Famous Faces - Part 12 Stefan
Everts.
This Belgian is arguably the most famous motocrosser of all time. Stefan is the son of four-time Motocross World Champion, Harry Everts, and first jumped onto a bike at the age of four. At the age of 17, he made his debut in the 125cc World Championship, and two years later he secured his first title in that division. During the following years, the Belgian moved up through the different divisions and collected an unsurpassed 10 World Champion titles and 101 Grand Prix victories. Everts
was known for his very smooth style on the bike, maintaining a standing
position, even in very tight corners. His cornering control was unique and he
was noted for running his engine in a higher gear to torque his way around the
track, as opposed to revving it out hard in each gear, even on the 125cc and
250cc two-stroke machines he used at the beginning of his career.
After
ending his active riding career with Yamaha at the end of 2006, Everts
surprised the MX world when he became Motocross Race Director for the KTM
Factory Team, ultimately responsible for coaching their riders on the
technical, mental and physical level.
He retired in 2006 after securing his record 10th World Title. On the 5th of November of that year he made an appearance at Taupo's International Extravaganza. 16,000 turned out and he was the star attraction. In the first race he went down in the holeshot corner with Joel Smets but continued on to finish 9th. He won Race 2 and finished 2nd overall, 8 points behind Josh Coppins. His YZ450 was allegedly 'straight out of the box' apart from the black rims borrowed off Jason Gill. His Acerbis riding gear was stunning with the use of gold foil for the numbers. Here is four pics from that momentous day from Alan Henderson.     |