Help in the Paddock

There is often nothing more important for a sportsman’s career than having the right people around him. Be it a parent, a trainer, a mechanic you can trust or a good friend. For some riders having that back-up takes a load off your shoulders and gives you the right words at the right time. Whether you want to listen, well, that is up to you.

For Pauls Jonass, the NEW red plate owner of the MX2 class that person is legendary GP champion Stefan Everts. Everts installs confidence and relaxes the mind of the MX2 rookie. Jonass has himself mention of the impact Everts has on his career as he climbs towards a possible World Motocross Championship.

“Staying relaxed is something Stefan helps me with a lot,” Jonass said. “He is like my mental coach. Everyone asks me how the pressure is. I’m feeling quite comfortable with that. I don’t feel the pressure and Stefan helped me a lot with that. He helps so much.”

Of course Jonass isn’t the only one receiving help from a legend. Joel Smets works with Glenn Coldenhoff and Kevin Strijbos, J.M.Bayle helps out the HRC team of Gautier Paulin and Evgeny Bobryshev. 

Several world mx champs and former GP winners like Jacky Vimond, James Dobb, John Van Den Berk, Harry Everts, Jacky Martens, Dave Thorpe, Marnicq Bervoets, Yves Demaria, Willie Simpson and many more can been seen talking to their riders in recent years, giving them the advice that they have learnt through years of competition on the world scene.

Many team-managers like Red Bull IceOne Husqvarna team manager Antti Pyrhonen know how to talk to riders and prepare them for the toughest sport in the world.

“It is important to know what to tell somebody,” Pyrhonen said. “If you have raced you do have an idea what to expect, and the relationship I have with my riders works well. Max (Nagl), Todd (Waters) and Nathan (Watson) are similar to me in some ways and that makes the relationship a lot easier.”

For a rider of the level of Jonass, a young rider, but with so much talent it could be easy for him to go the wrong way, make the wrong decisions, but with the help of an Everts, or a Bayle or a Demaria a young rider finds the peace to do what he feels is right, and taking in the advice from somebody who has seen it all before and knows the pit-falls and dangers of the wrong decision.

All greats have made major mistakes in their careers, and those mistakes shouldn’t have to happen to a young rider if he has a word of advice from somebody who has talked the walk and talked the talk.