We caught up with Stefan Everts at Hawkstone Park and got his thoughts on Jett Lawrence and his own memories of racing AMA Supercross back in 1992.
Jett Lawrence injury…
I mean a knee injury is also something really serious and will take a lot of months, you know, it’s over four to six months eventually as well. So a long process of recovery, it will be fine eventually, you know. But you could see with all the trouble they have with the management around them, you could see that the focus was not 100% like it should be.
And it’s not ideal, you know, as a racer, you cannot have anything on your mind. When you’re out there behind the start gate, the focus needs to be so high. I also went to a sub-situation and my focus was up there and the injuries had come really quick, but they are not really fast at all.
But I’m confident that Jett can come back strong and he will come back in the future. It’s something that every motocross rider goes through injuries as part of racing.
Jett’s technique…
I wouldn’t say he has my technique. I think he has his own technique. He has his own technique and of course he has learned from other riders to improve his technique. He’s just a natural, high-level talent like Jorge Prado. Certain kids, they are extremely talented. And Jett is one of those kids. They are very rare. But yeah, he has some things that I’ve been doing. Did he get it from me? Yes and no. That’s also not the most important thing. I’m really happy to see Jett doing so good and being such a great champion.
And also having him in the past with the Suzuki team together with Liam was still a nice time. Actually, the whole Lawrence family around was a really cool year. It was not long, but still some mechanics talk about it today about that period we had with the Suzuki team.
But I’m happy for them that they finally made it. I mean the family offered a lot and they deserve it more than anyone else.
Sexton on saying he learns from Everts technique watching Matterley MXoN 2006…
I’m happy to hear that I can be some kind of influence for young riders like Sexton and others. They can learn something from it and bring it in their own style and even improve their own technique and talents. That’s how I grew up watching so many different riders and I just took from everybody something and that made me know who I became.
Supercross this season…
For the first three rounds it looked unbelievable, then Jorge got hurt, Jett got hurt, Tomac got injured, Hunter now hurt, Kenny had that big crash last night. I mean Supercross is always exciting to watch, but now it’s been a lot of guys who got injured in just one or two rounds.
Which is of course not the best for the championship, but yeah it looks like it’s going to be a sexton and Webb fighting for the championship. I hope that Kenny can come back and recover from the loss, but I mean it’s not a dramatic situation for Kenny at the moment. It’s still possible, we still have a long season, but like I said it’s always fun to watch Supercross.
Racing AMA Supercross in 92 – regrets not going there full-time?
No, I made my decision you know and I don’t regret it. I don’t regret it at all. I was happy, I’m still happy I’ve done those six rounds in the US and went through the experience of real Supercross and the big stadiums with the big crowds which was amazing, and I’m happy I had the chance back then to be able to go through that experience. At the end my career didn’t went how I wanted it to go and then I finally decided to stay in Europe and focus on the championships here. I think destiny decided that I had to go that way but I don’t regret it at all.
I raced a lot of legends, even Jeff Ward I was racing with, even Ricky Johnson. But that was more in the European Championship but when it was in the US it was more Bradshaw, Stanton and Bayle were the main guys. Yeah, like I said, it was cool memories and nice to see it back then. I went through a lot of generations of racers (Jeff Ward to James Stewart) which is cool.
See Stefan racing in the premier class as a teenager below:
