Getting old can be at times a bit tiresome, but on the other hand, the longer you live, the more you know and the more you have seen. The fact I turn 62 in a few weeks means that I have seen more than enough, from life and from our beautiful sport of motocross.

When Jeffrey Herlings gained his 101^st Grand Prix last weekend, I had to think back to when one of my all-time hero’s, Stefan Everts went through the records books, picking up more titles and more GP wins than anyone before him. It was an era that belongs at the very top of the sports folk-law and one that was enjoyable to follow as a media guy and as a fan.

I had worked in Australia for a number of years covering the Australian motocross series, but at the back end of the 1980s I slipped away for a few years after a motocross magazine I had published cost me a lot of money and I had met a very beautiful Dutch woman and started a serious relationship.

When I returned to motocross at the start of the 1990s, I visited the 1990 Motocross of Nations in Sweden and saw that the name Everts was on the Belgian team. I thought to myself, WOW, that guy must be old, he was racing in the 1970s. As it turned out, it wasn’t Harry Everts, but his son Stefan, making his Motocross des Nations debut for his country.

When I moved to Europe in 1993 (with that beautiful Dutch woman), I picked up a lot of work covering the World Enduro and World motocross championships and by 1995 I was pretty much full-time working only on the motocross GP’s. This was the golden era of Everts in my opinion, at least that is how I saw it. He had already won the 1991 World 125cc championship, but injuries and difficulties with dealing with Greg Albertyn didn’t see him win again until he took his second World motocross championship in 1995 in the 250cc class, riding for the Jan de Groot Kawasaki team.

I felt from 1995 until 1998 that we saw the best Stefan Everts. Sure, he won a bunch of titles for Yamaha in the 2000s, but for me, when Stefan was on that 2-stroke Honda, he was just beautiful to watch. His victories came thick and fast and his competition, riders like Marniqu Bervoets, Tallan Vohland, Frederic Bolley, Pit Beirer, Sebastien Tortelli, Yves Demaria, were a special group of competitors and as tough as nails.

Of course, it was also the 2-stroke era and for me, the sound of those bikes and the way riders rode them was a lot better than this current 4-stroke era, where it seems the bikes rider the riders sometimes.

We had the three-class era also, 125cc, 250cc and 500cc, but the premier class in Everts era of the 1990s was without doubt the 250 class. Run by Giuseppe Luongo it was miles ahead of the 125cc and 500cc classes, which seemed very amateurish compared the Luongo’s series. Bigger crowds, more exposure and racing around the World.

We had so many international events, from pre-season races, end of season races, major international events with the top Americans and Euro’s going head-to-head. The sport was just so fresh back then, at least that is how I saw it, but maybe that came that I was young, motivated to build a business in the sport and now I am just an old man waiting for retirement?

But back to Stefan and that incredible run to all those World titles and Grand Prix victories, because it was that 101^st GP win by Herlings that got me sitting and reminiscing about that golden Everts era. We all sat and watched as Stefan collected those titles and overall wins and for me, there are a few that stood out.

His 50^th GP victory at Namur meant a lot to him no doubt, for many reasons and for me also. I had for a handful of years travelled on the Stefan Everts fan bus to the races. A cheap way to travel as a built my motocross CV and it made my weekends easier as I also had a small family growing by the minute, one kid, two kids, three kids and so forth. Being at the races was important, but also being with my kids and watching them grow.

The organizer on the Stefan Everts bus was Stefan’s uncle and Harry’s brother, Pierre, a nicer guy you couldn’t meet, and I had become good friends with Pierre as we talked about most things on those long bus rides to the races.

Unfortunately, in the early part of 2001, Pierre was diagnosed with cancer and given a short time to live. The 2001 season was an emotional one, Everts comes back from two years of injuries, but riding as well as ever. Again, he was clocking up many grand prix victories and by mid-season was closing down on the all-time GP record wins of the great Belgian Joel Robert. Robert had held the record since the early 1970s and those 50 GP wins were suddenly also in reach.

If you were going to win 50^th GPs, you would want to do it at the famous Namur circuit in Belgium, with Robert and also Pierre in attendance. It was an emotional day and of course, Stefan clinched his 50^th on that day in Belgium, around the magnificent Citadels circuit.

Tears were shed as Stefan, Harry and Pierre celebrated the win, Joel Robert joined Stefan on the podium and the next step was for Stefan to win a 51^st GP win. Sure enough, it came quickly as did his fifth World title, as he joined Roger Decoster, Eric Geboers, Georges Jobe in an elite group of riders who won five World motocross championships. Of course, Stefan would double that number by the end of his career.

With celebration came sadness as on December 2, 2001, Pierre passed away. While his brother and nephew had been legends in the sport of motocross, Pierre was a legend of a man. A good humour, a tough but sweet human and until the end showing that resilience that his brother and nephew had shown in their careers.

Crazy to think that Everts had come back from two years of major injuries, more or less missing all of the 1999 and 2000 seasons to break the record of Robert, more than 20 years ago, and now, Herlings, coming off a year out of the series will do the same thing to Everts and become the greatest GP winner of all time.

These seasons, when records are broken, or riders climb the all-time list of World titles or Grand Prix ranking, they are gold in my opinion. I loved the Everts era, all those records he accumulated, but records are meant to be broken and while that 10 World motocross championships will be a tough one to touch for any rider in the future, when Herlings takes GP win number 102, we all need to celebrate, as it is a number that seemed unbeatable back in 2006 when the King ended his career with victory at the Grand Prix of France.