There is no question, long before Jeffrey Herlings collected his five motocross world championship titles, The Netherlands depended on a handful of riders to hand them Grand Prix glory.
One of those riders was Kees Van Der Ven, multiple Grand Prix winner in all three classes, although a world title didn’t come his way as a racer, it did years later as a team manager.
Van der Ven was one of the top competitors in the F.I.M. motocross world championships in the 1980s, winning 17 Grand Prix motocross races in the 125cc, 250cc and 500cc classes.
A specialist on sand tracks, he won five consecutive times at the Le Touquet beach race between 1982 and 1986.
He placed in the top three in the 250cc motocross world championship for four consecutive years between 1980 and 1983.
“After my own career,” Van Der Ven told old friend and Dutch journalist Harry Van Hemmen recently. “I had a role with the Chesterfield Team and their rider Pedro Tragter, who became 125cc world champion in Australia, but my part was limited.
“Pedro worked closely with his father Hans, and they formed a strong duo. (South African) Grant Langston also had his father by his side, but he was very hard on his son and rarely satisfied.
“It was always about first place, and they reached the world title with us and then continued in America. Erik Eggens was also in our team at the time, and he became third in 2001. Erik was also a rider with a fanatic father next to him.
“Belgian Steve Ramon became our second world champion in 2003. And New Zealand’s Ben Townley became the third 125cc world champion in our CHAMP KTM Team in 2004. He wanted to be the fastest on every track in every training – I worked closely with him.”
Van Der Ven is a quiet man, a man who doesn’t enjoy the limelight and preferred to just sit back and do the work behind the scenes. It was little surprised when he mentioned this to Van Hemmen in a recent interview.
“I was certainly not a team manager who wanted to be in the spotlight, who had the loudest voice after the race or who came into the picture every race to prove his value for the sponsors and visited KTM every week.
“We worked with three people on the circuits: I walked around and looked at what could be better lines than the rider used. And how the engine sounded and whether the suspension was correct.
“Then I consulted with my closest team members, my brother Toon for the suspension and Harry Nolte who prepared the engines. Together we came up with the best bike for our riders. Jocke Karlsson was a rider who apparently took notice where I stood in the crowd. When I pointed out a better line, he almost ran over my toes with an immediate reaction.”
Now retired and living in Portugal, this quiet Dutchman remains a very important part of the Dutch motocross history and no doubt, while his Grand Prix victories remain his highest personal achievement, his team manager skills will always be noted as the environment in which he collected MX World Championships.
Words by Geoff Meyer
Photo courtesy Infront Moto Racing
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