Hans Corvers the owner of the Monster Energy Yamaha factory team is one of the nice guys of the Grand Prix paddock, always open for a chat and socially fun to be around. Having arrived in the sport decades ago, his passion for motocross and the FIM World motocross championships is without question.

Going from the team owner of the MX2 effort to the MXGP team was a big step for the Belgian, but he took it with both hands and despite rider injuries in 2024, he arrives into 2025 ready to put his riders in the best place possible to fight for a World title.

Busy preparing for the 2025 season, we thought it might be a good idea to catch up with Mr Corvers and ask him about running a team, dealing with riders, and of course, the good and bad of being involved in MXGP, a series that covers the whole World now and continues to grow, both in coverage and travel. As always, Hans was honest and just a nice guy to chat with.

MXLarge: Hans, thanks for doing this, how are you doing?

Corvers: We start slowly in the snow in Belgium. The boys are all training, they are not in Belgium. Maxime has been training in Sardinia, Calvin in Spain and Jago is in Italy and south of France. He will also go a few days to Sardinia.

MXlarge: Do the riders ever train together, or they all do their own thing?

Corvers: They all do their own thing, but from today until Thursday they will be in Spain for a photo shoot, then they stay a few days together. We are really happy with the situation and all three guys are healthy and they are happy with the new bike, with the changes Yamaha have made. Last year, they were happy, but some complains what could be better, but now they are all happy.

MXlarge: Being a rider is obviously tough, but being a team owner isn’t easy either. You have three riders with different characters and for an old guy like me, the challenge at my age to communicate with the younger generation isn’t as easy as dealing with people from my generation. You are around my age; how do you find that with the riders?

Corvers: Yes, of course, they think differently to us and for example, Jago is a calm guy, but he wants to do his thing, and they all want to do their thing. Maxime put a lot of pressure on himself, and Jago goes with the flow and Calvin is the easiest guy, he requests what he wants and needs, but he is the smoothest of the three. As you said, three different characters and sometimes its difficult to deal with a different generation, but on the other hand, sometimes its easier. If you say we go left, they go left and guys our age, if you say left, they are different and then it’s more difficult to work with older guys, but its nice with our three guys.

MXlarge: I don’t know how many riders you have dealt with over the years, like guys who are not from Europe. You often see riders from Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, its like they have to try a little harder and maybe have it harder, because they are so far from home, they cannot just drop in on mum and dad like the Euro riders can. Do you think that might be why Calvin is somewhat easier; he appreciates it more maybe?

Corvers: Yes, maybe, but Calvin is more Dutch now than South African, he just bought a house in Valkenswaard, he has a Dutch girlfriend and last year, his mum was a few times at the races as were his brother and father and his brother is moving the Holland and will get a job here, so he feels pretty Dutch. He is like 25 minutes from the workshop.

MXLarge: Tell me, we have a bunch of men, yourself, Louis Vosters, Claudio De Carli, Giacomo Gariboldi, Thierry Chizat-Suzzoni, all wealthy men, who have a huge passion for the sport and run many of the factory teams. All these guys who have invested a lot of money, because you love the sport. I am a big fan of Infront, because I think without them, the sport is in big trouble, as we see from many series around the World that are struggling, but we shouldn’t forget the investment you guys put into the sport and how important you guys are for the MXGP series.

Corvers: Yes, you said it well, Infront do a good job, but if we shouldn’t have the passion and put all this work on the table, then Infront have a really tough problem, and honestly, it isn’t easy with all the overseas races. I love to travel, that isn’t the point, but you also need to pay for these things and if you want to be top professional, it is a big budget and I know organizing these races overseas, you need to maybe think twice about those trips.

MXLarge: Yes, organizing a calendar for any sport, be it F1, MotoGP or MXGP, its difficult with all the different cultures, governments and stuff like that. I don’t think it is an easy job putting a calendar together. I get their idea to overseas and different races and I won’t complain, but we see all these factory riders in the class and how much of that comes from Japan wanting more riders or is that something you, the team owner invests in?

Corvers: It’s the Japanese, definitely Japan who want this. The first (from this current era) Japanese so many years ago was Honda who made the bigger program and then Yamaha and then in 2022 we had the MX2 class for Yamaha, with Kemea and then Gariboldi with HRC started their MX2 program and now Kawasaki and also Triumph. This winter for the first time, we had some Japanese guys coming over to our workshop and they really pushed hard on technical decisions, and they are more and more involved, with Kawasaki, HRC and Yamaha. You see it with Kawasaki, there are more and more Japanese in the paddock, their technical guys.

MXlarge: We have a lot of television coverage now, I don’t think people realise how many people actually watch the live coverage around the World and we have these races in China, Australia, Indonesia, Argentina, but in your opinion, what attracts the Japanese to the series?

Corvers: I think because it is more global, that is a fact, but the Japanese already from the 1970s, there come in waves, like Suzuki in the 1970s and then Honda and the Japanese come and then they go away, but the seed is still there. The Japanese always stay and these years, I don’t know why, I think the support from Ducati and Triumph, but the Japanese continue to be there, and they support the series.

MXLarge: Do they Japanese look at companies like Ducati and Triumph entering the series and want to compete, thus entering riders in MX2, because back in the day, there were hardly any factory MX2 riders, just maybe KTM in one period, now, its KTM, Husqvarna, Yamaha, HRC, Kawasaki, Triumph and Fantic. Incredible that so many teams have factory MX2 riders now.

Corvers: The Japanese just do their own thing; they don’t look to other brands. Yamaha and Honda look at each other, but they don’t look further, that is my opinion.

MXlarge: You are obviously very passionate about our sport, as are all the team owners, and you seem like a happy guy and easy going, a good business and you love the races, but what is the downside to being a team owner?

Corvers: Yes, from my side, one thing that I have trouble with, is honestly, every year it is the same and I understand it isn’t easy for Infront, to organize the calendar, but it is too long unclear for everybody, especially for the privateer teams. They do their best, I don’t want to talk badly about Infront, because they do their best, but it isn’t easy when you don’t know which races are happening and which are not happening. It is too late, what is going on. This is something, that costs us a lot and you cannot be sure, is Indonesia happening or not? These are things, we should know end of December, early January. I am still not sure if we go to Indonesia. This disturbs me a bit.

MXlarge: I assume you are like me, and you arrived at the GPs as a small kid, and it is in your blood and it’s a bit like a drug. What is the thing you love about the sport?

Corvers: Geoff, you know, I try and organize a family team, and when we go to the GPs, it was a bad season last year, with riders injuries and riders out for long periods, but every team has it like this and then, sometimes, I ask, why do I do it, but my wife says, Hans, look on the bright side of life, lets have some fun and be positive. Don’t look at the negatives she tells me, so we do that.