Harry Nolte is well known in the sport of motocross. Between the late 1980s until recently he worked inside the Grand Prix paddock, as mechanic/tuner for the stars. From back in the day with names like Dave Strijbos, John Van Den Berk, Stefan Everts, Donny Schmit, to Grant Langston, Ben Townley and Tommy Searle.

A stack of GP victories, World championships and International success with his riders, and one of the most respected tuners in the sport. Nolte also flew to America for KTM to start up their US program back 20 years ago, something that is now a major success.

A old friend and a fellow Dutchman (well I am an Aussie living in Holland), I caught up with him a a while ago to ask about some of the funny and interesting stories from his long career.

MXlarge: Harry, can you tell me any stories about Donny Schmit, because to me he seemed like a pretty serious guy?

Nolte: Donny, he was really fanatical. We were at a circuit one year training. Donny wanted to ride two different bikes on this day. So I had to wait on top of the jump, because he wanted to jump from one to the other really quickly. To see what the difference was for the two bikes, but he jumped so quickly onto the other bike, he missed it completely and ended up on the ground. It was so funny, because he was so fanatical.

MXlarge: Was he somebody that was pretty serious?

Nolte: He was super fanatic. I got on great with him, because we both had the same goal, and that was winning. He wanted to win at any cost, very professional with his food and practicing.

MXlarge: How was it back then for being professional? Was he before his time in Europe?

Nolte: No, also John Van Den Berk and Dave Strijbos were also fanatic. I think Donny was maybe a little more, but those two were also fanatics.

MXlarge: You also worked with Dave Strijbos?

Nolte: Yep.

MXlarge: My god, how many World champions did you work with, maybe 10?

Nolte: I got no idea, I don’t know. I think about 10 maybe. Seven or eight World championships.

MXlarge: You also worked with another American in Mike Healey, and I can imagine he was the total opposite to Schmit?

Nolte: Yes. We once went to Venezuela and he spent the whole time in his hotel room with his girlfriend. He was an unbelievable good rider. I worked with him when Stefan was injured, when I worked for Suzuki. So I went to South America, Unadilla, and some others with Mike.

MXlarge: You always got the impression he was a real character?

Nolte: I was okay with him, but I heard many stories from other people. He and Sylvain Geboers didn’t get on at all, because Sylvain was very professional and with Healey, you had to play with him a little bit. He was a hard worker on the bike, but for training not at all. He was super talented.

MXlarge: You worked with Stefan, what years did you work with Stefan?

Nolte: 1991 I started with him, I was working with Donny Schmit, but he got really badly injured in Hungary, so I started working with Stefan, then Donny came back for Japan (where Everts won the title). Also in 1992, 1993 and 1994 I worked with Stefan.

MXlarge: Stefan was very mature and professional at the end of his career. How was it working for him in those early years?

Nolte: He was young, like all the other young kids you see. He had so much talent and at times he didn’t know what to do with it. Harry and his mother were pushing him really hard. There came a point he realized and in the end he did everything himself. You see the same thing with all the younger guys, also with Jeffrey (Herlings). He realized a few years ago that he needed to change his life-style and look how he improved.

MXlarge: Knowing Stefan pretty well, I don’t think you would have too many wild stories about him?

Nolte: No, not so many wild stories. Only one time, but afterwards you laugh about it. In a supercross in Italy, he won the semi-final, I think he beat Ricky Johnson and everybody, then he jumped out of the stadium, and he jumped too high and hit his head on the top of the exit. Everyone was waiting for him to come back into the stadium, but he was laying on the ground.

MXlarge: You were there when he won his first championship in Japan. What was that like?

Nolte: That was unbelievable and I think he finished second in the first moto and that won him the championship. He had a big points lead and rode to win in the first heat, and he DNFed the second moto with an engine problem.

MXlarge: In 1992, 1993, 1994 he seemed to struggle a bit, injured came and Greg Albertyn often seemed to have his measure. How did you see those years?

Nolte: I think Albertyn got in his mind. In 1992 Stefan lost his spleen, and didn’t do too many races, then in 1993 they battled a lot, but Stefan was really struggling with the bike, the Suzuki, and in 1994 he swapped to Kawasaki and won a lot of races, but then he broke his collarbone. Practicing in Finland. He should have won in 1994, but that is how it goes.

MXlarge: You then went to the Champ KTM team, working with Kees Van Der Ven. That team had a lot of success. Who did you work with in those years?

Nolte: I worked with Leon Geisbers, Miska Aaltonen and Fred Vialle.

MXlarge: Then all of a sudden you started working with Grant, who joined the Champ KTM team. Can you tell me about working with Grant?

Nolte: That was special. You could see Grant had talent, but he wasn’t the hardest working guy. In 2000 he realized he had to work harder and you saw what happened, he won the championship.

MXlarge: I remember going to some practice days with the Langston’s and you that year. They were a special family, maybe a typical father and son relationship in sports, but very nice people. Sometimes it was comical how they communicated with each other. What are your memories of that?

Nolte: Yes, that time papa was really tough with him, and we always had to laugh about them, but in the end they brought Grant to a really high level.

MXlarge: I remember when Grant won his first Grand Prix, it was a shock, and everyone couldn’t believe he had won it. Can you tell me about that day?

Nolte: That was in Germany. I saw the movie on YouTube a while ago. I remember that day really well, because the Langston family were not so good with navigation when getting to the tracks, and the race was in Austria, we arrived at the track, and they were not yet there, and they arrived late. They had ended up at the Polish border, which was nowhere near Austria. They really did that type of thing a lot. After that race we went to Croatia and again got lost, so the next trip they decided to follow one of the Belgian trucks, thinking it was going back to Belgium, but the team were going to Italy for testing, so they ended up in Italy. So funny those stories, in fact I had dinner with the Langston’s last year in America, and we laughed about those stories. Another stories was from the pre-season race in Belgium. It started snowing, so papa Langston said ok, let’s go home. I said to him, no, we race in the snow here. Grant had never seen snow in his life coming from South Africa.

MXlarge: Just quickly about Grant. We saw a lot of guys go to America and change, Grant never changed one little bit, he is the same now as when he raced as a kid in Belgium, just an all-round nice guy.

Nolte: No, not a bit, he changed zero. He is still the same.

MXlarge: You were heavily involved with KTM, and I know in that period there was a lot of testing going on during the season, also at the races. Even that year Ben (Townley) won the MX2 championship you had bike issues with his bike and Marc De Reuver. Tell me about those times?

Nolte: We had some break-downs, but later in the year, we looked at the statistics, but apart from Carl Nunn we had less break-downs than anyone. Ben was winning and it was a new bike and very specially designed, the whole bike. That bike was a nightmare, and it was a lucky one. So much work, and one problem solves then we found another problem. It was a tough year, but I think KTM have done an amazing job since.

MXlarge: Of course, they just about own the top step of the podium now. Working with Ben, I know I had a good relationship with him, although that changed when he moved to America, but I know you still have a good relationship with him. How was it working with Ben, similar to Langston, but maybe Ben was a harder worker?

Nolte: Ben was a harder worker yes, and very determined to win. I remember we had a Grand Prix in South Africa, and Tyla (Rattray) was best friends with Ben, and he said to Ben, I really want to win this GP, and Ben was like, well you won’t. Ben was already World champion, and Ben said that isn’t going to happen. Ben passed Tyla in both races on the last lap. Ben wanted to win so badly, and I think that cost him in the end. That is why I think he had too many injuries.

MXLarge: What about fun times with Ben, because I know he liked to fool around?

Nolte: With Ben it was always good. You could also go out to dinner with Ben and talk about other things, not just motocross.

MXlarge: You also travelled to America with KTM and help start their program there. I saw somewhere that Grant (Langston) said it was really tough that first year.

Nolte: I was still working with the Champ team, and I had the chance to move to the full factory team, but I didn’t want to move to Austria. Then I stopped and I did one year

MXlarge: What are some of the highlights of your career in the sport?

Nolte: Winning with Ben, that was something special with that bike. The second, maybe with Van Den Berk the first championship. Also Donny (Schmit), I had never even heard of him before he came here and we won. Also 2001 with Grant in America, finishing second and really unlucky not to win (Langston got a broken wheel in the last round and DNFed, losing to Mike Brown by a handful of points), and we had no workshop, it was nearly zero what we had to work with. I went in 2001 and 2002 for KTM. We had a place to work, but it was just a hole with work benches and bikes and parts everywhere. In the second year they had a good workshop. We won some supercross races with Grant, and we went to the Outdoors and we had four riders in the top six or seven.