What are you doing? Patrick van den Berg
In the section #What are you doing MXMag.nl looks at what former top crossers are doing today. Their family life and their current work. How do they look back on their career, the highs and lows. This month we have America specialist Patrick van den Berg.
MXMag: Briefly introduce yourself:
PvdB: “I am Patrick van den Berg, now 37 years old and living in Trabuco Canyon, California. If everything goes well with my girlfriend's visa, we will live together here in the USA before Christmas.”
MXMag: What do you do for a daily living these days?
PvdB: “When I stopped my active cross career, I started organizing (Motocross & Supercross) trips to the West Coast of America. After all, California is the heart of motocross. All industry is located here, there are many beautiful circuits, there is a lot to see and experience, such as the beautiful beaches of Laguna and Newport Beach. Furthermore, world cities such as Los Angeles (Hollywood), San Francisco and Las Vegas. I have been organizing the trips for about 15 years now. My first guests included Steven van Kempen and Brent Vandoninck (then still a little boy) great memories! In the early years I still flew back and forth with my guests, but seven years ago I moved to America. Organizing holidays is a hobby that got out of hand and which I still enjoy, but I also have a full-time job. Previously at 6D Helmets, but this year I changed jobs to a company outside the motorsport industry where I work as an office - sales manager.”
MXMag: How do you look back on your motocross career?
PvdB: “As with any motocross rider, it was a career with ups and downs. I rode the 125cc European Championship for two years. On Saturdays I often set a good time among big names, sometimes top five. But I lacked self-confidence, which meant that the matches on Sundays often did not go well. I don't miss the competition stress, but I do miss the many beautiful training days in Italy and France!”
MXMag: The highlight of your career?
PvdB: “I think the European Championships in Lierop in 2001 were one of my better competitions. Even though I fell at the start and was the last to leave, I was still able to ride back to ninth place.”
MXMag: The low point of your career?
PvdB: “The many concussions I have suffered. If I count like that, I already arrive at eight, and the light was sometimes off for a number of minutes.”
MXMag: Best bike ever ridden?
PvdB: “The 125cc KTM of the Van de Wetering MX Team with an HGS exhaust on it, I miss that sound!”
MXMag: What is your view on the current motocross world?
PvdB: “As for every (Dutch) motocross fan, it is of course a great pleasure to see Jeffrey Herlings and Glenn Coldenhoff at work. I am often busy and due to the time difference I do not always have the time to follow the MXGP races. I think it is a shame to see that there are often only 30 people at the start, while this was of course much different before. I often read negative comments about Loungo, I don't know him and I don't know exactly what's going on, but it is always easy to comment, but it is not easy to do better yourself! I do wonder where all the money goes on a weekend like the Motocross of Nations. I see reports that there were 81.000 visitors. For my guests I paid $165 – $175 per ticket, which included $35 paddock but excluded $70 for parking. So if you assume $165 per ticket x 81.000 visitors, you end up with $13.636.000. That's just entrance, which is a lot of money…. The Supercross season will start again in January, I will definitely be there again with guests from the Netherlands and Belgium, I am already looking forward to it!”
For more information, please visit Patrick's website HERE .
By: Steven van Kempen/KEMCO
Photo: Own photo
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