Stéphane Mertens

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stéphane Mertens (born May 14, 1959 in Paris , France ) is a Belgian motorcycle racer .

Career

Motorcycle World Championship

Stéphane Mertens made his debut in 1983 in the 250 cc race of the Belgian Grand Prix with 19th place in the motorcycle world championship . In the same year he was also Vice European Champion in this displacement class . In 1984 he contested his first full 250cc World Championship season on a Yamaha , but only scored three points and finished the championship in 27th place. He won the title in the Belgian 250cc championship. Mertens competed in the 250 cc World Championship up to and including 1987 , and achieved his best World Championship placement in 1986 with 14th place overall.

Superbike, Supersport and Endurance World Championships

For the 1988 season, Mertens switched to the newly created Superbike World Championship , where he competed with Davide Tardozzi in the works team of the Italian manufacturer Bimota . The Belgian was able to celebrate two race wins this year and finished fourth in the World Championships, just 8.5 points behind world champion Fred Merkel . The following season Mertens started on a Honda RC30 in the Total Bel-Ray Mediares team . This time he was runner-up with four race wins and again only had to admit defeat to Fred Merkel very narrowly. After finishing third in the World Cup in 1990 , Stéphane Mertens moved to Ducati Belgium for the 1991 season , where he started on a Ducati 851 . In 1991 the Belgian achieved fourth place in the World Championship with two victories, followed by the final positions seven, seven and 14 until 1994 , each without a race win.

In 1995 Stéphane Mertens switched to the World Endurance Championship , where he won the title straight away. In the 1997 season , the 189 cm tall Belgian competed in the German team Rubatto on a Suzuki in the Supersport World Series and achieved sixth place in the World Championship with three podium finishes. In 2002 he won his second World Championship crown in the endurance world championship.

successes

Web links

  • Stéphane Mertens on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
  • Stéphane Mertens on the official website of the Superbike and Supersport World Championship
personal data
SURNAME Mertens, Stéphane
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH May 14, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris