HALL OF FAME

May, we decided with my dad, who was my mechanic, to go back to GP’s� We travelled with our car and a little trailer to Karlovac in Yugoslavia, a very long trip� It was a memorable day for me, as I won the GP with a second and an eighth position� On our way back to France we made a stop at the Maico factory, and suddenly I got some factory parts for the rest of the season,” remembers Daniel�

Racing GP’s until the end of his international career in 1982, Daniel got some other titles and podiums in France, where he was a real example for all the young riders as he was the first French rider to focus on GP’s� “For me the goal was always to race GP’s, as it’s the pinnacle of our sport, and I was the first Frenchie to be so motivated by the GP’s and when I look behind me, I’m really proud to see that so many French riders have achieved so great results in Motocross,” he comments�

Despite not having won any other GP, or even stood on GP podiums, he showed to many young kids that everything is possible if you work hard and trust in your abilities� “When I started racing Motocross two riders inspired me,” says Jacky Vimond, who became the first French World Champion with a 250cc title in 1986� “It was Daniel Pean and Jean Jacques Bruno, who later became the first French rider to win a 500cc GP in 1979� I learned so much watching them and racing against them, it helped me to become stronger,” says Jacky, who is currently working closely with Jeremy Seewer�

For Daniel motocross remains always in his life, as he is still active in our sport taking care of young riders in East of France�

Text and Photos: Pascal Haudiquert 1996: 2nd in the French Junior Championship (Husqvarna) 1973: 26th in the 500 World Championship (Maico) 5th at the Trophy of Nations 250 with Team France 1974: 2nd in the 250 French Championship (Maico) 26th in the 500 World Championship 6th at the Motocross of Nations with Team France 1975: 250 French Champion (Maico) 18th in the 250 World Championship 1976: 250 French Champion (Maico) Winner of the Enduro du Touquet 12th in the 250 World Championship 1977: 2nd in the 250 French Championship (Maico) 16th in the 250 World Championship. Win one GP 6th at the Motocross of Nations with Team France 1978: 250 French Champion (Maico) 17th in the 250 World Championship 8th at the Motocross of Nations with Team France 1979: 3rd in the 250 French Championship (MontesaKawasaki) 34th in the 250 World Championship 1981: 5th in the 500 French Championship (Kawasaki) 8th at the Motocross of Nations with Team France 1982: 2nd in the 250 French Championship (Kawasaki) 24th in the 250 World Championship

1PADDOCK TALKS

3

7 2

4

8

10

9

1 A wonderful air show kicked off the action at the MXGP of Indonesia! 2 23 World titles in one picture… 3 Tim Gajser and Jeffrey Herlings received replica versions of the MXGP of Trophy 4 A familiar face came to enjoy the MXGP of Flanders… Clement Desalle chatting with Lisa 5 KTM Summer Party! 6 MXGP riders visited the Regent Palace in

Samota during the MXGP of Indonesia 7 Moto2 Rider Marcel Schrötter visited the

MXGP of Czech Republic! 8 Class of 2022 9 Beautiful traditional dance performances took place on the start in Samota-

Sumbawa ahead of the MXGP of

Indonesia 10 MXGP’s newest partner RAM out in full force in the MXGP paddock, showing off their product range!

Photo: Yamaha Racing

DONNY SCHMIT 1992 YZ250

DONNY SCHMIT WAS AN AMERICAN RACER WHO CAME TO EUROPE IN 1990 TO RACE THE FIM MOTOCROSS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. IN HIS FIRST SEASON WITH SUZUKI, HE WON THE 125CC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP AT HIS FIRST ATTEMPT AND HE MIGHT HAVE WON BACK-TO-BACK TITLES IN 1991 HAD HE NOT PICKED UP AN INJURY MIDSEASON.

For 1992, Schmit moved from the Sylvain Geboers Suzuki team to the newly formed Michele Rinaldi Chesterfield Yamaha outfit where after a difficult start, he would eventually win his second world title, and it’s Donny’s 1992 Yamaha YZ250 which we will feature in this issue of MXGP Magazine�

After winning the 125cc world title in 1990, Donny Schmit had high hopes of defending his crown in 1991, but after crashing out of the Hungarian GP in the first race, his lead vanished, along with any title hopes� He would not return to action until the final round of the year in Japan, where he placed 3rd overall� move into the highly competitive 250cc class for the 1992 season, and moving up as a two-time world champion would have had the 250cc class regulars on high alert, and whilst the expectation was that he would remain with Suzuki, the shocker came when he announced he would be racing for the Michele Rinaldi’s Yamaha team�

After recovering from injury and switching class and brand, there was much to be done, and so those first winter tests would be crucial … except, they were anything but, as his mechanic Massimo Castelli recalls:

‘The bike was new; some things were coming from ’91 from Pekka Vehkonen’s bike, things like wheels, hubs, the swingarm, but for the rest was a complete different bike� The frame, the linkage was completely different, we needed to work quite a lot at that time with that bike because it was quite fragile� They were many, many problems� ’

In the past, Yamaha factory bikes came with an ‘OW’ moniker as opposed to the production ‘YZ’ badge, but by the early ‘90’s Yamaha were no longer producing full works bikes� Gary Benn, who was responsible for all racing activities, including testing schedules and kit-parts for dealer riders, fills us in:

‘The actual frame wasn’t factory but all the hard parts were; so, the swinging arm, like the Delta swinging arm, the links, all the parts that we tested and ordered, the crankshafts, cylinders, heads … they were all OW part numbers, but the actual bike was based on a production bike�’

During the first tests, Donny remarked that the YZ/OW Yamaha was too aggressive which made it difficult for him to set up for his riding style, and it was clear that

something needed to be done to make it a bit more rider-friendly� Massimo Castelli sheds some light on some of the problems the team was having to deal with:

‘Donny wanted more easy power for sure, because I remember when we started from the beginning of the season when we were testing, and we went to our first race, we had quite a lot of factory parts, like crankshaft and some things like that; but the engine was very aggressive� So, Donny pushed a lot to change some parts in the engine� So, for example, we went back to the standard crankshaft, we didn’t use the factory one� The factory one was heavier, so when you opened the throttle the power was more aggressive� So, he preferred it with the standard crankshaft, so a more smooth power, but then he had the power everywhere, not just in one part of the engine� We also changed the triple clamp, a different off-set in the triple clamp and then we just set up the suspension� ’

Despite having two very accomplished teammates in Alessandro Puzar and Bob Moore, it soon became apparent that Donny’s set-up would be unique to him, making his job even harder� ‘Alex’ and Donny were both using OW parts whereas Bob was more production based with some special parts thrown in, but was not officially a full factory rider� Donny was a smooth rider and more calculated; he liked a smooth power delivery and a high rear-shock setting� He liked his bike to turn tight� Puzar on the other hand would arrive full gas into the turn, brake, shut the throttle off and then BANG! Open the throttle full gas again and go� He liked his bike to sit lower, with a higher front end�

‘The bike was Donny’s bike; he couldn’t ride any other rider’s bike, he was a very strange guy to fix the bike� He was quite a small rider but he liked the bike very high in the back, so it was quite difficult to set up the bike for him� He worked a lot with ‘Moose’ from Ohlins; Moose was coming crazy at that time, because he was complete in the opposite direction compared to the other riders,’ remarked Castelli�

The season did not start well� From the opening round at Valkenswaard in The Netherlands, Donny could only muster

7-9-6 scores, and then the following round in Switzerland he suffered his first DNF of the season, going 9-0-11� By round three in Austria, the American was ready to explode after another DNF in race one (0-3-4) meant he was already losing touch with his rivals� From the outside, the bike looked unreliable, but it wasn’t just that� Donny was ‘lost’ and was struggling for answers� After Austria, there was a remarkable turnaround and by the time the team reached Italy for round four, there was a very notable improvement, and Donny won the Italian GP with a 1-1-1� According to Castelli, ‘Yes, we had a lot of problems with the bike, in the engine, especially with detonation and things like that, but then we started to work in the workshop with Iller ‘Aldo’ Aldini; we changed a lot of parts in the engine and finally the engine never had a problem after that� We changed completely the character of the engine, we changed the crankshaft, we changed the piston, the cylinder head; we changed many things� Finally, Donny had the engine like he wanted, and finally from there we could start to win and, you know, especially for the rider, when you have a good result, you don’t want to change anything� You want to keep that bike until the end of the season�

Gary Benn remembers the situation well and praised Donny for his part in the whole saga:

‘Halfway through the year he was a little bit lost and then all of a sudden, his season turned around, and if I had to sum up Donny, he was probably a very hard perfectionist on himself, and he wanted that from his bike, but I don’t think he was capable of doing it as a test rider� So, basically, what happened was, we tested heaps of stuff and we went with what he wanted, but then he got to a point where he just threw his hands up and said ‘look, I’m totally lost, the bike’s not doing what I’m doing! You guys have all the information, build me a bike you reckon I can win with, and that’s what we did� And from then on, he didn’t touch it, didn’t say anything about the bike and went on to win the world championship� ’ From round four in Italy where Donny took his first race win and overall victory, the American registered 10 races wins, six 2nd places and a 3rd place (his second 3rd of the season), and by the time he arrived at the penultimate round in Finland, he was 84 points clear of his closest rival and just needed to stay out of trouble to clinch the title� That though, was easier said than done, and after a crash on Saturday, Donny rode just two of the three races on Sunday, as Castelli remembers:

‘Donny made quite a big crash on Saturday and so he started just to take the points to win the title� He won the title in the second race after finishing 5th and then after, he chose with Michele not do the other race� ’

Donny Schmit had just become a two-time world champion and in two different categories� The season may have gotten off to a rough start but with hard work both he and the team managed to turn things around to win the title with a round to go� It was the ninth world champion for Yamaha and the first for Michele Rinaldi as team owner with the Yamaha brand�

QUESTIONS TO THE EDITOR

❝: Hi, for this year, I would like to buy MXoN pass, where can I find it? Mathis ❞ Hi Mathis , you can buy our “Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations pass” for 36,99€ HERE: https://www.mxgp-tv.com/ subscribe Thanks MXGP

❝For my son’s birthday I want to buy a ticket in VIP gold Skybox to see the final race in Turkey, do you have a link to buy it? Jean ❞ Hi Jean , of course there is a link to buy your ticket online by https:// turkey.motocross-viptickets. com/en/21681-mxgp-of-turkey/ Thanks Regards MXGP ❝ Hey MXGP, where can I find the latest issue of the magazine? Karim ❞ Dear Karim , you can check out the latest issue of MXGP Magazine HERE: https://issuu.com/mxgpmag Best Regards MXGP

❝Hi would like to know if there is a rankings also on MXGP-TV? ❞

Juanito

Hello Juanito : yes of course the riders are classified by ranking order after each grand-prix and you can see the number of points by clicking in the bio. You can find it here: https://www.mxgp-tv. com/riders;selectedCategory=all Thanks MXGP Are there any sales on MXGP store products right now? Frank ❞ Hi Frank yes you can find our sales on the website by clicking on this link: https://www.mxgp-store.com/ categoria-prodotto/outlet-30/ Thanks MXGP