Can you talk about the journey from this time last year when you first came back into ‘Yellow’. Has it gone how you expected?Can you give an example of some changes you wanted to make?What other ‘Stefan Everts marks’ did you bring?It seems like it has been a big year for the Everts family: Kelly looks very busy, your Dad also and the kids are always running around. Has the family ever known a season like this?18The highlights of the 12 months were undoubtedly the creation of a more compact and unified effort across the classes (MXGP, MX2 and EMX250), the runner-up finish in the MX2 FIM World Championship by Jeremy Seewer with the RM-Z250, Bas Vaessen’s graduation to the rank of EMX250 race winner and his national title in the German ADAC MX Masters series. Kevin Strijbos had a hard year of injury and confidence knocks in MXGP but the Belgian claimed his first Grand Prix win in nine years with success at the team’s home round and was also proclaimed No.1 in his native domestic championship with the RM-Z450.Here, 43-year-old Everts was asked to glance back over 2016 and some of his personal experiences…“I didn’t really have an idea of where we would be in one year’s time; I have more of a vision for three years. I know where I want to be and I am still in the process of dealing with things on that path. I am changing some things and it is a slow process that I am taking step-by-step. I’m not a rigid with my planning and deadlines but I have an end vision and that’s where I want to be. I’m not such a control freak; that doesn’t work for me. I have tried that approach in the past and it hasn’t worked.”“Well, this year was a learning year. Learning how to work with Suzuki and that’s where Sylvain is still so important because he can guide us and give advice. In the end I will still do things my way but it is good to have that advice. One thing was unifying the team more. To have one group that thinks in the same way and works together. I did not want ‘little teams’ inside the team. MX2 and MXGP has to be together and if either class is winning then the other class should enjoy that moment also. It is very important and we started to do that from the first day.”“Maybe you should ask some of the guys in the team! We are in [the middle of] some restructuring phases for next year right now because changes need to be done. SMC are making some steps but they need some time and I need to have the patience! Sometimes I want to go fast and that’s when Sylvain has been there to say ‘you have to calm down…!’ Anyway, there are some more things coming and we’ll have a new race bike soon.”“No, it is a completely different lifestyle that we have now. Just driving up to Lommel feels different now. I’m at the company every day and there are responsibilities and I have to be there. Some days it is easy to be a leader and other times it is difficult. Now with a full racing year and term of operations behind him, General Manager of Team Suzuki World MXGP and MX2 set-ups – Stefan Everts – has slightly more time to reflect on his return to the manufacturer and his first in control of the factory team and Lommel-based set-up. 2016 was a year of transition for the manufacturer at the highest level of off-road motorcycle competition with the former 10 times World Champion assuming control of GRP from several decades of stewardship under fellow Belgian Sylvain Geboers.
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