Introduction by: Eric Johnson – Photo by: Roddy MacLeod
There is no doubt the most incredible motocross track I’ve ever cast my eyes upon was the Namur circuit in Belgium. Growing up as a young kind looking through issues of Motocross Action, I would see pictures of the track and read about it, but there was no just way I could totally visualize what the place truly was about. In 2000, Stefan Everts – and this was the year where he had he broke his arm on a Husqvarna and could not race – invited Johnny O’Mara and I to his home in Belgium and to go hang out at the Grand Prix at Namur.
It was a horrible time for Stefan and he felt like his career was slipping away. In fact, while waiting for Johnny’s jet to land, we were sitting in a café in the Brussels Airport and Stefan was so down and dejected he actually started crying. Man, I felt bad for him. The next day, we drove up all those hills and arrived in the city of Namur – a French-speaking Municipality and Capital of Wallonia.
I even remember Stefan, wheeling his Mercedes station wagon like a F1 driver, pulling over at a curb before big café where we were to procure our credentials. Inside the mirror lined café numerous people were drinking coffee, smoking, talking in French… It was SO very foreign to me. Later that day, upon arriving at the circuit itself and parking before a huge hotel, Johnny and Stefan and I decided to walk the entire track. Along the way, I remember the first rider we ran into was Josh Coppins (on a Suzuki then).
We were standing next to a large Pommes Frites that was situated on the main midway. The smell of grease filled the air. As we spoke, I took a moment to look down into a massive valley and, man alive, it just dropped forever. It made me realize just how high up above the city we actually were.
Directly behind us was the Citadel of Namur, a huge stone fortress dating back to third Century and a site the Battle of the Ardennes in 1941 as well as the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 during World War II. From there we kept walking, watching the riders tear up the green park lands and streak beneath the ancient footbridge before diving down into the dark forest. That’s where we walked next and that’s when it got real weird. Cloaked in dark shadows, the sun was barely able to pierce through the foliage. To me, it was downright eerie.
One of the first obstacles we came upon was this huge, totally blind drop off jump. I mean it just dropped like an elevator shaft. And at the bottom of the jump was a massive old tree. The thing was practically in the middle of the track. It was SO dangerous. I asked Everts why nobody bothered to remove it and he just kind of shrugged and said, “I guess it’s been there too long.” Okay…
After passing by that sketchy looking tree, the track would wind sinuously all around the forest, go up and down hills, and at certain points, narrow down to a mere 6 meters at some points). It was much more like an Enduro circuit than a motocross track. At one point, we came across a small section of track that if a rider were to leave the course, he and his bike would tumble down a very steep and unforgiving ledge and into the abyss. It was here the track managers put up a huge wall of wood – a sort of fence that ran along the section to keep the riders away from the most treacherous sections of the ledge. The dilapidated wooden structure looked 100 years old. O’Mara and I looked it all over. Looked at one another and Johnny said something like, ‘There is no way in the world I would race at this place.’
We walked down to the very bottom of the course, out of the forest and into the sunlight and there it was: The famous Namur café. Ornate and painted white with black shutters, the place was covered in Jupiler Beer signs. Meanwhile, many English and Belgian fans were already fast at it ordering up trays of the Belgian-made beer.
For the opening moto on Sunday, I stationed myself at the same café. When the gate dropped, in the distance, I could hear the bikes roar of the line and enter the forest. Louder and louder they became as they all neared the Café, which was now at overflow capacity. I could hear the lead rider coming towards us – his bike sounding like some sort of evil beat screaming in the woods – and I raised my Canon camera and began snapping away. It was then that Gordon Crockard came blasting out into the sunlight. Of ALL the years I’ve been following and covering motocross, seeing Crockard come out of those woods as he did and then hearing all the air horns explode and the fans cheer wildly – and spill beer all over me – was one of the very, very coolest things I’ve ever witnessed. I’m getting chills even writing this!
Back to the O’Mara/Everts/Johnson walkabout. After passing the Café we walked down the long straight that once covered in cobblestones and one of the most famous and storied obstacles in the 60-year history of the sport. Now covered in dirt, the straight still oozed history and watching the bikes rocket down it was smoking cool! From there it was a series of S-turns through another parcel of green park land which led right up to the launch of a huge terrace of hills. Back in the dark woods once again, we came upon the base of the Le Medieval Tower. Well over 1,000 years old, it was something smack out of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. There was a bit of a moat around it, and the base of Tower looked exactly like an ancient castle, levels and levels of stone that kept building upon themselves towards the tops of the trees.
I’ve seen a few movies about castles and knights in shining armor, and there was no doubt in my mind that back in the day shit like went down at this very site. It was incredible. It was spellbinding. And there was a damn motocross track smack up against it. Once we huffed and puffed our way up the three incredibly steep terraces, we arrived at the top of the circuit and jogged out onto the le grandis, l’esplande Citadelle de Namur.
Looking something like an ancient version of the Los Angeles Coliseum, upwards of eight levels of large stone steps were filled with spectators, and behind them, a huge white fortress made of marble full of private boxes. It was before the monolith that the starting gate for the Grand Prix of Belgium was situated and in the distance were church steeples and the tops of other ancient buildings. And so was my visit to the greatest motocross track in the world.
As fate would have it, I’d make the very same the walk the next day with another of the world’s greatest motocross racers, Roger DeCoster. Always his favorite track, it was an honor to walk that great circuit with a person who perhaps knew it better than anyone.
Roger De Coster – The First King of Namur
Roger De Coster was the King of Namur in the 1970’s, winning at the famous circuit a magnificent seven times, those being in 1969, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75 and 76. As for every single Belgian rider Namur was a circuit that ran through his veins. His memory of the old castle on the side of a hill began when he was just a young boy.
“Namur is a very important place for me. The first time I went to Namur I rode my bicycle from my house in Brussels. It was like 45 miles and I was 13 years old. My parents didn’t know I did that, it was the year Rene Baeten won the World Championship, it was so exciting. I hadn’t travelled much, I didn’t know where the race track was, I went by the sound, the guys were practicing and you heard the 4-strokes echoing through the woods and when they shut off it was like a really unique sound. Also the smell, everyone used Castrol oil and I can still imagine that feeling today, it was some great memories.
“Then to race at Namur and to win there, really great memories. After that first visit to Namur I always dreamt I wanted to race there, and then I got to race there and I always thought it couldn’t happen, it’s too big a thing to achieve to win there. One thing told me I could do it, and another thing told me I couldn’t do it. It all happened and I am very thankful. Namur, it is kind of like Monte Carlo for Formula 1 or Wimbledon for Tennis, it was the kind of place with all the history. Such a different course to what we were used to. Some riders looked at it as a dangerous track, but other riders looked at it as a place where you could make a big difference. If you set-up your bike correctly that could make all the difference. I loved Namur, the feeling and the ambience.”
Stefan Everts – Undefeated at Namur
Just as De Coster owned Namur in the 1970s it was 10 times World Motocross Champion Stefan Everts who dominated at the Citadelle in the 2000’s. The King of Grand Prix Motocross never lost a GP at Namur, winning seven Grand Prix’s (equalling De Costers record) and the individual overall at the 2000 MXdN (making him the most successful rider to ever race Namur).
Everts made his debut at the circuit in 1998 when he was a wild card rider at the 500cc Grand Prix. While Joel Smets was considered the boss of the big bore class Everts totally dominated everyone, going 1-1 and winning his first ever 500cc GP.
His 10th World Motocross Championship was also won at Namur (2006), as was his 50th Grand Prix victory in 2001, a victory that he shared with his uncle Pierre (who would later that year pass away from cancer). It seemed like every time Everts raced at Namur something special happened. In 2003 he would win both the 125cc and MXGP classes at Namur and then added wins in 2004, 2005 and finally in 2006, his final visit to Namur and his 99th GP win.
“Namur is the one place I love more than any other circuit. It brings so many special memories from my career. I liked a lot of people out there watching me race and the home GP’s I wanted to show how good I was and also at Namur. Even when I would get into the car to leave my home I already felt something inside me and then I see the name Namur on the freeway and I see the blood starting to cook and arriving and feeling the atmosphere and hearing the bikes, the echo from the forest.
“Whenever I went to Namur I had goose bumps for two times 40 minutes, non-stop. As for the records, I knew who had the most wins and I knew it was Roger and it was one of my ambitions to break his record, I thought I had broken it, but he told me recently that he has seven. For me to win every time I rode there, I won all the GP’s and the MXdN.”
Eric Geboers – Winning a title and retiring at Namur
Eric Geboers had his own personal story from the Namur citadel. Geboers only ever won once at Namur, and despite the five times World Motocross Champion being one of the biggest legends of the sport Namur was a tough one for him for many years. In 1990 though he not only won, but closed down his amazing career. Later on in the 2000’s Geboers actually promoted GP’s at Namur.
“That whole season in 1990 I was thinking of stopping. In the winter before the season started I just didn’t have the motivation anymore. I worked hard in the winter and decided that I would give it one more year. If I won the Championship, then I would stop.
“The year was good. I had a plan and I stuck to it, which gave me extra motivation to end the year. I remember the last lap in Namur, I had tears in my eyes, but what surprised me was the reaction of the fans.
“They didn’t know I was suffering so much from being at the races, they just saw me winning and figured I was okay. You know something, you don’t like waiting at the airport, then you don’t like arriving at the circuit on Friday, slowly it gets worse and for me travelling had become something I really didn’t like doing.
“I did not tell anyone at the Namur circuit that I was going to quit, I didn’t tell my girlfriend, or my parents, nobody knew. What happened was Belgian television took me with a helicopter to the television station, they wanted to find out how I felt about winning at Namur and winning a World title there. Then I announced I was retiring, right there on national television.
“I had underestimated how the fans would react when I got back the Citadelle. I needed to get back quickly because there was a big party for me and I wanted to celebrate. When I got out of the helicopter it was like a funeral, this knocked me out. People were telling me to think about it, people where crying, it was a really emotional day and of course one of the most memorable in my career.”
Bill Nilsson – Bitter War in Namur
1957 and 1960 World 500cc Champion Bill Nilsson of Sweden was one of the first true hard men of Motocross. His assault on the Belgian riders was often hard and sharp. The Swede liked a good fight and when he came to Namur he got more than that.
“I hated losing; we had so many big battled in Belgium. I lost a World championship at Namur, it’s a funny story. I was racing against Sten Lundin and Rene Baeten. I was 35 second behind the leader after the first lap; I had crashed and was a long way back. With three laps to go I caught him, I tried everything, I tried to over jump him, I tried everything, but I couldn’t get him.
“Then on the last lap I decided to crash into him, take him from the track. We went down a steep hill and I pushed my bike up against his and crashed him out, I had a lot of experience you know.
“My big problem was that I also crashed and the people broke onto the track and grabbed my bike, they helped Baeten get going, but would not let me have my bike. Anyway one of the crowd lost his front teeth, I wanted my bike back, and they wouldn’t give it back. In the heat of battle I lost it a little.”
Brad Lackey – Never his Favourite circuit
1982 World 500cc Champion Brad Lackey was somebody who never enjoyed his visited to Namur.
“I didn’t really like Namur. I mean it was a tough place, and you really had to be on your game. I went there to survive; I never went there to win. I remember the year I won the World Championship I had a point’s advantage and my only goal was to get through Namur and move onto Luxembourg. At Namur you also have the fans who could get very involved, even standing on the racing line so you had to ride around them. It was just a wild place and while I loved going back there to visit, it was not a place I liked racing at.”
“I went back to Namur in 2003 or something like that for a legends race. We were able to ride around the old circuit, but I was a little disappointed, they had changed it somewhat and it wasn’t like it was back in the 1970’s or 80’s. Going back to Namur was really special, Eric Geboers was the organizer and it was a really big weekend for all the older riders. I got to hang out with Roger De Coster again, a rider who helped me a lot when I was in Europe.”
Davey Coombs – An Adventure at Namur
AMA Motocross promoter Davey Coombs has big interest in the Grand Prix scene, and despite never witnessing a race at the Namur circuit he did get to visit the Citadelle in 1997. While not the perfect way to visit Namur it was a moment he will never forget.
“I once went there on the way to the MXoN in Nismes in 1997 with my friend Jeff Cernic and we walked the entire track. It was just a wonderful adventure, because the outline of the track from the previous month’s GP was still there. I could just imagine DeCoster, Mikkola, Thorpe and Geboers blasting around the Citadelle, and we even went looking the place where Carlqvist made his famous pit stop for beer. When we were done we ended up at The Monument Cafe, drinking Stellas and Jupiler with the little old lady who was behind the bar. She ended up giving us a bunch of old event stickers and pins, and even some trophy badges from yesteryear. I had no idea that it was not long for the cause, and one of my deepest regrets in motocross was the fact that I never got to see an actual race on that sacred ground.”
This write up was sent over by Geoff Meyer from MX Illustrated. You can view a digital copy below.
