In every sport, it’s easy to latch onto a star who breaks through your, or the world’s expectations of them. It almost feels like a small win yourself when you bench race riders and topics, and the ‘unknown’ rider you’ve been fully backing eventually breaks through… and suddenly everyone else is on the train too.

Scott Smulders represents this perfectly. The Dutch talent enjoyed success early in his career, capturing the EMX65 title back in 2015 and also putting together a strong EMX125 campaign in 2021, finishing sixth overall in the standings. His transition into the professional ranks, however, has been less glamorous. The 21-year-old had the opportunity to ride for the Doerr Motorsport Triumph Racing squad last season and, despite showing flashes of speed, didn’t quite manage to consistently put himself in the mix inside the top ten.

A winter to reflect saw Scott Smulders return to working with his father, with racing potentially coming to a complete stop if an opportunity didn’t arise. However, the SixtySeven Racing Team reached out to Smulders before the new year, which in hindsight has provided a launch pad for the Dutchman to find a new place within the MX2 mix.

Smulders captured 2nd O/A in the Italian Pre-Season Championship

Working with trainer and former Dutch prodigy Davy Pootjes, Scott Smulders performed well above expectations in his pre-season races in Alghero and Mantova, which firmly put him on people’s radar heading into Argentina. A career-best race finish, tenth in Moto 2, rounded out a solid start to the FIM Motocross World Championship campaign for the Dutchman.

We caught up with Scott to discuss his off season, finding his feet inside the top-ten and the rundown of his first ever ‘flyaway’ GP! Click the link below to listen, and keep an eye out for #408 throughout the remaining eighteen rounds.