We spoke to Stefan Everts about his MXoN memories, the good the bad and that pass on Stewart at Matterley Basin!
Best and worst MXoN memories…
The toughest one was how we lost a couple of times, especially the Nations in 92 with Australia. I got no moose from Dunlop and I had a flat tire, got a puncture and lost the Nations, like we lost in Valkenswaard when Geukens and Bervoets crashed in the last moto on the first lap. We got second and second and every time a big disappointment.
But then Sverpec was the time for us to win and it was a great moment, a great feeling after so many years trying to win as a team, it was cool. Foxhill was a special one and Matterley but Matterely we didn’t win as a team but I won individually. Kevin had a crash and we missed out by a few points. The crowd that year in Matterley was still one of the biggest crowds I ever raced in front of in Europe. In the States it was a bit normal when you go to the supercross stadiums. But in Europe, it was massive, massive, unbelievable! When you look at the pictures today you see the crowd EVERYWHERE, packed and packed it was really cool.
I wasn’t nervous. I was more stressed because we had a big fight with Yamaha because we were going to do the announcement that I would move to KTM to a new job for me. It was a big discussion still going on on Saturday! So I was more on stress with the discussion than to race. On Saturday we did the announcement that I would move to KTM and on Sunday the stress was off and I just went racing and enjoyed myself.
The pass on Stewart…
I didn’t plan. You can’t plan anything in the race you just see after the first turn where you are and then you start to go racing and try to be smart and make the difference. I was riding good, better than on Saturday. Saturday I struggled a bit, I hadn’t been riding a lot the weeks before but Sunday I was back in shape.
I was just going good, the track was so nice to ride, those deep ruts everywhere and that’s how I like it and just use my technique, standing up on the pegs. And it just happened there, around the outside, he was sitting down going so slow into the turn, I was like, ‘come on!’ It’s still a legendary pass, people still talk about it today. There’s two things people remember that’s Foxhill in the mud, going up the hill when everyone got stuck and Matterley Basin the pass on Stewart, it was one of the biggest moments, especially for the English fans, they still remember it.
Having to ride a 125 for Belgium as 250 world champ…
I had to do it. Someone had to do it, to have a strong team. I was the one who had to go back. For me it wasn’t the most fun to go and do it. First of all, we didn’t have the best bikes at that time especially with the Honda in 1996. So I struggled at the beginning with the 125, especially revving it, keeping the 125 in the revs where the power is. At one point in 97 I said no more 125s, I will just race my class and see where we end up.
Not getting in the team in 94 on the KX 500…
I never got the answer either! We went riding at Motoland and I was a lot faster than Jacky. Jacky was on the team for the 500 class, but at the end they still chose Jacky and I don’t know why. I had just lost the 250 world championship one or two weeks before in Gaildorf, I was pretty down but I was still motivated to go race the Nations at my best that I always had been doing. But still, it was Jacky and unfortunately they didn’t make the podium that year. All the other years that I was on the team we made to the podium.
For Britain it was a great year, but we will never know! Unfortunately I only rode a 500 two-stroke once and that was at Namur, that went well and after that four-strokes came and we never rode 500 two-strokes.
Get the full interview here:
Interview: Jonathan McCready
Image: Nuno Laranjeira
