class world championship leaving him ties with Roger De Coster. Smets joined Sylvain Geboers' Alstare Suzuki Team for the 2004 season but, suffered a major injury at the season opening round in the Mantova International. The injury saw him miss his assault on any title in 2004. The 2005 season was another season he would not reach his true potential as he battled to match Everts on the track. He did win races, but could never get that Grand Prix overall. He announced his retirement from international competition at the age of 37 after injuring his knee at the Gaildorf circuit in Germany. Smets retired with 57 Grand Prix victories. At the time of his retirement, his 57 career Grand Prix victories ranked second only to Stefan Everts 87 victories at the time. As of 2019, he ranks fourth all-time behind Everts (101), Antonio Cairoli (86), and Jeffrey Herlings (84). Smets was also a member of victorious Belgium teams at the Motocross des Nations in 1995, and 1997. At the beginning of the 2006 season Smets teamed up with MTM Suzuki to race in international races and the Belgium national championship races. After the 2006 season, Smets retired from international and national racing altogether. At the start of the 2007 season Smets was managing a small team. By mid season Smets had moved to BMW to work on development of their new 450cc enduro machine, which saw Smets competing in some rounds of the World Enduro Championship. After retiring, he managed the Belgian Motocross des Nations team for 11 years. In 2015, Smets was named Racing Sports Director for KTM motorcycles. References 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Antwerp Province Belgian motocross riders Enduro riders People from Mol, Belgium