Joël Smets, team manager of the Belgian MXON team, reckons the "Belgian Knights” are once again one of the favorites coming weekend at the prestigious MXON in Kegums, Latvia.
As the defending champions, Jeremy van Horebeek (MX1), Julien Lieber (MX2), and Kevin Strijbos (Open) will proudly wear the magic numbers #1, #2, and #3 on their bikes. All of them are motivated to defend this plates and bring that Chamberlain trophy back to Belgium at the end of the weekend.
"But it will be difficult”, warns Smets. "It’s hard to get on the top, but it’s even harder to stay there. I had the experience when I was still racing for an individual championship. But for the MXON it’s a little different. In MXGP riders like Cairoli, Desalle and Strijbos battle each other for many years and they know what’s coming. With the national team you have to build up everything from scratch.
"I’m confident for the weekend though. We don’t have our strongest team but still this team is very strong. Jeremy is the only rider who was on the winning team last year, but also Kevin has a lot of experience in this race. It’s already his fifth participation so he knows what to expect. Julien Lieber is the rookie in the team, but after he switched teams he has been riding really strong, and I’m sure the others will guide him through the weekend.
"The track in Kegums is not in our advantage like Lommel was, but can be considered allround, which will suit a lot of teams. It has a top layer of sand but below it’s pretty hard. The main competitors for the victory will for sure be USA and France, who have three competitive riders. But other countries like Italy, Australia and Uk can be dangerous too. They might not have three top riders but often that less known rider can make the difference. It will be a though weekend, but that’s what’s makes this such a special event.
"Each year I look forward to this race, it’s the ultimate race of the year. Motocross is supposed to be an individual sport but I like team sports too. And the MXON is a team effort, just this one time a year three riders need to work together in order to achieve the victory. I’m supposed to motivate the riders this weekend, but to be honest they don’t need that. The feeling you get when you can represent your national colors is so massive, you just want to give 110%. I was lucky to be part of the winning team 3 times in my career and I have to say that feeling is so good. Winning it as a teammanager last year felt awesome too, so the goal for this year is pretty obvious!"
