Five-time World Motocross Champion Joel Smets would surely like to forget 2004. It was bad enough that he injured his knee and was forced to quit the World Championship and get corrective surgery. It was worse that a bacterial blood infection in June of 2004 nearly killed him, and forced a delay in his knee surgery.
Now, Smets is on the comeback trail and will compete again in MX1 aboard the Suzuki RM-Z450 in 2005. After his longest break from motocross in his adult life, Smets is understandably rusty and lacks the conditioning necessary to perform at his best. For this reason, he will be racing several pre-MX1 events to get his timing and conditioning back.
Smets has always been known as a hard-working, humble motocross warrior. We hope he bounces back strong this year.
