it was not as big as it is now. For a long time it was a dream of mine but I should have gone as early as possible. Waiting for one more year, waiting for one more championship, you get too far. My advice to any kid who wants to go there is not to waste time, just go immediately because you sooner you adapt to the new world there the better."

DBR: Bercy...
SE: "I did it a few times but the first time I went there in 1990 was the nicest experience. It is so tight and I think it is much more suitable to the MX2. 1990 I won two nights and was second the other to be the Prince of Bercy on the 125 after battles with Denny Stephenson and Buddy Antunez who were the upcoming kids in America that year.
"The year later I rode 250 and I was one time on the podium in third but I didn't feel good. The place was too tight for the bigger bike. Back then they raced four nights and I was just so excited the first night I blew it."

DBR: Greg Albertyn...
SE: "We had some battles but they were more in the newspapers than on the track. The years we raced for the 250 title we never really had a head-to-head on the track. 1993 he was so good in the starts and I was always in the back trying to fight my way through the pack and in 1994 we both had so much bad luck with our bikes and then I broke my collarbone. We changed the lead in the championship but it was a battle at arm's length."

DBR: Kawasaki with Alec Wright...
SE: "Everyone had always warned me to be careful of Alec but I never had a single problem with him. He was always straight with me and I think it was very sad when Kawasaki had a big party to celebrate 20 years in the GPs and their first title with me in 1995 - the year after he finished - and he didn't even get mentioned for the 19 years he had put in. I think that broke his heart.
"He was good to me, he gave me everything I asked for. I wanted to work with Jan De Groot, he arranged for him to join Kawasaki, I wanted Harry Nolte as mechanic, I got him. He put everything into place and the year after he stopped I won the title."

DBR: Penalties...
SE: "I have been the victim of several during my career but the penalties can be more serious for a top rider like me than for someone riding for 20th place and I feel that the penalty should match the offence.
"I got a suspended sentence of two years but there are others who were involved with doping tests and they only got six months. For me to be involved with doping is worse than throwing your goggles at somebody - as simple as that - and I still have a bad feeling about that.
"Also noise and fuel. I got the points back for the fuel in 1996 but I also lost the title in 1998 because I had points taken away for noise in Venezuela after something which happened in the start. I actually had already a disadvantage in power with that and then I got a penalty too. I think they should do the test before the start of the race to see if your bike is within the rules and not to penalise you because your bike got damaged in a collision. To get a penalty of one minute when it's not your fault is hard.
"We won the fuel thing and proved that it's not cheating and it is so easy to make a mix-up with the cans and contamination. The bikes and everything should be within the rules but when there is no advantage and it's a genuine mistake they should not take away the points."

DBR: Sebastien Tortelli...
SE: "I think he needs to learn where his limit is because he goes over it. He is physically so strong and well-trained that he gets away with it many times - 98 times it works out good but the 99th time he goes down hard.
"All the years he has been racing, there have only been two years where it went good and he won two world titles but every other year he got hurt. Like in Portugal this year. He was faster than me and he should have ridden a more technical race instead of trying to attack the whole race. You are better to wait for your moment and work it out but he didn't."

DBR: Dave Grant...
SE: "We had our great years together and Dave taught me a lot about business. But at one point he wasn't there anymore, he was losing interest. I had placed all my trust in him and that was my own fault. What happened with the money, the business, the company, the team, that was my fault. The ironic thing is that when we started together I remember that Dave said to me that it would all end in tears.
"But Dave is a guy who can do something for a few years, putting everything into it and then he gets tired of it and loses interest. That is what happened and he just let it go and it all went wrong. And that is Dave's biggest problem. He has been involved in golf, motocross, so many things and he is now in car racing and everywhere he only stays a few years until he gets tired of it and needs a new challenge.
"I lost a lot of money but I learnt a lot from it, I got a second chance with Yamaha and I can say now that it made me much more mature."

DBR: Beaucaire...
SE: "Another black beast in my career. And it wasn't just once but twice, the second exactly one year after the first - 1999 with my knee, 2000 with my arm. But, you know, I always try to take something positive out of everything that happens to me and the first injury in 1999 was almost a relief, taking a holiday after the doctor was able to assure me that my knee would be okay in the end. I had been racing for so many years, always with the pressure to be number one.
"The second year was a real downer but even there I was able to see how the whole thing with Dave was going down. I had time to look and it opened my eyes. Everything was going wrong and we had to do something. But Dave was faster than me, he said first that he wanted to stop and sell me the team. Suddenly figures were being thrown around my ears and it was crazy.
"I'm not really superstitious but when something like that happens exactly one year on it is like this year when I lost the first moto at the first two GPs wearing the white gear and won every time in blue.
"I said at first I would never go back but in the end I did in 2002, the last race they ever had there. I had decided that I would go a few weeks earlier but I didn't let anybody know until a couple of days before the race. I had to go back and prove something but I didn't want the weeks of hassle, people asking me all the time about it."

DBR: Yamaha...
SE: "You know, already as a kid, blue was always my favourite colour - it's such a nice, soft colour. Michele Rinaldi had already been trying for years to sign me and he still had confidence in me even after my two years of injury. We first started talking at Grobbendonk in 2000 when I tried to come back and hurt my knee again after 20 minutes. Laurens was there from Yamaha too and they were having some friction with Andrea Bartolini which opened up a place in the team for me.
"We have had our ups and downs but, in general, Rinaldi Yamaha has been the best team ever. They are very professional and when I was having a tough time, like at the start of 2003, Michele and Carlo would come and have a quiet chat, talking everything through. Michele almost took on a father role, giving his experience and advice and I see how he has done that with all of his riders.
"I remember the long talk we had at Leipzig airport after Teutschenthal. I was riding so well in the week, I was in good shape, I was so happy with the new 450F but I was struggling in the races. I knew it was a button in my head but I didn't know how to click the switch.
"Back in the winter we had already talked about racing a few double GPs with the 250F but then they changed the race order and the idea had been dropped. And it was Michele who brought up the idea again, to race the 250F to loosen up for the MXGP.
"And who can argue with the facts? We have been together for six years and we have won six world titles."

DBR: Joel Smets...
SE: "Particularly for our fans it was always a battle, who was the best. Joel proved a lot and I admire him for that. He is not the most technical rider but he is a hard worker and is an example to young people that you don't need to be super-talented to achieve success. Joel is a big example for the kids that you cannot get anywhere without hard work."

DBR: Marnicq Bervoets...
SE: "We have been very good friends for a long time. It was hard when we were racing each other for the title because some things happened that were not so nice. I still have a bad feeling about the protest in France when he crashed over the fence - even though the protest was coming from the team, not me.
"That threatened to destroy our friendship but we got it back and raced together in the same team at Yamaha. You know, back in the early days we had always joked about being team-mates and in the end it happened."

DBR: Namur...
SE: "It's still a very special place for me, even if they have changed things over the years. The first time I raced there in 1998 as a wild card in the 500 GP was so nice. Back then you raced past the Chalet Du Monument and it was still a roadside cafe with the fans hanging over the fence drinking beer and we raced all the way to the wall and turned up the steps on the concrete. The track has been changed but it is still Namur, the Citadel, the Esplanade, it feels like you are racing in the town and I always get a special feeling there with the fans, the noise in the woods, the whole atmosphere.
"And then there was the 50th GP win of my career in 2001, equalling Joel Robert's record. This man and his records had been a focus for me for so many years because he had all the records for so long and it seemed like they would never be beaten. I think it was after my first 250 title that I said to myself that I wanted to go for those records.
"You know, I don't speak French but I remember saying to him many times 'tu six fois champion du monde mais un jour moi sept fois (roughly translates as 'you six times champion of the world but one day me seven times')'.
"And Joel used to tell me when I win my seventh title he was going to come and drink a glass of champagne with me on the podium. And we had our champagne on the podium at Ernee. We just sat there together surrounded by thousands of people but that was just our moment, a moment for us."

DBR: Joel Robert...
SE: "He is a special man. We have been together so many times with the Belgian Motocross des Nations team and I just love listening to his stories about his time, like when he made the trip to Russia to win his sixth title and it took a complete week on the train to get there and to get back, how he would go riding in the mountains for days and that was what made him such a good mud rider, he would have parties on Saturday and still win GPs on Sunday. He should write a book.
"Joel has always been so down-to-earth and in a way it's a pity because he was the greatest. But his stature in the public eye was never so high as Roger De Coster or Eric Geboers.
"I mean, I was born in the year Joel won his last title so I don't know anything of it and it wasn't until you explained to me how it was back in the early '60s, how Belgian motocross had gone into decline after the great years of the '50s and that Joel started a dynasty of champions which has continued to this day. Without him perhaps it would never have happened.
"Joel is just a simple man but, inside his heart, he is the sweetest man you could ever meet."

DBR: Ernee 2003...
SE: "Winning three GPs in one day has to be the greatest single achievement of my career. I was so physically shattered after that.
"Pascal Haudiquert had joked about it a few times during the year when I started to win two classes in a day and then when I secured the seventh title at Loket I asked Laurens and he said Yamaha were interested too. I never expected that answer and I had to decide by the Wednesday because I had to enter the race and they had to prepare a bike for me. I slept on it and the next morning I said 'let's go for it'.
"When it was first mentioned I had kept telling myself it was impossible but I kept my feet on the ground. I knew it was the only time I, or anybody else, would ever be able to do it. We were changing back to two motos per class the next year so I knew that if I managed it, it would be unique. Even if I had not won all three I would still be the only guy who even tried it.
"But the desire to create this new record was in my mind all day and kept the adrenalin pumping and ending the season on 72 career wins was just a bonus."

DBR: Mickael Pichon...
SE: "He can be very fast but his weak point is his mental strength. He has been many times up and down. But when he was in front in 2001 and 2002 he was very strong. We had some tough battles like Austria in 2003 where we banged around a lot but neither of us complained.
"We were racing hard and banged each other but there is a difference to taking somebody out. It's not fair to take a guy out on purpose and that was why I was so angry in South Africa.
"When I read his comments afterwards I can see that he thought I had seen him coming and he didn't try to take me out but it was a misunderstanding. I just never saw him and continued my corner - if I had seen him coming I would have braked like I did this year when I saw Kevin Strijbos coming down the inside down the hill at Montevarchi."

DBR: Kelly...
SE: "You know the expression that behind every great sportsman there is a great sportswoman and I am very lucky that I have found Kelly. All through the bad times, through the Grant affair, the injuries, everything, she is the one who kept thinking clearly and kept me strong.
"I kept believing in my abilities but there was so much else going on and she keeps my feet on the ground. She is just as dedicated as me and is always there for me, helping me with everything off the track but she never gets involved with the racing, the training. She keeps everything in balance."

DBR: Liam...
SE: "Liam is the nicest thing which has happened to me in my life. It makes me realise why we are on this planet, to have a family and produce children, to have this feeling, to see your own blood growing up. I am just so afraid if something would ever happen to him, if he burns himself or falls off somewhere - children are so vulnerable but you get so much back from them.
"I just love Kelly and Liam to be at the race, helping me to relax. Now he is starting to speak and get interested in the bikes, every year brings something new and your kids only grow up once - I don't want to miss a minute of it.
"But I'm trying to be a good father, to be tough with him and make sure he listens. If he asks for a bike okay but if he does crazy things without thinking then I will take it away. I will not push him to race when he is seven or eight and I won't let him do it even if he wants to if I think it is too much. I don't think it is good to let kids race 30 weekends a year and at that age he needs to be riding or racing purely for fun. He needs to enjoy himself, it has to be a hobby, school is important and he needs energy to grow."

DBR: Harry...
SE: "He has been the red wire through my entire career, especially at the beginning. He never pushed me to ride but when I started to race he told me straight, 'we go for it for three years and if it's not happening it's finished because it's costing a lot of money'. He was a tough father and he showed me the way to be a champion.

"It's a difficult time because you are a teenager and you think you know better. The last thing you want to accept is advice from your parents - you will accept it from strangers but not from them and it is only years later that you realise how much they did for you.
"We had a lot of battles and I have to thank my mother too. She kept the balance a bit at the beginning but my dad has been there, whenever I needed him, through my entire career.
"He was always on my shoulders to do better and it has rubbed off on myself, never to be satisfied, to always want to do better. No matter how good you are there is always some detail which could be better."

DBR: 10...
SE: "The magical number! When I got to seven I had achieved my goal to break Joel Robert's records but it was he who kept telling me that I could go for 10. I kept saying 'no, that's too far' but then the eighth title came and I gave myself two more years. Suddenly 10 was not so far away anymore and it gave me a new target.
"I think, riding wise, I could go for 11 but there are some aspects that I don't want to do anymore. The pressure of not making mistakes for the whole year, to train every day, to make sure you take your vitamins every day, to get your body checked out at the doctors on time, to sleep enough hours, to drink no alcohol, not to party. There are so many parties during the summer and I had to say so many times 'no, I have to race Sunday and I have to think on my energy'.
"Many people look from outside and they say it is so easy for Everts for win. But it isn't. I have to work 24/7 to achieve what I have done. I don't just jump on my bike and win and next week do it again. It is my job and to do it properly I have to stay focused.
"And when you pass 30 it's not so easy anymore. Your body needs more time to recover than when you were 20 and you have to work at it to make sure that the weekends are your top days.
"I decided back at the start of last year that I would quit this autumn. I will be 34 in November and I think I will look back in 12 months time and say that it was one of the smartest decisions that I have made in my career."

DBR: 100...
SE: "It's something I didn't want to think about for so long but once I got to 95 it was something I decided to go for. It's like that hat-trick at Ernee, it's another figure which could be so unique. I cannot be so close and not go for it. You can count on one hand the people in any sport who can point to such a figure.
"And I also gave myself the aim to keep on winning both motos. I never clinched any of my first nine titles in Belgium but I knew if I could get 150 points ahead by the end of the day at Namur I could do it at last. I had to depend on Kevin dropping some points but I had to do my part by taking every point and I did it.
"Winning the title in Namur was like a dream come true. Eric Geboers has done it, Joel Smets too and this year's race was also a double celebration for my family - race day was Liam's second birthday!"

DBR: 2007...
SE: "I'll have a lot of pain in my heart but it has to come one day! I have given 18 years of my life to racing GP motocross and it will be hard not to be doing that anymore. But perhaps I will still be around. I am trying to do something with Yamaha, helping out the team and the riders.
"Possibly it is the wrong thing for me, to be around when I am not racing anymore. That is something I need to find out for myself next year. For so many years I have had my life under control and now I face a new step in my life and I don't know how it will turn out. That scares me a bit.
"Maybe I can find something new which I am happy doing but I don't think it will be easy not to be racing anymore. Maybe in a few years time I would think about running a team but I don't want to do that for the moment."

    But there is one thing Stefan will always have, namely our thanks for a remarkable career which has brought so many fans so much pleasure!

Roll of honour- The titles
1991 - 125cc
1 Stefan Everts (Suzuki) 377 points
2 Bob Moore (KTM) 368
3 Pedro Tragter (Suzuki) 259
1995 - 250cc
1 Stefan Everts (Kawasaki) 423 points
2 Marnicq Bervoets (Suzuki) 380
3 Tallon Vohland (Kawasaki) 338
1996 - 250cc
1 Stefan Everts (Honda) 390 points
2 Marnicq Bervoets (Suzuki) 381
3 Tallon Vohland (Kawasaki) 346
1997 - 250cc
1 Stefan Everts (Honda) 528 points
2 Marnicq Bervoets (Suzuki) 377
3 Pit Beirer (Honda) 349
2001 - 500cc
1 Stefan Everts (Yamaha) 295 points
2 Joel Smets (KTM) 274
3 Marnicq Bervoets (Yamaha) 211
2002 - 500cc
1 Stefan Everts (Yamaha) 268 points
2 Joel Smets (KTM) 229
3 Javier Garcia Vico (KTM) 225
2003 - MXGP
1 Stefan Everts (Yamaha) 275 points
2 Joel Smets (KTM) 235
3 Mickael Pichon (Suzuki) 188
2004 - MX1
1 Stefan Everts (Yamaha) 688 points
2 Mickael Pichon (Honda) 620
3 Josh Coppins (Honda) 564
2005 - MX1
1 Stefan Everts (Yamaha) 721 points
2 Josh Coppins (Honda) 652
3 Ben Townley (KTM) 589
2006 - MX1
1 Stefan Everts (Yamaha)
2 ?
3 ?

The records
Most world titles: 10
Next best: Joel Robert - six (1964, 1968-1972)

Most consecutive world titles: Six
Next best: Joel Robert - five (1968-1972)

Titles in four classes (125, 250, 500, MX1)
Next best: Eric Geboers - three (125, 250, 500)

Most GP wins: 99 (to Namur) and counting
Next best: Joel Smets - 57

Most consecutive GP wins: 17
Next best: Mickael Pichon - 12

Most GP moto wins: 167 (to Namur) and counting
Next best: Joel Robert - 101

Most consecutive GP moto wins: 21 (to Namur) and counting
Next best: Joel Smets - 14