HALL OF FAME

GERRIT WOLSINK, THE FLYING DENTIST

SEVERAL TIMES ON THE PODIUM OF THE 500CC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BUT ALSO AT THE MOTOCROSS AND TROPHY OF NATIONS WITH THE DUTCH TEAM, GERRIT WOLSINK WAS ONE ON THE MOST SUCCESFUL DUTCH RIDERS IN THE 70’S. BEING A WELL-KNOWN DENTIST IN THE WEEK, HE WAS ALSO A FAST RIDER DURING THE WEEKEND AND VERY NEARLY MISSED A WORLD TITLE IN 1976.

Born on 3rd March 1947 in Hengelo, not very far from a motocross track, Gerrit was always in a motorcycle environment as his father was a motorcycle dealer� So it was not a real surprise for his family to see him doing his first race when he was ten years old on a 50cc automatic that his father adapted to Offroad� First race and first success for the kid, who had to wait a little more to get a real motocross bike, a 500cc BSA Goldstar; it was just a training bike, as Gerrit was only twelve years old and couldn’t enter any race with that bike!

Gerrit was still a student when he started racing seriously, and as his first results were pretty good, he split his time between racing in summer time and his dental studies all year long� Moving very young into the 500cc class, he claimed a national title in 1968, and entered his first GP in the Netherlands the same year� Scoring points at his first attempt with a fifth position on the sandy track at Sint Anthonis, he realised one week later that he had to work hard when he was lapped by Roger De Coster during the Belgian GP!

Gaining experience each year racing GP’s, he won his first World Championship event in 1973 and believe it or not… it was on a hard pack track at Tarare in France! Fifth in the series that year on a Maico, he had the opportunity to join Roger De Coster in the prestigious factory Suzuki team at the end of season and he got his best results on the yellow bikes� Fifth in 1973 on the German bike and then 4th and 3rd the following years on a Suzuki, Gerrit did his best ever season in 1976 as he battled for the world title until the last round with his teammate Roger De Coster; winner of four GP’s that season, Gerrit missed the title by six little points after twelve

rounds! He would never be again in a position to get that title, even if he won again four GP’s in 1979 to finish once more runner up behind Graham Noyce for his last season on a Suzuki� Back to Maico in 1980 he only entered a couple of GP’s, and later that season led the Dutch team at the Motocross of Nations in Farleigh Castle to a brilliant second position� It was the last “highlight’ in Gerrit career’s, who stopped racing at the end of 1982�

With eight 500cc national titles, three podiums at the Nations, two silver and two bronze medals in the 500cc class, Gerrit Wolsink remained as one of the greatest Dutch Motocross riders� He did all his career in Europe, winning fifteen GP’s, but he was also one of the Europeans who enjoyed racing in the US� Several times on the podium of the Trans AMA – a series organised in the 70’s at a period where the American riders had a lot to learn from the Europeans – the dentist was also incredibly fast at the US Grand Prix in Carlsbad, an event he won five times! He was close to move full time to the US, but finally the American Federation didn’t accept anymore European riders at that period…�

Text & Photos: Pascal Haudiquert 1977: 23rd in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Husqvarna) 500 Dutch Champion 1969: 17th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Husqvarna) 1970: 10th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Husqvarna) 500 Dutch Champion 1971: 12th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Husqvarna) 500 Dutch Champion 1972: 10th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Husqvarna) 3rd at the MX of Nations with team Netherlands 1973: 5th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Maico). Winner of 1 GP 500 Dutch Champion 1974: 4th the 500 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki). Winner of 1 GP 500 Dutch Champion 1975: 3rd in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki). Winner of 1 GP 1976: 2nd in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki). Winner of 4 GP’s 500 Dutch Champion 1977: 3rd in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki). Winner of 1 GP 500 Dutch Champion 1978: 5th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki). Winner of 1 GP 500 Dutch Champion 1979: 2nd in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Suzuki). Winner of 4 GP’s 3rd at the Trophy of Nations with team Netherlands 1980: 14th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Maico)

2nd at the MX of Nations with team Netherlands 1981: 10th in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Honda) 1982: 21st in the 500 Motocross World Championship (Honda)

PADDOCK TALKS

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1 Diga Procross have revealed their new colours and riders for 2021! 2 Antonio Cairoli received a special award which was presented by HSH Albert II

Prince of Monaco at the FIM Awards 3 JM Honda have revealed their rider lineup for the upcoming season of MXGP 4 Courtney Duncan, along with many other world champions in motorcycling sport, traded their helmets and boots for a night of glamour at the FIM Awards 5 New colours! Meet the Red Bull GasGas

Factory Racing squad 6 Italian Motorcycling Champions and legends were invited to the Palazzo

Quirinale for a special meeting with

President Sergio Mattarella 7 Husqvarna factory riders Kay De Wolf and Roan Van de Moosdijk paid a visit to the Husqvarna HQ in Austria! 8 Merry Christmas from the Van

Horebeek’s! 9 Glenn Coldenhoff enjoying his offseason with some sight-seeing in Spain… 10 Tim Gajser and his girlfriend Spela enjoyed their time in Lapland with a special deer ride in the snow. 11 Even the fastest riders in the world need some time in the sun! Tom Vialle taking a small break at the end of 2021 to get ready for his title fight in 2022!

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WHEN JOHN VAN DEN BERK CLINCHED THE 1987 FIM 125CC MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, HIS SWIFT MOVE TO THE 250CC CLASS FOR THE 1988 SEASON WAS MET WITH SURPRISE AMONGST HIS PEERS. ARMED WITH FACTORY MACHINERY FROM YAMAHA, HIS ROOKIE SEASON WAS MEANT TO BE A LEARNING YEAR, BUT IT SOON BECAME CLEAR THAT BACKTO-BACK WORLD TITLES WAS A VERY REAL POSSIBILITY, AND IT’S VAN DEN BERK’S 1988 YAMAHA YZ250M/OW95 THAT WE WILL FEATURE IN THIS ISSUE OF MXGP MAGAZINE.

JOHN VAN DEN BERK YAMAHA 1988 YZ250M

As soon as John van den Berk clinched the 125cc world championship on August 30th 1987, all of the Dutchman’s efforts shifted to 1988 and a surprise move into the 250cc class, but having won his first title on a modified-stock YZ125, tuned by renowned engine specialist Theo van Geffen, ‘JB’ now found himself as a fully supported factory rider which meant certain rules needed to be followed a lot more stringently�

The move to the 250cc class was orchestrated by van den Berk himself who commented ‘I always said when I win the 125cc championship, I’m gonna go directly (immediately) to 250cc, to the heavier class …’ but the first test in Japan was not as in depth as he would have liked: ‘Testing started when we received the parts at the end of the 1987 season� I did some testing in Japan but there were very few parts available, so the beginning of the ’88 season was when we started more testing with the cylinders and everything� ’

As a continuation of his 125cc journey, John’s close team around him remained relatively unchanged, and whilst he may have lost Harry Nolte to another rider during the off season, he somehow still managed to retain the tuning services of Theo van Geffen, a decision which would turn out to be crucial:

‘We were still the same team and the same engine tuner, even if Theo was involved a little bit less than before, because the 250cc engine, Yamaha developed themselves complete from the beginning, but still, he was a very important part of the team; I think the most important because I needed a good bike that I liked, and for me it was a major difference for a bike not fitting me because then I am 30% worse! But, when I like the bike and it fits me then I’m really good, I can do extra things with it� ’

When the season got underway in France, John’s two 3rd places earned him 2nd overall, a result which was followed up by 3rd overall the following weekend in Spain, a day which also saw him record his first race win in the 250cc class� At round three in Italy, van den Berk stormed both races to come away with his first overall victory of the campaign as well as the championship lead, and from there it seemed like he could do no wrong; from the first seven rounds (14 races), the new kid on the block had placed outside the top three just three times and stood on the podium on five occasions� Heading into round eight, the rookie held a 43-point lead, and it was

becoming a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ he would be crowned world champion�

That year was the most relaxed year of my career because when I go to 250cc, it was a learning year for me, no pressure, no expectation and then after 7 GP’s I was 43 points in front, I think� Then I started thinking, okay, maybe I can be world champion� So, it was quite a relaxed year� ’

And then, things started to gradually fall apart� Now, whether van den Berk or Yamaha considered the championship leader to be the ‘number 1’ rider in the team is irrelevant, but what is relevant though is that the Dutchman had a very capable teammate in the form of Great Britain’s Rob Herring, who on his day could be the fastest rider in the world, and it was something that van den Berk was all too aware of� And whilst both riders got along, it was clear that they were both riding two very different motorcycles, with JB on the Theo van Geffen tuned bike with Herring full factory-mounted, and as the season progressed, so too did the development of the factory effort with Herring at the ‘bars� It was astonishing that van den Berk even had the freedom to do his own thing, but with such a big lead in the championship, Yamaha flexed its muscles and suddenly, John found himself towing the corporate line and reluctantly reverted to the factory bike�

‘Normally it was like factory is factory and that’s it, which was not so easy, but then my father pushed hard that we can keep the same team so that we can do our own thing! So, there were some moments where the tuner made his own bike and I had the factory bike, and I remember Rob Herring using the full factory bike, and then he started winning races because he liked that bike� He loved the power, it was a little aggressive but Rob liked that kind of power and the engineers pushed me a lot to use the factory bike� I remember Rob won the GP in Belgium and a race in Slovenia, he did some really good races and so I said, I’m gonna test

that bike in the sand� I felt it had so much power; I said perfect!’

Then I used the factory bike, but I did three, four grand prix and for me it was going worse, worse, worse!

Whilst the bike seemed perfect in tests, the switch for the following four GP’s was anything but that, and over the following eight races there was just one top three race finish; suddenly his shot at the title was under serious threat with just one round to go� It was clear something had to be done:

‘In the races, the factory bike did not work out for me! No good results and everybody was guessing and thinking, and so before the last GP, we tested my other bike from the beginning of the year� We went to a private track close to my home, and the tuner had the bike in his shop, it wasn’t even at the races, so we had two factory bikes at the races; my father said, ‘try this bike, only a few laps because I think this bike is much better for you!’ So, we went to that private track alone, I did one lap and that was it� So, we changed everything for the weekend to have that bike� ’

At the final round in Sweden, and reunited with his original bike, van den Berk went 3-2 for 2nd overall and was crowned world champion for the second time� He also became only the third rider in history to win back-to-back titles in different classes after Heikki Mikkola (‘76/’77) and Eric Geboers, who accomplished the same feat just two weeks earlier, and according to the new champ, the decision to switch bikes for the final round was possibly the most crucial moment of the season:

‘Like in 125cc, I needed a bike only I could ride! When I switched bikes, for me it was easy to win, but when I didn’t switch … I don’t know! I had still the points lead, but I was only just riding in about 10th position in my bad GP’s, so like that, you can lose a lot of points� But then the last GP was in the sand in Tibro, Sweden, I had my own bike back and at that moment I felt 100% comfortable again and the race was easy again� ’

On his way to the 250cc world championship, John van den Berk scored 14 top three race finishes from 24 starts and recorded zero DNF’s� He also stood on the podium on seven occasions with two of those as a winner� He also helped Yamaha to its fourth Manufacturers Championship in the process�

QUESTIONS TO THE EDITOR

❝Hi, for this year, I would like to buy a season pass to watch all the races in live, where can I buy it? Jean ❞ Hi Jean , you can buy our pass HERE: https://www. mxgp-tv.com/subscribe Best Regards MXGP

❝Where can I find out which driver is in which team after the winter break? Oliver: ❞ Hi Oliver , you can find all the teams and riders on the www.mxgp. com in the riders section! Regards MXGP ❝ Hey MXGP, where can I find the latest issue of the magazine? Iris ❞ Dear Iris , you can check out the latest issue of MXGP Magazine HERE: https://issuu.com/mxgpmag Best Regards MXGP

❝where can I buy one ticket to go in MXGP of France in Ernée? Jules ❞ Hello Jules: you can buy your ticket for the French GP here https://my.weezevent. com/mxgp-de-france Thanks MXGP ❝ Where will the motocross of nations take place this year?

Daniele ❞

Hi Daniele this year the Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations will take place in USA at Redbud! You can buy tickets for this event HERE: https:// redbud-mxon.motocrosstickets.com/en/22471motocross-of-nations/ Thanks MXGP