Famous Faces - Part 3

Wednesday 14 December: At the MXoN in France there were famous faces I recognised. There were some I didn't but knew they were famous simply by the reaction of the crowd. I will do one a day as we count down to Christmas.

Joel Doeksen with John Van Den Berk. Joel trained with John earlier this year at his annual Summer School in Spain.

John was the 1987 FIM World Champion in the 125cc class on a Yamaha.

The following year (1988), he moved to the 250cc class where he again won the World Championship, also on a Yamaha.

He was Dutch Champion, Supercross Champion and winner of the Motocross des Nations. Today he runs a MX training school in Spain in Jan/Feb and in Holland, in Jul/Aug. He is also the private trainer of Kevin Strijbos and trainer of the Rabbit Racing Team.

John's results over 18 years as an MX Trainer:

Grand Prix 250cc winner with Remy van Rees 1999
FIM junior World champion 85cc 2000 Kevin Strijbos
FIM junior World champion 125cc 2005 Dennis Verbruggen
European champion 125cc 2006 Dennis Verbruggen
Vice World champion MX1 2007 Kevin Strijbos
Winner GP Lommel Belgium 2008 Gert Krestinov

At the MXoN at St Jean d’Angely, John signed an agreement with Youthstream and FIM to become the official trainer and talent scout of the FIM Motocross World Championship.

The main goal of the creation of this new department is to help the sport grow worldwide, providing the best formation to the riders, trainers and the officials in those countries where the interest in Motocross is growing.

John will also be in charge of finding new talents in order to give them the opportunity to race the FIM Motocross World Championship in the near future.

It was John who recently enlisted Joel as a test rider for KTM Racing, testing the 2013 KTM450.