Catch up with … Jan Doeksen Jnr

You arrived back on Thursday, what have you been up to ?

I arrived back a little jet-lagged as I had flown from Spain to London then straight down via Hong Kong. I have got my room organised, I’m sharing a house with a family friend not far from Clevedon where we lived.

 

You have some exciting news ?

Yes, exciting for me, I have just been accepted into Auckland University where I am doing a Batchelor of Commerce. I hope to do Finance and Economics.

So you are going to ride again ?

Yes, I will get back into it and ride with LA KTM. We sold my KTM450 and I still have the VW Transporter as my transport and I will ride the last KTM350 Joel had.

 

Let’s go back to 9th of December when you left NZ ?

We flew straight to England and stayed with friends as the truck was not ready –we had already delayed our departure from NZ a week. We then went to the Midlands where the truck was being built and had to wait another week. Three weeks late, we travelled through the night to catch the ferry to France and then onto Belgium where we stayed with Siep Brouwer, we had sent the NZ container there. We stayed a couple of nights and then went onto Holland where Brouwer Motors is – the KTM Dealership - Joels new bikes were there. A standard 350 for practice and a Cairoli replica for racing. We then fitted both with space frame kits.

By now it’s almost Christmas ?

We were originally going to Austria but that did not happen. We had Christmas and New Year with family in Holland. I flew to Switzerland, then took the train to Klosters to be with my girlfriend Megan. Dad still had problems with the truck so he was busy getting those sorted at Mercedes Benz. I was back after a week.

The weather ?

All this time it was freezing cold. It was -18 in the Midlands, the coldest they had had for 50 years. In Holland it was -10 to -20. No wonder I got sunburnt at Harrisville yesterday, standing around catching up with everyone.

Tell me about Spain ?

As soon as I got back we left and drove from Holland to Luxemburg for an overnight. Then another at the bottom of France and then into Spain. We stopped at Alicante in a 5 Star camping ground where we caught up with Joel’s team-mate Stijn Blom – he is also riding in MX3 but on a 450 – he’s 17.

Pictured left: Stijn Blom

How old is Joel ?

He’s 16, will be 17 on 14 May.

What about riding ?

Stijn’s father Hans, had organised for the guys to ride at the GP Track Bellpuig. They rode all day then we moved 100kms north to another track in a rural area. KTM Racing were there with Jeffrey Herlings and Jeremy Van Horebeek for some very intense training.  Stijn then returned to Holland for school.

Have not heard of him before, anything you can tell us ?

He was 29th in the MX2 Euro Championship last year and he did not ride every round.

I interrupted, carry on !

We then travelled to Malaga where John van den Berk is based. There are 10 tracks within 90 minutes. There is sand, Supercross, one GP track and a whole lot of little tracks. The sand track has not been groomed for ten years !! There was 25 riders training including Kevin Strijbos and Ceriel Klein Kromhof. Clement Desalle was also there for two days.

How is Joey going ?

He’s doing well, getting fit and getting his hands hard after two months off. Joel’s lap times are in the Top 10 and he has good pace. On smoother tracks he’s one of the fastest. John van den Berk obviously thinks he is promising. They finish the training at the end of this week and return to England. I heard via txt that he raced yesterday and came 2nd to one of the GP riders.

What does Joey think about it all ?

He’s really looking forward to MX3 and hopes to Qualify for the first round. To get in the top 30 is going to be an achievement but he's there for the experience.

Anything else to say in closing ?

I know Dad and Joel would like to thank Brouwer Motors KTM, Valvoline, Twin Air, Pirelli in Holland and Fox, Alpinestars here in NZ. 

For LA Racing thanks to ilabb, Elf Lubricants, Demon Energy, Hygiene Systems, Pirelli, Fliway.