Suzuki World MXGP Team Manager Stefan Everts talks home MXGP, assesses the season so far; chats evolution in the GP paddock.
The Grand Prix of Belgium and the 13th round of 2016 MXGP heads into the sand of Lommel for the third year in a row and represents an eagerly anticipated home fixture for Team Suzuki World MXGP with their workshop and HQ mere kilometres away from the venue.
Lommel is revered and feared for the physical and technical demands of the sand, even if the track is well known to most of the Grand Prix collective due to it popularity for training and testing.
For General Manager Stefan Everts and his international crew, this weekend will be a memorable event both for the location, the nationality and the timing of the Grand Prix as the former 10-times World Champion nears almost one year in charge of the Suzuki Factory racing effort. “Of course we are excited for this Grand Prix perhaps more than any other,” he explained while putting the finishing touches to a presentation and surprise the team will host on Friday evening in the paddock. “Lommel has always been a special place and is so close for us and where we do a lot of work. It will be tough for the riders and has always been a place for the specialists, but the whole team is looking forward to going there and we will have something unique to show the fans; something I think they will like to share with their friends and on their social media.”
2016 and the first term of Everts’ stewardship of the Suzuki motocross wing has been through peaks and troughs; Jeremy Seewer is second in the MX2 world championship with eight podium finishes and is currently in the best form of his short career while Bas Vaessen has evolved to the point of being an EMX250 European Championship race winner. In the MXGP class, however, injuries to Ben Townley and Kevin Strijbos means it has been a frustrating time in the category that Everts used to haunt.
“Overall it has been very difficult but on one side it has also been really nice with what Jeremy has achieved so far in MX2 and the amount of progress Bas has made has been something really nice to see,” the Belgian concurred. “In MXGP it hasn't been so easy, even if in GRP we are learning every day and discovering new things all the time. Our efforts haven’t shone in the results but there has been a lot happening behind the scenes and I’m happy. “
