Five Minutes With Stefan Everts

The greatest Grand Prix rider to ever live weighs in on the 2015 MXGP World Championship… 

He has ten World Championships and 101 Grand Prix victories to his name. He was a member of five victorious Belgian Motocross of Nations teams. His father was a four-time World Champion. If there was a royal family in motocross, he’d be the King. He’s raced against – and at times, defeated – Jeff Ward, Jean-Michel Bayle, Jeff Stanton, Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Emig, James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto. Stefan Everts is, undoubtedly, one of the greatest motocross racers to ever live. In fact, there are more than a few who believe he IS the best who has ever lived. Hailing from the great motocross nation of Belgium, Everts was, and still is, the pure personification of all that is great about our sport. All this withstanding, who better to weigh-in on the Ryan Villopoto versus Antonio Cairoli/Kawasaki versus KTM/USA versus Europe Battle Royale set to commence this Saturday night in Qatar? To our way of seeing things, well, nobody. Take it away, Stefan Everts…

Stefan, how in the world are you doing?

I’m doing good. I just got back from France. We spent the week there and did some riding and training and yesterday we did a French Championship race as a warm-up for the GPs. Pauls Jonass and Davy Pootjes and one of my 125 riders raced in it. It was a good practice day for us. Jeffrey Herlings didn’t ride, though. He didn’t do any pre-season races. He’s just going to Qatar to race.

I have to ask you the big question straight off: what do you make of this Villopoto versus Cairoli match-up? I can’t think of anybody else in motocross history who can weigh-in on this drama better than you can.

Well, I’m so happy that it’s finally happened, you know? The best of both sides are meeting up now, and especially on this side of the ocean – there were a lot of Europeans who went to race in the States and a lot of Americans came to Europe. Now we are going to see the best American come to Europe, which we’ve never seen. Ryan coming here to Europe to live here is a hell of a thing and a big decision. For Ryan, actually he has nothing much more to prove and to step into this new challenge is very good for the sport and very good for GP racing. It’s going to be a very interesting season for all of us and I’m going to be watching it really closely to see what’s going to happen.

Stefan, when you found out Ryan Villopoto was going to do this, to race the World Championship, what did you think?

It was already going around for some time. And then Ryan came to one of the Belgium GPs and even then he dropped a note that said he was interested to do the GPs some time. Ryan kept his word and he’s finally arriving and that’s quite good. I liked that. It’s a nice attitude.

In 2006, you won the MXGP World Championship and then straight-up defeated James Stewart at the Motocross of Nations. Immediately thereafter, you retired. Ryan Villopoto is the reigning supercross champion, and just like you were back in ‘06, he is seen at the very top of his game. Thoughts on this “one last go around” run at a World Championship?

If you decide to do something, you have to be behind it 100 percent. If you’re already quite far on your thinking about retiring and you want to do this one last thing, then it can get dangerous. There is a danger that you will fail. I believe that if you’re going to do something that you have to be 1000 percent and that it needs to be a very big challenge and I think, for me, this would have been the biggest challenge in my life. I don’t know if Ryan looks at it in the same way. If he does, then for sure his chances to succeed and have success will be much bigger.

How do you think Ryan will do? What do you think he will he be good at what will be a challenge for him?

I think he will do good, for sure. I think the first few GPs will be really good for him. When he comes to Europe, I think the real challenge will start for him. Coming to live in Europe for a couple of months will be different. We have a different culture here – a different mentality. We have different racing and different tracks – you know some of these European tracks, they are very difficult and they are completely different to the US tracks. Some of them are good – like a track like Matterley Basin – and Ryan will love them. But if you go to Sweden or to Loket (Czech Republic), these are very strange and different tracks. Those tracks are the ones that will be the most interesting as far as how Ryan will do on them.  There will be tracks, though, where Ryan will be very strong and the man to beat.

Through your team role at Red Bull KTM, you’re around Antonio Cairoli a lot. What’s he thinking?

I don’t know what he really thinks at the moment, but for sure, Ryan coming here gives him the extra push to go for the championship. I think because Tony has won so many championships that it becomes more and more difficult to stay motivated. But with Ryan coming over here it gives him a big boot to go and train harder and be fitter than he ever was before. For sure, he wants to defend his championship and he wants to win this year against the best supercross rider out there.

If you had to look into a crystal ball, what do you see happening? How do you see all of this playing out?

It’s so difficult to say. I don’t know how Ryan will adapt to Europe and the European lifestyle and the tracks and all that. It will go or it will not go. Will he be bothered by all of it or will he not be bothered. I can’t tell you right now. If he really wants to win this championship, then like I said, the chance of succeeding will be bigger for him. There might be a point of where he says, “I don’t like it anymore” and the motivation will fall away. It’s so hard to know this in advance. If everything goes right, he will be motivated. He will be motivated and Tony will be motivated. There will be GPs that Tony will win and there will be GPs that Ryan will win. It will all come down to the end. But we also can’t forget about the outsiders. We only speak about two riders here, but there are a lot of other outsiders who are also motivated to jump into this fight to take a little bit of a piece of the cake  – and maybe at the end of the year – the big pie or the cherry on top.

Who do you believe these outsiders will be?

I expect some big things from Gautier Paulin. I think, for sure, he will have a really good bike. I’ve also seen a lot from Clement Desalle and Kevin]Strijbos in the pre-season. They also both look strong and better than before. Then there is Jeremy Van Horebeek. They will all be very motivated to also be there in the battle. It’s going to be cool to watch.

Your Dad, Harry, was a four-time World Champion and you’ve been around the sport your entire life. Do you believe this title fight will be one of the biggest things you’ve ever seen in motocross?

I think this year will be the best in history.

Could you compare this match-up to, say, a Ricky Carmichael versus Stefan Everts match-up back in the day?

(Long pause) Yeah. Yeah, you can say that. I would say yes. It’s just different riders now. Different names. Different numbers.

There is an awful lot riding on this battle, isn’t there?

Yeah, that’s why it’s so nice to see that finally something really positive has happened for the entire sport. This will bring so much more attention to the European series – to the GPs. Everyone worldwide wants to see this battle. And it’s not only a battle between riders. It’s a battle between manufacturers and sponsors. It’s a battle in many directions and this will only bring more attention to our sport. That is something that we really, really need. It will bring more attention from the press. And hopefully this will bring more people back to the tracks and help grow the whole sport.

Okay, my friend. Any predictions?

I give both of them a really high chance of winning the championship. I would say, may the best man win.