On-Track Off-Road issue 171

January 2018 No 171

MotoGP

first pace MotoGP sizzled in Sepang with new parts, new ideas and new profiles – both of the machinery and the riders, with some commendable diet efforts of the athletes coming under scrutiny. As in 2017 it was Maverick Viùales who stood out for pace: the Spaniard wiser to the need for consistent fast times and seemingly rejuvenated by Yamaha’s winter work. How long before equally pacey teammate Valentino Rossi puts pen to paper on a contract that will take him into a fifth decade still as a MotoGP racer?

Photo by CormacGP

MXGP

2018 time It’s curious how much of life comes down to timing.

In the past Gautier Paulin may have been handed some excellent tools and opportunities to make his MXGP fantasies a reality but there is a real sense of expectancy around the talented Frenchman for 2018. GP21 ended ‘17 with another Motocross of Nations success and his slot inside the regimented, resourceful and slick Rockstar Energy IceOne Husqvarna team means he has the support structure and experience to finally pull the pieces together. If the 27 year old is fit come Argentina then expect that white machine to be one of the favourites for title glory Photo by Husqvarna/Bavo

RALLY

no bones about it KTM ruled the Dakar rally for the seventeenth time in a row thanks to Matthias Walkner becoming the third different winner in three years. It is a stunning record, particularly with the 2018 edition recognised as one of the most physically challenging and brutal in recent memory.

Two weeks through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina was a memorable time for Monster Energy HRC’s Kevin Benavides who delighted home fans in Cordoba with his runner-up slot and first podium appearance Photo by HRC/MCH Photo

SH

TROY LEE ANE McELR A DESIGNS / RED BUTH LL / KTM

PREMIUM VENTILATED RACEWEAR NAVY / ORANGE

2018 MOTO COLLECTION | SOLD AT FINER DEALERS WORLDWIDE | TROYLEEDESIGNS.COM

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the other #93

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by JP Acevedo

Marc Marquez talks exclusively about his favourite hobby

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marc marquez & mx

This is rare. Not that MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez is wheeling his CRF450R bike down the ramp of a non-descript van at local track/ complex Rufea, deep in the west of Catalunya, or that the same circuit is currently freezing under a thin blanket of December fog (quite typical for this time of year). Not that he has former Moto3 World Champ and brother Alex in tow or friend and trainer Jose Luis Martinez (ex-MX2 Spanish Champion) as well as Enduro World Champion Josep Garcia tagging along for a ride. Not that he’s elegantly decked in spotless Alpinestars riding gear complete with neck brace.

No, for an athlete that will grace the cover of GQ magazine in a matter of days and whose diary is rammed full of obligations and appointments and travel, Marc has happily agreed to be photographed and set aside time to talk about one of his main passions in life: motocross.

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ccess to MM93 in and around MotoGP is obviously tricky; perhaps only one other road racer is in as much demand and can pick-and-choose media commitments wedged into an agenda that is already brimming. When it comes to dirtbikes though Marc’s interest seems to flash a bit brighter, the perma-smile grows a little bigger. We’re lucky to be shivering with his small group – gregarious father Julià always good for a joke and he tells us we’ll all have to wait for a while and until the stubborn Catalan sun pops through to further soften the loose Rufea dirt – but even the 24 year old knows and appreciates that this is a slightly alternative media project.

The circuit is flat, well groomed and has a floodlit dirt track oval adjacent. This is where Marc grew up and it is easy to understand why he still spends a lot of time here, even hosting the annual Allianz Motorcamp training initiative for kids in these grounds.

The Marquez’ Hondas sit side-by-side in the small Rufea paddock. The back of their van is immaculately ordered with their riding kit and spares: effort, organisation and no small amount of love goes into that kind of prep.

Changed, ready and waiting we grab some static photos. Marc is engaged in the pictures but also cuts a tired expression. Only a few days before he’d been to Japan and jetted straight back for another sponsor appointment.

Photographer JP Acevedo and I have walked the track and the top-soil is surprisingly fine for a surface that looks almost frozen. Marc would later give some abuse to one of the few built-up berms. Amazingly (but not surprisingly) he hits the section with gusto for the camera and topples to the ground in almost half of his attempts. Marquez’s commitment never seems to waiver.

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Seeing the somewhat jaded look – coupled with the fact that he shows no interest whatsoever in some of the riders using the dirt track oval for the Superprestigio event he helped endorse but will miss for the first time (even peer Johann Zarco, who wander across the paddock to say hello) - gives further clues that ‘MM93’ is a little tired of being so in 2017.

Finally the troupe of Marquez’, Garcia and Martinez head out for some warm-up laps and some tentative sprints. Marc is quick and reactive on the Honda and responds to the close quarters and shouts from Garcia who is handling the KTM EXC enduro bike over the jumps with the abandon of a kid with a 125.

Marquez’s body position is – understandably - a little awkward compared to his peers but that enthusiasm seeps outwards.

Stopping for a break, and after greeting several of the local club members, he says ‘let’s do the interview’ and we head into the small cabin nearby that is mercifully warm. We can hear the logs of the fire crackling away in the background and both chew through a ‘mandarina’. We swap between Spanish, English and even Catalan (it might be one of the weirdest interviews he’s done) but it’s easy to detect an eagerness for the subject matter; it’s almost as if this is his first interview of the year, not the 300th (probably).

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What are you first memories of motocross?

Well, I’m from - and I live in - the right region for motocross. I’m very close to Bellpuig [home of the Spanish/Catalan Grand Prix between 2000-2007], Rufea and others. There is a lot of fog in the winter and there tends to be more motocross tracks around than road racing tracks. My Mum and Dad were volunteers for Moto Club Segre that organised races at those tracks – and Ponts – and they helped with running the events, flagging, on the entrance gate. My Mum also worked in the bars preparing sandwiches. So I was in that environment from a very young age and I remember writing my Christmas list for a ‘bike to make jumps’. Some of the first memories I have of any bike race was seeing [Stefan] Everts and [Mickael] Pichon at Bellpuig. I think it was 2001; Pichon was riding the Suzuki with the No.2. You know it can be funny sometimes how you remember certain riders for certain reasons and I just have those two in my mind. Until I

was eight everything was motocross. And I wanted to continue riding and racing but my Dad made a ‘promotional cup’ and a guy from Rufea said to him ‘put Marc in for it; he’s got a lot of corner speed’. So I did it…and didn’t like it at first. The bike was too big and I was too small and I’d been winning in motocross; I was Catalan champion and was looking at racing the Spanish championship. Anyway, after a year my Dad had an offer for some assistance and that was it.

Motocross was originally a big family activity then? Like it is for many kids…

Yeah, it was a way to spend the weekend together. Even if the race was on a Sunday we would go to another one on Saturday or leave Saturday afternoon with an old, white caravan my Dad used to hook to the car and the little bikes went into it as well. We went camping and there were always a lot of people doing the same: pitching at the circuit, eating your mum’s packed food, sleeping and sometimes being too hot, sometimes freezing! It was fun.

“The feeling you get through motocross you will not find anywhere else; not in dirt track or the asphalt. Every lap is different and the line choice helps you to learn to improvise, and also carry that to MotoGP...�

marc marquez & mx

Feature I have it when I do a new jump in motocross now. When I’m riding alone then I’m not sure about the big ones but if I’m with Jose or maybe someone like Josep Garcia then it’s easier to want to keep the speed and to clear it.

How did motocross ‘grab’ you?

The jumping! Wow. I remember also my first time on a 125cc. It was at Calafat and whoah! [makes wide-eyed expression]. You know when you jump for the first time? I was riding recently at Bellpuig and I never usually go there and when I did the big jump by the tunnel it was like [gestures his stomach heading into his mouth]. So nice.

What about that fear factor in motocross?

It must be different compared to MotoGP, which is something that must feel so familiar to you…

It’s strange because the faster you go in motocross the less you tend to notice the bumps and the easier it feels…but it is difficult to ‘cross that line’ and go faster.

In MotoGP you are more aware of the limit but in motocross it always feels like you could be going quicker. You are out there and feel like you are fast but then Garcia comes up and bam! Then another rider: bom! You get teased to push more in motocross. The fear? Hmmm, motocross is obviously so physical and you need to have that condition otherwise you won’t lower that lap-time and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. You are aware of the danger of trying to find a limit. For that reason during the season I don’t ride too much: you cannot say to someone like Honda ‘yeah, I will ride motocross a lot to train’. Having said that the feeling you get through motocross you will not find anywhere else, not in dirt track or the asphalt.

Every lap is different and the line choice helps you to learn to improvise, and also carry that to MotoGP.

So you still get that sensation a lot nowadays?

Yes, it still comes. It depends on the track.

Even in MotoGP it still comes. The first five laps on Friday at Mugello you arrive to the end of the straight and it takes your breath away.

Do you get more fun from motocross?

It’s fun because you arrive at the circuit first thing in the morning and ride the track, then later on in the day you go out again and it’s still the same circuit…but it’s another track. That’s why it’s fun because it’s always so different.

It sounds like a pure or innocent way to discover racing…

Yes, it was like a philosophy, or a way of life. Something like karting had a different feel about it and even junior road racing.

The big advantage with motocross was that you arrived, unloaded the bike, filled it with gas, checked the chain and off you went. If you crashed then you changed a lever from the couple of spares that you brought along and that was it. Road racing is much different technically: readings, settings, pressures, tyres. It’s so different.

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Road racing is more routine?

A lot more routine. After a three day MotoGP test you are tired of the bike. You know you have to do it because you’re improving and one click can sometimes make the difference but you’re tired of the same track. In motocross you are physically tired but you have more variety. It really helps.

What about the satisfaction of motocross for you?

The satisfaction comes through riding with people. It was one of the reasons why I asked Jose to come and work with me. He does things at the track in MotoGP but it’s that ‘sparring’ in training that I like. Usually there is always someone to ride with, like Garcia today, and sometimes my brother. You get those little chases on the track…when you get home you notice some aches and you know you have worked that day.

Was there a clear moment when you had to drop MX? 2009-2010 or maybe 2008-2009 I stopped riding. I did more supermoto and left it behind because you get to the world championship and say to the teams ‘I like motocross…’ and they say ‘No! No! Too risky!’ and as a kid you obviously listen to them.

You think ‘maybe they are right…I could get hurt’ but then you also think ‘it is a good way for me to train’.

Do you tire of the bad rep it gets in Grand Prix?

Yeah. They always say it’s dangerous and I think if you haven’t done motocross as a kid then it’s riskier…but you can easily crash in road racing and hurt yourself. If you’ve done MX before then you have that knowledge and ability on the bike. Of course you have to start off [any practice] easy and in my case I take care to go to tracks that are well prepared. I think almost all MotoGP riders are curious to watch motocross and most of them like to ride. Some are pretty good, and others aren’t and that’s where more talk of risk comes from. If I get hurt riding motocross then the people will say “he did it because of MX” but they won’t know that I’d been riding for the last five years without any sort of problem. People will only write about me and motocross when I’m hurt.

People watch you on a Sunday and think ‘how on earth does he do that…?’. Others watch and think the same about stars in MXGP or Supercross; are you one of those when it comes to the dirt bike?

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Very much so. Supercross always starts the year and I wake up every Sunday morning looking to see where and how I can watch the Main Event. It is incredible to watch the technique and ability they have with the bike and you try to follow [copy] it. In motocross I can ride OK but the finer points - the style and the technique to really use the bumps - is different for me. You only have to watch someone like Garcia today: he does things differently. I watch him and the Pros and I’m impressed.

Are those finer points down to the amount of bike time or a feeling?

I think it’s ability…and then the amount of hours on the bike. I think you need hours, hours and hours in motocross. In road racing I think if you take a good line and have good positioning then you can be fast. On the dirt it is more about time.

In motocross the riders really build up their speed it seems. We’ll [in MotoGP] be on the pace from the fourth lap of testing and riders like Roczen, Musquin and Tomac as well but I bet their laps will be a few seconds faster at the middle or end of the season compared to when they first get on the bike in preseason.

You mention Everts and Pichon…were there any other riders that you followed, looked-up-to or tried to imitate?

There were a few and as a kid it was always the number and the colour of the bike that sticks in your mind. My head turned towards road racing when I started doing it more and it was also around the time that Bellpuig stopped having the Grand Prix; when you’re not riding the sport so much then you don’t tend not to notice it.

marc marquez & mx

Can you detect the different styles and effectiveness of riders?

Yeah, I don’t think you need to be such an expert to enjoy different riders and you can see that someone like Tomac is more aggressive and robust compared to someone with the technique of Musquin. In the end the times are a split second apart even though the styles are different. It sometimes seemed as though Dungey was not pushing!

You might watch Barcia and think ‘wow! he must be two seconds faster than everyone’ but that’s not the case. That’s one of the nice things about it.

What do you prefer watching: Supercross or Motocross?

I think Supercross. The races are shorter and it’s a bit more exciting but I try to watch both.

You’re one of the biggest names in motorcycling but what’s it like to swap social media messages with riders like Chad Reed and other MX guys?

Really nice. I was with Tim Gajser two weeks ago and said I really want to ride with him. It’s funny because they might see me and think ‘MotoGP rider!’ but I meet them and think ‘Motocross rider!’ it’s like a vice-versa.

What about the feeling of being in control?

How do you feel about those near-misses in MX? Do they happen often?

In MotoGP my style is about trying to take a risk and to feel some movement. Of course not every lap and it depends how and when you push…but imagine in motocross?! You are always almost-losing the front or the rear and when I train I feel stressed on the bike because it is always moving…but that really helps me for MotoGP where I can feel smooth but still move. Motocross is more stressful!

Is it like total freedom for you? There are no pressures, no team, no fans, no media, no expectations, no bonuses…

It is freedom, and for the reasons you mention because I am here with only a few people. Also, if you crash on a corner you pick up a bike and you go again. The same thing in MotoGP can destroy the bike and you end up sitting in the pit for an hour. I feel freedom in motocross because I can have a small crash and I can feel happy about finding a limit. You go through the corner [crash] and then you know where you can push or not and you grab the bike and ride again. It’s not like that in road racing.

Is it possible to find the same kind of mindset?

A little bit different in that case. In motocross if you are more aggressive and use more [physical] power then you can be faster and in road racing it is not always like this. Sometimes you are more aggressive on the brakes or the bike and the opposite happens; you go slower. In motocross I rarely make ‘hot’ laps. I try to keep a rhythm because then you understand where you have grip and things like that.

Obviously it’s not possible; but do you sometimes have the desire to race motocross…

Yeah! When there are events here in Rufea or Bellpuig I really want to be there. I think the start of motocross races is amazing and during the moto itself you could have twothree ‘races’; you can be battling and then lose energy or the rhythm, or crash and then charge back or have a really good fight with one rider for many laps. In road racing you start, find your rhythm and see your position. Yeah, you might fight but it’s not possible to gain ten places. If you complete the second or third lap in one place then you’ll finish around there.

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marc marquez & mx

Training and working with Jose must have meant more motocross over the years. If you were with a guy that was not into the sport so much then maybe you would be doing less?

It’s been a help having Jose. We were already training together for two years before he started to work with us. He was much faster in the beginning and now every time I am getting closer and closer! And this is the target: to have someone or some reference in front that is pushing you.

Some days Jose might be busy or cannot make it and I might come here alone – but this is very rare – and I’m riding but I notice I’m two seconds slower.

You have challenges and goals in MotoGP. What about in motocross?

Training is great but to have competitive goals for motocross is almost impossible because you need that bike time; you might need to ride 3-4-5 times a week. So much.

I’d never arrive to the level I’d want. I think my style to ride a bike fits to road racing.

What I love about motocross is that a faster rider can make up so many places and the weather can totally change a circuit and that track conditions can be so different from one weekend to the other.

Not many riders would have the balls to ride with you on the asphalt but in motocross you must be like a target for others!

Haha…yeah, I don’t ride with the public that much. Maybe one or two days a year. Last Saturday I came alone and there were 90 riders on the track! That’s why it’s quite bumpy out there now!

It’s nice to ride when the track is like that [busy] but of course I’m really careful.

The Allianz MotoCamp has been running for three years now and you are coaching motocross, not road racing. Why is that and what do you see in the young kids on the dirt that motivates you to get involved?

First of all what I see is that it is easier for a motocross rider to be faster on a road bike than the other way around. It is interesting. We do the camp because riding here is part of my training – the most important part – and where I really enjoy myself. I enjoy the camps. It is not a job and it is easy to create the campus.

Some people watch the lines and it seems that road racing lines are better than motocross…but then in the race it’s different. I noticed that with Josep and Jose; they see that some road racing lines I use are quite fast. The race is another thing though and the ruts play a big part. In the end I think motocross is easier to take to road racing than the other way.

Lastly, Do you think you would have arrived to a high level if you’d carried on in MX? [Smiles] To the level I’ve reached in road racing then I think ‘no’. I think for Spanish motocrossers the story is a bit different [to Spanish road racers]. Look at Jorge Prado.

He had to move when he was so young. You will see some fast kids here but for them to then reach the next levels is difficult. We’ll see if the European Championship can have some effect. I think I would have only arrived to a certain point in motocross; we used second hand bikes and didn’t have the support. Now I think it is a bit different; I think there is more help but you still need two bikes, you need technical help, you have to travel, train. Something like 15,000 euros to do a season is the minimum but that’s still so much for a family. I was lucky that I was signed up to race and off I went.

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When not overseeing parts of Marc’s preparation for his day-job Jose Luis Martinez runs a motocross school for kids and is located close to Lleida.

How is it going with the schools now you are fully committed to MotoGP? Before working with Marc we’d have schools in the summer and around Christmas time and then other group sessions and special weekends but of course the schedule is tight now and we only run the camp. The advantage of being with Marc is that the school and my name has grown in profile and it’s a shame to have to turn people away; lately I’ve filled the summer course with people I could not fit into the Christmas days.

I like to keep running the school though and try to tie it in with the kids’ holidays like Easter, Christmas and a few in summer. It is always for kids under the age of eighteen; age groups from 7-9, 9-13 and 14-17.

Have you developed as a coach and trainer since working with Marc?

I’ve learned a lot from Marc and through our riding to find improvements. We might work on a single corner and come away with some ways we’ve become better or faster. He’s so good in turns that are flat and without many berms or ruts; he has that feeling with the throttle and that flat track style that he brings to motocross.

marc marquez & mx

I can remember being eight years old and maybe catching a video here-or-there of Carmichael or McGrath but now, simply with a mobile phone, kids can see and watch so much. A kid riding a 65 – and who has been looking at a phone – can scrub some jumps better than I can! They have it easier to copy and learn more. Not all kids that come to the camp have been riding since they were small and I love that someone might come along and not really know how to change gear or to slip the clutch and get to a point where they have some serious speed. It’s not all down to me of course but it’s nice to play a small part.

In the last few years I’ve been watching other schools and organisations to gain some techniques for teaching and exercises and games for the kids. Also circuit maintenance. With my track I’m very lucky that the ground is easy to maintain and is sort-of sandy. One day I can rotivate it a lot and another leave it hard-packed or bumpy. It’s possible to have a lot of variety, which is positive because if a rider is on the same track all day then he slows his progress.

How do you see or evaluate the level of the kids these days? Has it changed over the years?

From what I see the level has increased and I think that is due to ‘access’ as well.

What’s the future with it?

It’s hard to say for sure after spending so much time away from home but I’m happy with the summer and winter camps at the moment.

I’d want to continue in the future but maybe evolve it a little bit, for example, together with Marc we’re helping a kid on 85s and my dream would be to have a team of youngsters in 85 and 125 and also a section on a professional level with designs on putting a rider in the top ten of MX2 or MXGP. That’s the dream: to have a facility where they can train and stay. It is a project that needs time and presence, which I don’t have in my ‘episode’ with Marc at the moment. Maybe it is something we could do together.

Would he be interested? He doesn’t lack contacts in racing!

He loves being with the kids and explaining what and how he does things. He comes along to the schools when he can, maybe one of the four days of the camp and the kids love it when he or Alex arrives. It’s like a prize for the kids because he rides with them and schools them.

So we’ve talked…but he is only 24 and he needs to think and concentrate on his career but I think it might be something he has an eye on.

CHASE SEXTON

THE ORIGINAL 1â…›" HANDLEBAR BLACK

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heading to anaheim 2 to explore a potential new era for supercross

Three times at the 2

By Adam Wheeler

Photos by James Lissimore

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A

round Anaheim ‘2’ and the third round of seventeen of 2018 AMA Supercross there was a feeling of ‘all change’. The second Angel Stadium fixture of the year was the scene for the first ‘Triple Crown’ experiment in Supercross but there was also an openness to the 450SX category for the first time this decade, certainly since a young Ryan Dungey started his trawl of consistency and excellence on the bigger bike in 2010. At the time of writing Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac has capped the first ‘double’ of the season by winning in Glendale to match his success from ‘A2’. Yamaha’s Justin Barcia and HRC’s Ken Roczen claimed trophies once more at the University of Phoenix and their regularity (without walking the top step) thus far could be a factor in the ’18 championship pursuit.

Whether Tomac can instigate a new era of superiority will be one of the principal questions as Supercross barrels to the halfway marker at Atlanta. Red Bull KTM Marvin Musquin’s fitness will be a key issue as well as Rockstar Husqvarna’s Jason Anderson’s potential: at Anaheim 2 the 24 year old’s corner speed and manoeuvrability on the Husky was one of the most eye-catching elements across the three Main Events.

Away from the entry list, how did the Triple Crown fare? We previously offered some opinion in our website Blog, and with some distance our observations remain the same: there needs to be more provision for the spectators/viewers to chart which riders are in the running for victory and podium spots.

“Mike Muye: Supercross can be consumed in bitesized chunks and in this day-and-age we understand that this is important.”

Tomac should be one of the favourites.

Despite his slip and shoulder tweak at A1 the 25 year old claimed nine wins in 2017, but at the same time showed the paradox of an intense series that is run-and-done in just nineteen weeks.

His streak of victories last year proved that a deficit in the standings can be smashed…although his eventual defeat by just four points to Dungey illustrated that each and every position really does matter.

It was fantastic that the night programme (which involved a humorous multi-rider scripted video) led straight into bona fide gatedrops (no faffing with qualifying, heats or semis) but would perhaps work better with a two-race format. Fans could at least relate to the sight of two winners – WorldSBK style – if preoccupation with the overall points and positions was too much hassle.

supercross under change

The riders described a sense of ‘chaos’ and the opening sprint of just eight minutes meant a premium placed on starts with little time afforded to the fitter or more technical athletes to regain ground. The A2 track was fairly simplistic in terms of demand and this gave each ‘Main’ a processional feeling.

The Triple Crown will occur again at Atlanta and Minneapolis (rounds nine and fourteen, meaning East region 250SX get a double dose) and it’s to Feld’s credit that they are prepared to lift up and examine a lucrative product and also persuade key partners like the Fox Sports TV network to embrace change. If the three Main Event show remains or become more prevalent then it adds more validity to the Monster Energy Cup in October; a one-off invitational occasionally viewed as an obligatory burden for some teams after a long term of SX & MX but also as a viable testing opportunity and where the three-Main system has been in place since 2011.

“We got our feet with the Monster Cup,” says Mike Muye, Senior Director of Operations at Feld Motorsport. “The difference here at A2 is introducing the 250 class, so timing was the thing we played with the most for the format. I think we have a pretty good balance between the classes. The duration of the races helps out quite a bit. It meant working with the OEMs to make sure they were onboard and supportive. I think everybody agreed that we needed some change. It wasn’t just ‘something out of the box’; we talked with manufacturers and the race teams and came up with something that made sense for everybody.”

Feature “We worked with Fox Sports 1 on implementation of this and we did have to change the show run-downs quite a bit to fit the pieces of the puzzle but at the end of the day it is still a three hour show and it is almost the same amount of racing; I think there is only a two minute difference,” he adds.

The attitude towards the Triple Crown was one of receptiveness, mixed with slight trepidation on the part of the riders themselves. “It’s a little stressful because it is something new…but it is kinda cool to see the sport evolving in a way and seeing if this new thing works,” HRC and Troy Lee Designs rider Cole Seely said to us. “If it does then it’ll stick around, if it doesn’t then it can be scrapped for next year. I think it re-ups the interest for the fans. We had the 20 minutes +1 change and that stuck around and now this, so we’ll see how it goes. It is just weird shifting everything an hour earlier for us!”

Elsewhere there was healthy curiosity in the paddock. For a definition of what supercross ‘is’, ‘was’ and ‘might be’ then there was only one figure to seek out.

“I’ve been in this my whole life and when the gate is about to drop I’m still like a little kid; I’m still passionate about it,” enthused Jeremy McGrath. “I don’t feel that you need to be a motorcycle fan to enjoy this show. Competition is alive and well and on a selfish side I guess I’d like to see a bit more personality from these guys but sometimes competition breeds seriousness; know what I mean? This is a real sport, real job and these guys are athletes.”

“We live in a world where everything has to change, and change fast-andnow,” the Kawasaki ambassador added.

“Everyone is bored after a minute. When we were young it was different and it seems that people’s attention span now is so short. It is always ‘what’s the next thing?’ and unfortunately sports get hit with that too. You know, I’m excited for the format change – I think it’s awesome. Do I think it needs a change?

I’m not sure. I think Supercross on the whole is a tried-and-true formula that works…although it doesn’t hurt to mix it up a little bit.”

“They have been saying that motocross is a dying format for years but it keeps going,” he goes on. “I think motocross is something that people can relate to.

That’s why Supercross is such a big show right?

supercross under change

People come here to see and watch something they cannot do. This is a spectacle. Not everyone can ride a track like this or do these kinds of things.”

“Supercross is obviously the future of the sport, even though it has been around for years and years,” offers Seely. “It is more viewer-friendly. People can go out and do what they want to during the day – even ride – and then get ready for the night show. On the other side that’s what’s great about motocross: it is that true hardcore, grassroots of the sport and racing. It is good to have both even though it is tough as a racer. I think there is a good balance and it is interesting to be part of the sport now while it is going through these growing pains.”

Feld were keen to stress the collaborative nature of the Triple Crown. “Historically there hasn’t been much change and we have run the basics of this format since the mid 1970s but I think this is a new era,” says Muye. “We sat down and asked the OEMs what they were interested in as well as the riders and they can see the big picture; moving supercross to the next level involves change. I don’t see us changing every year but there will be more to come.”

“I think people can be wary of anything that’s new but we have had good feedback and that it’s something fresh,” he adds. “We just need to make sure that everything runs smoothly.”

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supercross under change

There can be a fine line between change and gimmickry. The Monster Energy Cup is a unique occasion to be lax with regulations and to turn up the novelty factor (Joker Lanes, inclined and split stars and the MEC was also the first with the metal gate grid) but an entire series necessitates much more strategic thinking. As with Formula One, and maybe even the technical constraints of MotoGP over the past ten years, then tinkering of the rulebook can only lead to confusion or dilution. “We do need to protect the sport of supercross,” enforces Muye. “We do feel that we lead the way, and we work with a lot of other promoters of other series’ in the same aspect but it is important to us to protect the integrity of racing. It is an awesome show…but it is also still racing.”

Anaheim 2 revealed that some adjustment needed to be made in terms of ‘infotainment’ to match the zeal of the show; it will be interesting to see if the Atlanta race shape-shifts in this aspect.

The three dates in 2018 are rounded up as a Triple Crown but can that concept continue to exist in a seventeen round calendar? “I don’t think we are ready to lock ourselves into anything,” Muye admits. “There is the possibility there could be four, five, six next year but then also that it could remain three. I think we will come out of 2018 and look at what worked and what didn’t and then go from there. There are various groups of people involved and the fans of course, that’s why we are doing this.”

Feature “I think the field would struggle to make it through the whole season,” said Tomac when prompted if the three Main Event structure could expand and even encompass the full gamut. “When you add two extra starts and that much pressure to everyone on the line [then] there is quite a lot of risk involved. A whole season wouldn’t be a good thing.”

“It is too hectic for eighteen rounds of that!” backed-up Anderson. “One start a night with all the top guys is one thing but tonight doing three is pretty crazy; if you are not in the top two then you don’t know if you are going to hit the triple or double it.”

“It’s pretty scary even if it is more action for the fans…but it is more unforgiving,” concluded Seely.

“It is tough because consistency is key and it is just quick sprints,” said 250SX points leader Shane McElrath, who negotiated 6, 10 and 12 minute Mains. “I thought it was a good trial run for being in the middle of these first six rounds.”

An indication of where Supercross could go next probably exists on somebody’s laptop and could even be aired at a meeting with the teams and manufacturers at some point in the coming months.

supercross under change

Whether it’s more flexibility with the races themselves, the points or an element of the show there is also another area where the sport and series could make a significant jump: outside the borders of North America. Taking AMA Supercross ‘international’ has been on or near the agenda for a number of years and the provision of a TV package online and a stronger social media offering from Feld and their staff has added more impetus. It would be a direction that requires hefty cost, co-production credits with an organisation overseas and a seemingly impossible scheduling in a calendar that barely has any elbowroom. However the notion survives and fluctuates in plausibility. “Supercross’ origins are here in America but our social numbers as well as television broadcast numbers prove to us that there is international interest,” affirms Muye. “Globally it’s very strong and it needs to grow. I cannot say we’ll be heading overseas right-away but there is a lot of growth potential elsewhere.”

For now Tomac, Anderson, Roczen and collective are one of the reasons why Supercross remains so engrossing and so magnetic in the same way that sheer speed and physics resonates so highly in MotoGP and WorldSBK.

Whether it is one Main Event or three, ‘SX’ is arguably floating in an unpredictable and enjoyable phase and seeing where it can go next is almost like trying to call a 450SX overall winner each weekend.

AMA BLOG

the early grader Four rounds down in the 2018 Monster Energy Supercross series and plenty to talk about so far. The two title favorites, Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac and Red Bull KTM’s Marvin Musquin both suffered injuries that caused them to miss a race and now both are trying to fight through that and still win this championship. If either one does it (and Tomac has already won two races in a row) it’ll be the greatest comeback in the sports history in terms of points deficit. And it’s not even close. Let’s take a microlook at the series through the first four in terms of ups and downs; so far, there’s been plenty of that for plenty of racers.

UP- Yamaha’s Justin Barcia, that’s what! The rider that was let go from JGR after a few years and nobody wanted is back and in a big way. Picked up by the factory Blu Cru squad only after Davi Millsaps got hurt, Barcia’s original deal was for just six races. Well, scratch that all up because Barcia sits second in the points, just seven down with three podiums in four races.

And all this on a bike he didn’t agree with at JGR, although to be fair there have been significant changes to the frame on the machine for 2018. Simply amazing and no one would’ve predicted this. Heck, he’s even talking to me now after two years of silence for something I said (I have no

idea what). He’s a new man! “I’ve said it a million times, but I’m just grateful for the opportunity.

I’m proving myself. I worked hard.

I put the right things in place.

Obviously Davi got hurt and they had an opening, but they had choices and they took a risk with me,” Barcia told me after Glendale, a race where he erased about a seven second deficit to Tomac to close right up at the end “Luckily, it’s working out for both of us. Yamaha did a great job with their new motorcycle. It works really good. It’s way-more comfortable than the old one for me, so that’s a big plus.”

If Barcia wins this year it’ll be a five-year gap from his last one to now. What a story he’s authoring.

UP- Justin Brayton of the MCR Honda squad won a heat race this past weekend with a stacked field of riders named Barcia, Tomac and Ken Roczen all trying to chase him down. Yeah, it’s just a heat and yeah he got seventh in the main event but Brayton was on the podium in two of the three mains last week at the A2 Triple Crown and his bike is wayless trick than those around him.

Brayton’s riding very well for the former rebel MCR team.

UP- Jason Anderson of the Rockstar Husqvarna team is leading

By Steve Matthes

the points through the first four rounds and it’s a new, calmed down #21 out there. He’s made mention a few times that he’s trying to emulate his old training buddy Ryan Dungey in that you take the results as they come.

Anderson’s been less erratic and he’s not forcing anything. Known for some aggressive moves in the past, he’s letting the race come to him more than anything. As his trainer Aldon Baker told me ‘you cannot win championships by making enemies’ which Anderson has done in the past. He’s a new man and it’s showing.

DOWN- Cooper Webb, Barcia’s teammate, came into the year with an ankle injury and just hasn’t been able to get it on track through the first four. Last season we saw him really ride well at the softer tracks but in Houston, with the right dirt, he fell in the first turn and couldn’t get it going in qualifying either. So, we wait for the 2016 250MX and SX champion to get it together. It’s got to be tough to see a guy who got on the bike late to be killing it like he has (Barcia) as well as try to nurse a bit of an injury. It’s rare to see a

double 250 champion like Webb struggle once they move to the big bike, so I’m in no way am I counting him out.

DOWN- Broc Tickle of the Red Bull KTM team was thought to take a big step up this year by sliding into the Aldon Baker program.

Tickle was a lot like Zach Osborne in many ways and look at what Zacho did last year (albeit in a weaker class). Well through four rounds, Tickle’s looked a like the old Tickle in terms of where he starts, how he rides and what goes on with him. It’s not a disaster at all but there hasn’t been “the leap” that we thought there would be either.

UP AND DOWN- The tracks. A double mark for this because it’s our column dammit. But the two Anaheim tracks were easy, simple designs that offered little-to-no passing. Ken Roczen called Anaheim 2 track “horrible” and he was right. On the other hand, Houston and Glendale were great. I don’t know; I’m as confused as anyone as to what we’re going to see when we arrive at the stadium.

UP- The 250SX class has been very exciting with four different riders holding the red plate. Star Yamaha’s Aaron Plessinger’s won two races while Monster Pro Circuit’s Joey Savatgy and TLD KTM’s Shane McElrath have one each.

And then there’s Adam Cianciarulo who is the fastest rider on the track from lap to lap but can’t keep it together or get a good enough start to take a win. Very good racing and a long way from being over, that’s for sure.

UP- The historic Triple Crown and it was a bit weird. Six main events (three in each class) and that was all she wrote. I think it was universally met with a thumbs-up. It wasn’t perfect by any means, the program dragged a bit and the first set of mains were, in my opinion, too short to decide such an important race. But it had a lot of variations in terms of winners (five different ones in six mains), it had drama and it kept the racing close.

I’m sure the powers that be will tighten things up a bit, maybe add a B main in there? - and work on the format but in my opinion, get used to this because there’s more of them coming, not less.

Products

ProTaper Arguably the best handlebar manufacturer on the market, ProTaper have a heavy alliance with the Husqvarna brand and have enjoyed significant success in Supercross circles with Jason Anderson’s 450SX efforts and of course Zach Osborne’s dual title run in 2017. One of their standout models is the Fuzion featuring a flex locking system that ProTaper claims ‘allows riders to choose between a stiffer, more controlled handlebar

Husqvarna/Bavo

www.protaper.com feel and a softer, more shock-absorbing feel, depending on terrain conditions’. The bars are - obviously – light, strong and proven at the highest level of dirt bike racing. The Fuzion setting can be changed in a matter of seconds and is crafted from computerprofiled aluminium alloy. There are at least six different bends and expect to pay around 120 dollars to supplement the feel and performance of your ride.

Husqvarna

Husqvarna/Bavo

Feature

Aldon Baker and his influence

cracking the whip

By Adam Wheeler, Portrait by Ray Archer.

Photos by A.Baker/Simon Cudby/KTM

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“I

would say now that the package is complete. This doesn’t mean we can buy our own championships but it does mean we cannot create a better base for a rider. If you come to us you get a good bike, team and the best trainer. We can offer a package that is really important.”

KTM Sport Director Pit Beirer knows a thing or two about racing. The turnaround of Red Bull KTM from a joke to the Jokers of AMA supercross/motocross is one of the most sensational stories inside the sport this century. A revised motorcycle, the acquirement of Roger De Coster (subsequently Ryan Dungey) and an overhaul in the ethos and structure of KTM’s competitive presence in North America led to unparalleled results both on track and in the sales margins and in terms of reputation. In 2016 Beirer was

“When I went there in 2010 we had to turn around the technical side with a bike that was clearly not the best choice for the riders in the U.S. We worked hard: we built a new workshop, we got Roger, we created a completely new bike and we got better riders. [But] we were missing that trainer and if we missed a championship then it was probably because Aldon was working with somebody else! We also won championships with him on our side. It was a target that at one time seemed unreachable when we first had it on the agenda but at the beginning of this year [2017] we got more and more riders to him and in the end we could finally close a deal in January that there would be nobody else in his camp apart from KTM and Husqvarna riders.”

Musquin: “To be honest I was really curious about how it would be and I knew I’d need to move to Florida. I knew it would be a big change. Today I have no regrets. It helped me right away in the first year...” instrumental in adding one of the last – but essential – components to the operation: the exclusive services of the most revered trainer in the business for KTM Group athletes (so those in Orange and Husqvarna white), Aldon Baker.

“It took seven years for me to get all these people together to run such an operation and I think it is something that can make us strong in the future,” Beirer adds from the confines of his airy office in Munderfing, in the upper floor corner space of the modern new race HQ.

Beirer is unequivocal concerning the value of Baker and his Florida facility in Sumter County. Every 450SX Supercross champion since 2010 has come through the 48 year old’s hands and his previous client list and the wealth of accolades is staggering: Carmichael, the late Nicky Hayden, Stewart, Villopoto, Townley, Rattray, Dungey. And of course there is the present crop of Jason Anderson, Broc Tickle, Zach Osborne (from fast ‘nearly’ man to double SX and MX Champion in one year) and Marvin Musquin.

aldon baker

The Baker’s Factory is part of a big effort not only to centralise the physical and preparatory work for the riders but also to expand; with former World Champion Tyla Rattray morphing from racer into protégé/trainer for the 250 wing that centres around the Red Bull TLD KTM team and includes 450 Husky ace Dean Wilson.

KTM have not only secured the farmer… but also the whole farm. The former Mountain Bike athlete has a record for delivery, and widely regarded form for utter dedication to his craft and clients.

Before aligning himself to the Austrian group Baker was careful with his collaborations and was one of the first to identify the worth of placing rivals and peers together in a training programme and location. Since the Carmichael era Baker has commanded respect and often provoked a degree of fear; Osborne has publicly spoken of the ‘Baker effect’ simply through power of association and his legendary ‘boot camps’ have gained a reputation of being not for the faint-hearted.

Aldon has been singled-out (perhaps unfairly) as a specialist that contributed to the retirements of Carmichael, Villopoto and Dungey by their mid-to-late 20s…but this fact ignores the ridiculous amount of success and riches that the trio alone amassed: some 13 (premier class) titles in SX and 12 in motocross. Still, the Bakers Factory is surrounded by an aura of fear, authority and utter superiority for the work and magic that goes on behind the ranch gates.

“For sure I was scared!” half laughs Musquin when we ask him about his initiation in 2015. “I did not know what to expect.”

Feature “In the beginning it was Roger De Coster’s idea. He said “I’d like to you meet Aldon and consider working with him and making a step mentally and physically in your programme”.

To be honest I was really curious about how it would be and I knew I’d need to move to Florida. I knew it would be a big change. Today I have no regrets. It helped me right away in the first year. I had more confidence and I won a supercross championship straightaway. It was fun to move to a new state and see new things and new tracks and riding with other riders: training altogether was a big benefit.”

“I’ve learned a lot [in my career] and even after many years I was still searching and learning,” the Frenchman adds.

“I was looking for a trainer or doing the work by myself. Even after so many years I couldn’t find the right training. Aldon has a solid programme and I just follow it and believe in him.”

Musquin arrived when the Bakers Factory was well established for pushing top flite racers into each other’s pockets. “It was like ‘racing’ at the practice track, and that’s what we do with Anderson, Osborne and Tickle now,” he says. “Often it was like that off the bike as well. When I come to California and I’m by myself for a couple of weeks then it is different.

It is good to change things up now-andthen but to get together and do the bike rides is a good structure. You cannot miss a practice, you have to do it.”

aldon baker

Aldon promotes the advantages of pushing for racing glory as a unit and funnily, from being a trainer that used to focus on one maybe two promising clients, he is now surrounded by a team himself with the KTM Group lending their might and muscle to the Bakers Factory.

Diminutive but gregarious, Aldon is good company and a revealing and humble talker. The man is aware of his status in the industry but clearly places importance on values of honesty and clarity. He conveys intensity, particularly in the Supercross paddock where we sit down and where more than one race fan does a double-take walking past.

So you are now exclusive to KTM and Husqvarna…

Yes and it has probably been the biggest turning point for me in regards to what I do in the industry.

It [the deal] came into the forefront when I was developing the facility because it is a massive undertaking and to have them backing that and wanting to be part of that is huge. It’s great. It means I will only train Husky and KTM guys and they cover an insurance programme if I have any issues with riders; that’s my biggest concern because you never know with riders. Look at Dunge.

He was supposed to do the Outdoors last year but he felt it was time to step out. So having the group behind me and supporting me is huge.

Did you have any reservations about restricting yourself?

My goal is to get out of being a ‘one-man-show’ and to develop a business. And part of that is having the ‘full-circle’ and being able to bring in new guys and develop them. Having a team will create longevity. When the offer came I was really interested. I mean, we could have filled athlete spots from other brands but it was easier to co-ordinate with one brand – or two - but under one roof. Logistics is just easier.

Does it mean you are also obliged to work with a rider?

I have to pick out of the riders they have signed…but I still have quite a big say. At first I thought ‘what if they give me someone and it doesn’t work out?’ Especially with my programme, which is not for everyone. But we still have options and if I feel there is someone that really won’t fall into the programme then they [KTM] are good enough to say ‘we respect that, how can we make something else work?’ It was the same when Trey [Canard] was on the team. I never trained him and it wasn’t part of my deal and it was something they knew about and accommodated. They could have said ‘you’ve got him, sort it out’. I think the relationship is good and they understand my perspective as much as I understand theirs and what they want to achieve by filling this team with good riders.

Feature The Bakers Factory has obviously become an epicentre for your work…

You have to take things in steps and the first for me was to get a facility so I could be a lot more stable and not have to rely on the athlete to always provide a place.

It used to be part of the deal if I think back to the days of Ricky and even Villo and the year and half I was with James; they all had their own facilities but it meant I had to move to where they were and it restricts who I can bring in. So getting the location was the first big step and then developing it is something that is never-ending. I remember thinking ‘I just need one supercross track and an outdoors track…’ and now we are up to three supercross and two outdoor tracks!

It depends how big the land is but right now it is up to the limit of what I envisaged. It could never happen in California due to the land but if you look at it then most of our races are towards the east coast, so it makes sense. We have the workshops and the tracks but at some point I’d like to have the machine shop and suspension bay and the full deal. I think as the relationship grows and they [KTM] see how important it is in developing the riders…I believe the company is one that is ‘all-in’ when it comes to that side.

What about international spread? A ‘Factory’ complex or idea in Europe?

There are some thoughts towards that… but there are some steps to do first. I am getting to the stage now where I need to start training other trainers and that does include Europe and of course KTM and Husqvarna are open to that. There is a big umbrella. We’ve had a couple of test runs; Jeffrey Herlings came out for a while and there were questions about

how it went and his feedback was asked for. He seemed to enjoy it and saw the benefits, especially for the winter months where it seems that nobody can do much. That’s probably the best time of year in Florida! We need to work on some logistics but I do see it happening in the future.

Talk more about Herlings. At the time it was seen as a union of two big names from either wide of the Atlantic…

Initially I didn’t know much about Jeffrey except what I had seen on TV and we know he is a talent and has great ability. Initially I was just going to be providing a facility for him to utilise. It was kinda cool because he arrived and said “what do you want me to do?” and I said “dude; I don’t know what you’ve been doing!” and I wasn’t just going to throw a load of stuff at him.

aldon baker

So he told me his normal routine and I had my opinions and it was cool to see that he listened and appeared to just do what I said. Even then I thought it could go either way because I didn’t have a lot of background on his prep…but, man, he is committed and does a lot more than anyone else wants to do. He has the right attitude and it worked out well. It was a little collaboration and for just a weekand-a-half you just want to be covering your bases and sharpening areas like getting used to humidity and conditions in Florida. I think it went well and he showed that.

Have you had to set yourself professional and personal goals over time?

This whole sport has evolved. Jeez, when I first started there were no trainers and I gained some ground and saw what worked.

Back in the day I would never have put two good riders together. That was not the mentality. I think to get the level up you would have had to do that…but who would have been willing then? It was a challenge, and now it is kinda the norm where good riders are working together.

So now I’m thinking ‘how do we broaden that?’ and it starts with other trainers. I can only do so much by myself and the next step is to pass it forward and develop other people to do the job.

The group approach has had an impact.

You see it with people like Rasmus Jorgensen and Swanie [Gareth Swanepoel] and the model has been taken on…

Yeah, and I think it’s cool, and it comes down to what the team put into it and invest into it. The riders cannot be left out there to figure things for themselves to reach a certain level.

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I think it’s a good thing. They [the teams] need to be held accountable and there needs to be some kind of structure and level applied to it. I don’t know what each trainer does and it is no concern of mine but just having a trainer is something at least. I think it is good for the sport to create that level. The improvements in bikes and machinery [are so great] that we now need to improve the athlete to keep up and that’s one of the ways to do it.

Do you sometimes miss the simplicity and intimacy of working with one guy?

Ideally being one-on-one is the best, for sure. It is hard to do that these days as it effectively means putting all your eggs in one basket and when that guy retires then what? You can also lose your credibility. When I parted ways with James Stewart I almost had to go right back into the industry and look around to see what was going on and what I could do. It was difficult. From another side you will not form a business full-circle with just one guy.

aldon baker

Is it hard to manage and create the right chemistry with riders? The mix of personalities must mean that you have to alter the method…

They were, and are, all so different. I think you eventually get a feeling for the right feedback at the right time and you have to be upfront with all the athletes. When I come to a race then my job should be done, we’ve done the work in the week. If someone is struggling then I’ll tend to be with that athlete even more and the other guys kinda have to respect that because on another day it might be them that needs that extra few things figuring-out or trying to make the right decision and not being lost. I think you need to have that respect factor and that they trust you.

There is always that worry of ‘are you helping him more than me’ and the answer is ‘no, I’m trying to help you all attain the best’. It is a balance and sometimes it is not an easy job. Trust varies. It can even vary race-by-race and whether it goes well or not. I also thought about the trust issue and how I can reassure riders that I was looking out for their best interests but it is eighteen years now I have been doing this and the results have been good. In this sport it is all about results, if I didn’t have those with riders then I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t haven’t have lasted. Sport is sport and it is still a very results-based deal.

You are working with guys that are on a knife-edge mentally and physically and in terms of the risks of the sport. The slightest injury can affect a whole season because of the calendar. It doesn’t sound easy!

It never gets any easier. I don’t go to the race and think “I’m going to have a fun time here’. It is even worse now because I have four guys and the chances of all

four having a perfect race weekend is not easy…but it is what you try to duplicate.

And I’ve had it a few times so you know it is possible but it is so hard to get to.

What about evolution in your work?

Where can you go next?

If it was just about the training, so the cardio and the exercises then, heck, I have good enough ratios and information about the physiology of what the body is doing… but it is the mental side, the character of the athlete and the evolution of the sport.

What I did with Ricky back in the day would not work now. I’ve had to change things and try to learn. I have a lot more data to use and just watching motorcycling then you learn so much and a lot of it is still on the track to make them sharp and fast and get them up to that level [they want]. The training is part of that but it is a combination of everything and if you don’t have the circumstances – which means the facility and a good team to provide the machinery and technical backing to be able to push all the time – then it is not easy.

Is there one area that you think will gain more and more credence?

I think it is psychology. Nutrition has evolved and we know a lot more than we used to. The cool thing is that we now have a lot more tools to use, like these GPS systems to find better lines and see where speed can be won. Before it was just a stopwatch and looking at the track but technology has moved and it has been a big step forward, especially if you are watching four guys. It helps a lot.

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“If it was just about the training, so the cardio and the exercises then, heck, I have good enough ratios and information about the physiology of what the body is doing…but it is the mental side, the character of the athlete and the evolution of the sport. What I did with Ricky back in the day would not work now.”

As a coach and trainer you must have made some large strides when it comes to motorcycle and racing knowledge. I can imagine Ricky Carmichael maybe questioning whether you knew what was actually going on when it comes to a hot lap in supercross…

Oh yeah, back in the day he would have looked at me as if to say ‘well, you’ve never jumped this jump before: how would you know?’ I didn’t have respect in that area. I only had it for strength and conditioning but slowly, yearafter-year [you pick it up].

You still need to know where the line is between you and the athlete, and it can be a very fine line. You might see a rider do a jump a hundred times at the test track but at the race he’s not doing it right and you still have to be wary of over-stepping the line with advice.

Even to this day I have to careful about how I put that across because I was never a motocrosser. I did some road racing but that is meaningless to these guys. That’s where technology helps me to say ‘listen buddy, this is where you could be better’.

To a certain level they also have to figure out things for themselves because they don’t have radios in their ears where you can keep informing them. You have to let them grow and figure out what to do on the track and when to change a line. If you give them the right amount of information then it enhances them to step-up and learn how to make those changes, instead of being told by different people what to do. It can almost be too much.

Where’s the juice of the job for you?

I think everyone at this level has talent and ability but helping them to really reach their goals is the fulfilment for me. If a guy retires under his terms and has done enough and won enough and reached his goals then that’s an achievement.

Speaking of which: did Ryan Dungey retire too early?

I felt he could have done more years for sure. But I also know that when an athlete is going to question things then that’s not good.

You cannot do that. I feel that he did it at the right time because he was getting to that point and second-guessing his reason for being there.

I’ve seen it with other guys; it is not their age or physical ability that will stop them.

It is the way they were looking at things. If he had not been as successful as he was then he wouldn’t have quit.

It is that fine line for a rider to be healthy and feel like he has accomplished his goals and also financially be ready to step away. That bank balance now has to last. Ryan also wanted to have a family and he knew that would be hard to do in his situation. So there were a lot of aspects that were challenging and I think all of those put together meant that he made a good call.

aldon baker

Most athletes of are of a certain ilk but do you still get surprised with what they say and how they act?

Yeah, they are still young and I have to remind myself of that.

I can only remember vague things about what I was thinking when I was twenty-six.

They’ve had to grow up quickly which is not always right. I think the sacrifice part and the situations with families and everybody else that has been involved with them is not always pretty. Man, they deserve a lot for what they missed out on and lacked. In social areas too. You cannot gain that back.

You get surprised with some decisions and a guy might say “I never want to touch a motorcycle again” and he’s gone for a while but a year and a half later he’d back riding.

They are not ready for much of it [a professional athlete lifestyle] but they have to be and it is not easy. I won’t be promoting my kid to get into this sport!

Lastly, by training more trainers and spreading the word were you ever worried about the Baker ‘secret’ getting out?

In the beginning I was thinking ‘this is my system and I’m not letting it get out: this is my deal and I’ll hold onto it’ but the more you mature then your thought pattern changes.

If you are going to have a true footprint in this industry then you have to be willing to give a lot out and make a difference and I think that is more important. It is only getting tougher out there because I have younger athletes starting with me and I am going the ‘other way’! In the beginning when I started with Ricky there was only ten years between us, now it is twenty-plus and I feel like ‘how long can I carry on like that?’ so you have to find a way to evolve. I have to find other people that are similar and want to do it my way but with their own spin on it. The biggest thing is that the sport has been good to me, so I want to be good to the sport.

I’m passionate about it and love what I do – every job has its issues – but I still love it and want to do it right with the opportunity I’ve been given.

last few crumbs performance percentage is worth the outlay.

At the time of writing Marvin Musquin and Jason Anderson have won two AMA Supercross rounds and Anderson holds the 450SX red plate. A determined and erudite racer himself with a large profile and Grand Prix wins to his name, there are moments when Beirer seems almost envious of his – and KTM Off-Road Manager Robert Jonas’ – current rider roster. How would the younger ‘PitBull’ have handled provision of the Bakers Factory?

Back in Austria, Beirer gets worked-up when discussing Baker. It is clearly something of a coup for the KTM Group and while it’s no small investment, the German shares the South African’s belief that that

It’s a sentiment that almost any Pro racer shares. In a significant way KTM have added another winning card to their hand.

“There are many things that I see now in our racing operation that I wished I had when I was a rider!” he smiles. “To have a guy like Aldon is pretty inspiring; even now it easily makes me stop being lazy and get out of the office more to train! The way to win races is to work hard but not go too crazy. You need discipline and a schedule but also enjoy the days off. Winning motocross races is tough work and you cannot do it just by talent or the best bike, you also need the best physical shape. With Aldon maybe I could have been a better rider!”

DOMINATE THE BATTLE

FORSUPREMACY THE WEAPON OF CHOICE

At the pinnacle of motocross, the sharpest weapon always prevails.

For 2018, KTM has refined the KTM 450 SX-F, delivering unrivaled power, razor-sharp handling, and aggressive styling, making this motorcycle the ultimate weapon to race into your next on-track battle.

Photo: R. Schedl

Please make no attempt to imitate the illustrated riding scenes, always wear protective clothing, and observe the applicable provisions of the road traffic regulations!

The illustrated vehicles may vary in selected details from the production models and some illustrations feature optional equipment available at additional cost.

Products

100% For the second year in a row 100% are the official partner for the Geico Honda crew in terms of apparel and accessories. The San Diego firm has supplied goggles to the renowned team since 2014 but the partnership evolved for 2017 and the range of products has duly expanded for the ’18 campaign. Available at participating dealers and stockists as well as online (click on an image for the link) 100% have fashioned shirts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, headwear and other collectables for fans of the Geico set-up.

www.ride100percent.com

Feature

roczen 2.0 kr94 is looking back into the light after a grim eleven months. andrea wilson spoke to the hrc star at a2 and the place where a tremendous career went on temporary hold

By Andrea Wilson, Photos by James Lissimore & Red Bull Content Pool

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K

en Roczen’s return to Supercross could end up being one of the biggest comeback stories of all.

A fightback from a crushing injury that could not only have ended his career but taken his arm. There were many that believed he was finished. Roczen believed differently.

In spite of the German’s unwavering belief that he would compete again, and in spite of the fact that he had Team Honda HRC’s support, he was attempting to reinstall his profile at the top of arguably one of the most physical motorsports in the world. There were still doubters.

To be fair, no one really knew how that return would play out after eleven surgeries and eleven months away from racing.

Before the gates dropped at the Monster Energy AMA Supercross season opener at Anaheim I, the 23-year-old German was put in the hot seat, fielding questions about whether he was fit enough to shine.

“Anything can break again,” Roczen answered. “But if it was fragile and I could barely do a push-up or put any weight on it, I wouldn’t be sitting here.

“I’ve talked enough about the injury over the past few months, so I’m just trying to put a big checkmark behind it and race like I’ve never left...”

It’s never going to be the same, but it’s definitely good enough to do push-ups, race dirt bikes, and, in my eyes, have good strength to handle a bike.”

In the age of social media and a sport that has small circles, it’s hard not to hear those doubters. Roczen didn’t let it get to him, it was more of a motivator.

roczen 2.0 xxxxxxxx: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“It didn’t frustrate me because the people that are around me - that matter to me the most - believed in me,” Roczen said. “Then the rest, they’re shutting up now.”

When he was put to the test on track #94’s answer was louder than words. A scramble to a fourth-place finish, shy of the podium, was enough to renew belief. Add to that a second-place finish at Houston and momentum grew, as did the respect from his peers.

“He’s earned a lot of my respect especially with what happened last year and all that he’s had to go through,” Dungey said. “The way he showed up the first round and got a top-five finish, which I thought was incredible. Then the next race he led a little over half the main event and got second…

“I’m more of an optimist, but looking at his situation and where he’s at, I’m really impressed actually. I’m sure he wants more, but from outside looking in, just for him to be back out there racing and to have the courage and all that, I give the guy credit.”

Feature “It takes a lot of heart and courage and dedication, faith and not giving into fear and all those things that could be running through the guy’s head.”

His mechanic, Oscar Wirdeman can summarize it for pretty much everyone: “For him to just be racing, that’s badass.”

Many have seen that the 2017 Anaheim 2 ‘ejection’ replayed over and over again, and there are a lot of people that have followed his recovery on Instagram (at times in graphic detail), As a former world champion, multi AMA champion and poster boy of the sport there’s a reason why his comeback has grown to epic proportions, but for Roczen it’s just who he is.

“For me, fighting through that… I’m a bit of a hard-ass when it comes to things like that,” Roczen explained. “It was normal for me. There was no other option than succeeding. I’m back racing.

That was the goal the whole time, and I reached it.”

Now that he’s reached that goal, he’d like to put the past behind him. “I’m racing, looking ahead,” Roczen said. “I’ve talked enough about the injury over the past few months, so I’m just trying to put a big checkmark behind it and race like I’ve never left.”

Not that he’s ungrateful but all of the hype is like a backhanded compliment to Roczen. And he’s a pretty straightforward guy that will call that out. “I think it’s more [awe inspiring] to other people who saw it and knew how bad the injury was and whatnot, and now they see me back racing; they were actually doubting me,” Roczen said. “Most likely 85-90% probably thought I wouldn’t race again even though I said the whole time ‘I will be back’.”

It also a fair question to those around him. Who better to ask than Wirdeman?

The pair have been working together for a little over two years and see eye-toeye, mostly because they call a spade-aspade.

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“Yeah, we were hoping at first,” Wirdeman said. “I spent a few weeks with him up in Aspen where they did the surgery.

It was just devastating to see a friend laying there like that, really messed up.

In the beginning it was ‘make sure he doesn’t lose his arm and he can walk his dog’, so to speak. Then when he started to ride, I was sure he would come back.

I wouldn’t expect him to be this far already. I think the first prognosis was that he couldn’t really be on a bike until November, but then he started to ride at the end of July or August, pretty much six months to the day after the injury.”

It’s hard not to be inspired, and that motivation and determination not only reached outwards but helped unite the team around him. “I think that positive energy, the team feeds off of that,” said Honda HRC’s Team Manager Erik Kehoe. “Knowing that when your guys [riders] are giving it 100% and they’re trying hard and they’re really focused, I think it helps all of the team members be that same way.”

While the process seems all very normal to Roczen (MX athlete gets injured, recovers and gets back racing) what does catch him wide-eyed is the outpouring of messages and the influence of his attitude and persistence.

“My group of guys, they’re the best. I have the best mechanic out there. I have the best chick on my side [his fiancée Courtney], and my bus driver,” Roczen said. “My team, when it comes to HRC Honda, there’s not much to say but happiness in my eyes. In the end, we haven’t had too many races together but seeing the guys get excited that I’m back and we’re going down the line and I can deliver them a podium last weekend that is something that I live for and I love doing it.”

“It’s pretty awesome how it inspired people,” Roczen said. “I got a lot of messages for that, and just have a different outlook on a difficult situation; that you can pretty much fight through anything.”

In turn, it helps Roczen as well. He’s not only happy to be back in the gate he’s happy to be back with his crew. He also credits his ‘team’ at home too.

Feature Wirdeman - who Roczen credits as the brains of the operation - admits that his rider is exceeding early expectations and has altered their benchmarks a bit. But the game plan is still to ride smart.

“We talk a lot about that,” Wirdeman said. “We just try to stay calm and play the cards that get dealt to us. Don’t get too excited; keep the highs lower and the lows higher. If we can be in any mathematical chance to win the championship when we come to Vegas, I think that’s amazing. But for him just riding… You forget where he kind of came from since he’s doing good now. It’s easy to get too excited like: ‘Hey, we need to win all these races.’ We’re just trying to stay calm and appreciate where we are and that he’s here racing again.”

Roczen gets that. And being the tough competitor that he is, he wants that bad.

“The next step is the win, hopefully. But just because I’ve done two races doesn’t mean I’m going to go completely ape shit,” Roczen said. “At the same time, we made huge steps forward with the bike, which is what we’ve been trying to do, and is going to help me. So again, be focused and have good starts. Just stay out of that trouble, and I think the rest I can do just with my talent and the work that I’ve put in.”

Roczen has his eyes set on the championship. Not to say that that wasn’t the goal before, but he has a different perspective. Part of it is being another year older, but there was also something valuable to be learned about going through hell and emerging on square one.

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“I think for a lot of the people you take being healthy for granted,” Roczen said. “It becomes a normal thing.

After getting hurt like that, you really appreciate being healthy. It was a tough time but in the end, now I’m having a little bit of a different approach when it comes to racing. I’m trying to be more patient, but also at the same time I’m still trying to be explosive; it’s a very difficult task.”

roczen 2.0

Products

troy lee designs Don’t hurry to the website just yet as Troy Lee Designs sought after Special Edition Air Jersey Metric won’t be available outside of dealers until March. The red and orange versions of this racewear has been aptly shown-off by the likes of Red Bull KTM TLD rider Shane McElrath in Supercross events so far. TLD call the Air Metric the ‘crown jewel’ of their line for its performance in ventilation and cooling but also fit and strength.

The California company say the four-way stretch gear is the ‘embodiment of the very best research, development and ingenuity that TLD has to offer’. The pants meld heavy polyester and leather and 900 denier. TLD again are keen to stress the durability and function aspect of their wares. You’ll pay less than 250 dollars for the shirt and pant set.

www.troyleedesigns.com

NO SHORTCUTS

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JUSTIN HILL

Feature

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Febvre, the shipwreck and a special motocross film

shipwrecked!

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by Monster Energy

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shipwrecked

“Definitely the

strangest place I’ve have ridden...”

T

he small beach and looming white cliff faces drew closer, much faster than Captain Charalambos Kompothekras-Kotsoris would have liked.

His freightliner, the MV Panagiotis, was toiling and yawing: sandwiched between waves that swirled up and clapped each side of the ship. The 50m vessel was a mere toy in the thrall of a restless Ionian Sea on a bleak evening in October 1980.

Kompothekras-Kotsoris braced himself.

The old girl was some 45 years old and her motor ailed in the conditions. His crew had battened every hatch but they were on a journey in which they had no control. They drifted, and then the hull suddenly gripped with a jarring finality.

The water bumped and lapped the now stationary and trapped metal carcass.

Thirty-seven years ago the last voyage of the MV Panagiotis – a boat shrouded in tales and legend of smuggling deeds and defiance – would end up creating one of the world’s most picturesque ‘wrecks’. When Kompothekras-Kotsoris and his roster abandoned the Britishbuilt transport in a perfectly enclosed cove east of the Zakynthos Island in Greece they would create ‘Navagio’ [Shipwreck] beach, and see their liner become a draw for curious tourists: the seas delivering fascinated visitors and sucking them to the sandy shore in the same way the waters once engulfed the resilient ship.

Navagio can only be accessed by across the waves and has carried an aura of mystique for over a quarter of a century. It was the powerful mix of beauty, tranquillity and decay in the shadow of motorised technology that inspired a film and production crew to pursue the location in order to showcase one of the purest motorsport activities between man and machine. The idea was to have 2015 MXGP FIM Motocross World Champion and Monster Energy Yamaha Factory rider Romain Febvre ripping up sand around the Panagiotis. Permission to roll was requested and finally granted by local authorities.

A team of 23 people began to construct a site and a ‘track’ at Navagio by transporting all the equipment necessary from the other side of the island. The build was sizeable and involved shifting twelve tonnes of sand and clocked over a thousand hours of labour.

And then with 25 year old Febvre onboard and the filming date in November pencilled, it was almost as if the energy that snared the Panagiotis reared up to again make its mark.

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Less than a week before ‘record’ buttons were to be pushed the weather changed.

A storm gathered over Zakynthos and in a single day the Navagio ‘set’ was totalled. A period of rapid and stressful recovery work began: some 60% of what had already been crafted on the beach had to be re-done in one day. The same swells and watery turbulence that ultimately gave Navagio its name returned: as if a visiting sightseer itself. The production team searched for help and found a single boat captain to navigate the stomach-churning landscape in order to reach their location. Dispersing the ton of equipment – including Febvre’s nearpriceless racebike – from a weaving ship onto the sand was a mission.

Another hurdle fast presented itself. Direct sunlight on Navagio in November was sparse and the shoot expanded into nocturnal activity in order to augment their material. Hauling the lights, equipment and technical backup was another major ‘ask’.

Co-capturing Febvre’s work with the throttle was director Alexis Lychnaras and award-winning filmmaker Mikey Neale. “It was definitely a unique place for a motocross-based edit, but it had its challenges,” the Welshman says. “The time of year for the production meant around one and a half hours of sunlight on the beach itself so we made the decision to shoot at night.

shipwrecked

“This required generators, an engineer and a whole different approach to the set-up and meant we had to re-light and re-organise each shot.”

“Controlling the light and maximising the shoot is what cinematography is all about.”

“Shipwreck beach is an iconic holiday destination and you can often see it featured in posters and promotions across the world,” said Lychnaras. “This of course made the concept of creating a video project there very appealing but we definitely knew it would not be easy if at all possible. Despite the reality turning out to far more challenging than initially anticipated, the whole team fought hard to overcome all the difficulties.”

At the heart of the project was Febvre, fresh from a nineteen-round Grand Prix season and a milestone third consecutive success at the Motocross of Nations. “It is definitely the strangest place I have ridden,” the talented Frenchman admitted. “We are used to circuits and beautiful locations and in countries like Argentina but this was right on the beach with the sea so close and that ship stuck right there. It was unbelievable to see, and more so to ride because it is a place you cannot reach by walking or car but by wheeling the bike onto a boat and sailing out.”

The adverse circumstances around the shoot meant that Febvre spent as much time with his boots unbuckled as he did with the YZ450FM works motorcycle at play, dashing around the Panagiotis. “We were lucky we had Romain,” admits Neale.

shipwrecked

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shipwrecked

“He is the type of guy that will afford you the time you need and it was a bit stop-start for him but he could see what trying to achieve and bought into it. The track wasn’t easy for him because the consistency of the sand meant that the front end would ‘tuck’ in some of the corners and he couldn’t be really aggressive with the bike. He was a typical Pro: very patient, gave 100% and we even challenged him at night by finishing at 10-11 o’clock when it was cold and dark and we were not arriving back to the port until the early hours of the morning.”

“I’m not sure if you can ever be completely happy with an edit…and there were some elements we overlooked at Navagio such as the track and the riding area but what we achieved there and in circumstances is something to be proud of,” says Neale.

“Looking back at the beach while on the boat after wrapping the shoot, the whole crew started shouting out, celebrating,” Lychnaras recalls. “It was an amazing feeling, as everyone knew we had made a dream come true.”

“There was not so much riding…but we went with a good plan and idea and it meant waiting to get the layout just right and for the light to be correct,” Febvre says. “It was a 2-3 day job, so not a massive shoot but one that was definitely a bit different.”

The Grand Prix winner has done a number of film and photoshoots in his career but welcomed the chance to put that distinctive blue #461 into a frame that is definitely a ‘first’ for dirt biking. “Being a factory rider is already like a dream for me, so opportunities like this are just a cool part of it,” he says. “Having a sponsor like Monster, who come up with some crazy ideas, is also another nice part…but I like it. I think there are not many people that do stuff like this.”

Most nights Navagio echoes gently to the surf and the occasional metallic ‘moan’ or creak from the Panagiotis.

Febvre bounced four-stroke engine howls around the stony walls in a sight unlikely to be seen again. The video and photography effectively chart the experience for a true ‘one-off’.

Shipwreck Beach and the Panagiotis were quickly able to return to the normality of easy sunny days and the audible click of iPhone cameras. As time passes the metal slowly dips into the Greek sand and the Yamaha tyre tracks have been lapped into memory by the water. But it was author Joseph Conrad who wrote that ‘the sea...has been the accomplice of human restlessness’ and Navagio might not completely forget its taste of motocross in a hurry.

PrOducts

alpinestars Alpinestars launched their first off-road lid, the SM10, to some fanfare in the U.S. in January but we’ve yet to get our hands on it in Europe. Four different shell sizes, four different EPS densities, a patented system for fit, priority towards ventilation and MIPS technology for extra protection as well as designthinking for riders that wear neck protection: there are some promising features of the company’s initial foray into a busy section of the market. The multi-composite version is due in the spring while the carbon model won’t be in boxes until September. The profile is not miles-away from Scott’s 550 offering, particularly with the integrated peak. No pricing details yet but with Alpinestars’ name and reach into the industry, as well as all their engineering prowess in other products and projects, the Supertech SM10 is bound to cause a stir.

www.alpinestars.com

MotoGP

Plenty of food for thought after the first sample of MotoGP in 2018

hot stuff

motogp: sepang

motogp BLOG

feeling the sepang heat...

Sure, we are only a few days into testing for 2018, but it looks like we are in for a cracking season. The Sepang MotoGP test is always important but this time it is proving to be the most important session in years. Lots at stake. Lots of engineers pouring their hearts, souls, and above all, brains-the-size-of-a-planet into stealing a march on their rivals. Lots of riders seeking either to build on a strong 2017, or seeking redemption for a poor one, while hoping to nab the best factory seat available. Lots of sponsors seeking a return on the considerable investment they make.

Repsol should at least be getting their money’s worth. Marc Márquez is reigning champion for a reason, having demonstrated his ability to wrestle an unwilling Honda RC213V to a MotoGP title or two. Testing so far could be bad news for his rivals: Honda have made a couple of major engine changes in previous years, and each time they changed the engine, it took them the best part of half the season to figure out how the resolve the problems they had unwittingly created for themselves. Yet Márquez still won the title.

This year, the change HRC have made to the RC213V motor is relatively minor, and even better (or worse, depending on your perspective), they had the engine management figured out pretty quickly. Marc Márquez, Dani Pedrosa, and Cal Crutchlow have all been very happy with the new engine, and Honda start from their strongest base in years. Marc Márquez should be a shoe-in for the title, but for the fact that with Silly Season coming up, Dani Pedrosa has to prove that he can beat Márquez if he wants to keep his job in the Repsol garage. Crutchlow, too, has proven he can win before, and with a solid bike, he will likely prove a formidable obstacle.

But Honda must face a much stronger Movistar Yamaha team than they did in 2017. Last year’s Yamaha M1 had a major design flaw: the chassis didn’t give Valentino Rossi or Maverick Viñales the feeling they were looking for, a fact that was doubly apparent when the grip was missing. Fixing that has been the priority for Yamaha over the winter, and two days into 2018, it looks like they have succeeded. Rossi positively beamed when describing the new M1, mooning like a lovestruck teenager. Maverick Viñales was just as happy, and more importantly, just as fast. The Movistar team took top two on second day, a sign of good things to come.

By David Emmett

The fly in Movistar’s ointment may well come in the form of Johann Zarco. The Frenchman stunned the world when he led his first MotoGP race for the first six laps, then proved that it was no fluke by leading 58 more through the season, as well as taking three podiums and two pole positions. Zarco, on the same bike as Maverick Viñales was last year, is already faster than the young Spaniard was at Sepang in 2017, despite Yamaha dialling down the revs on the Tech 3 bike. Zarco may still choose to switch back to the 2016 chassis, and if he does, he may embarrass the factory team on a regular basis.

Then there’s Ducati. Andrea Dovizioso came closer than anyone thought possible to beating Marc Márquez, and that was on a bike that had trouble with corner speed. Gigi Dall’Igna’s engineers have fixed half the problem at Sepang, and hope to cure the other half at the next test at Buriram in Thailand. Dovizioso looks as mentally tough as ever, and just as fast.

The improved chassis has also made the GP18 more of a ‘Lorenzo bike’, at least according to Jorge Lorenzo himself. The timesheets agree: Lorenzo’s deficit to the leader has been cut from 1.2 seconds in 2017 to 0.1 second in 2018. Ducati paid Lorenzo a king’s ransom to join them. He may be about to make that investment pay off.

That should be enough to get you salivating for 2018, but there is so much more. Danilo Petrucci has shed 4kg in pursuit of a factory contract, and enters the year with a death-or-glory attitude. Jack Miller is as quick as everyone expected to be when he first joined MotoGP. Suzuki have learned from their engine error last year and have a much better bike: Alex Rins has more experience, isn’t injured, and is showing form, while Andrea Iannone seems happier, which in his case is also synonymous for speed.

KTM proved they have a strong base, and have moved from revolution to evolution, and expect to challenge for top fives. The new Aprilia RS-GP chassis is a massive step forward; now Aleix Espargaro must hope that the new engine which is coming for the start of the season lives up the same expectations. Taka Nakagami has surprised and impressed as rookie, Franco Morbidelli oozes cool as well as talent, but still has much to learn, while Tom Luthi is proving that old men are still viable as rookies in MotoGP. There are a lot of reasons to be excited about 2018. Two days of testing at Sepang just added a couple of hundred more.

motogp: sepang

motogp BLOG

wielding the binoculars...

A new year brings with it new names, challenges and possibilities. No better time then to make some inexplicably inappropriate predictions based on the action we have seen thus far.

Variety will remain the spice of life…

Not only has diversity marked the past two seasons of racing – nine different riders won in 2016 – but the closeness of the competition was without precedent a year ago; top eights, tens and 15s were never as closely packed together at the chequered flag in 68 years of grand prix.

Indications in the early stages of ’18 suggest this will continue. 0.9s covered the first 14 riders in the second day of testing at Sepang, with all six factories present, showing potential. For the first time since its arrival in MotoGP, Ducati can boast of two title contenders within its ranks, while Valentino Rossi has already spoken of feeling better in the first handful of laps testing that through all of last year. Don’t expect Honda to go away anytime soon, especially with reigning champion Marc Marquez in its ranks.

Add to that the usual array of talent housed in the satellite teams, while Suzuki and KTM have shown a pragmatic willingness to carry their projects forward to the next step. Both should end the season with several top six finishes apiece, if not more. Expect at least seven victors - and racing that is at least the equal to what played out a year ago. …yet the champion will remain unchanged That being said, it’s hard to see the six-time world champion. Marquez carved out his own, inimitable path to the title in ’16 and ’17 when Honda had arrived at preseason testing with a radically different engine design which lagged well behind its rivals.

Now the ‘Big ‘H’ is exercising its ‘evolution’ rather than ‘revolution’ moniker, with comments suggesting a very promising term lies ahead.

Both Marquez and team-mate Dani Pedrosa opted to sit out a private test at Jerez last November, such was their contentment at the engine straight out of the box. “Honda has done everything we asked them to,” said Crutchlow, referencing a smoother motor that boasts more torque.

Marquez was simply sublime in 2017’s second half, surging to new highs while regularly calling upon that supernatural anticipation and control. With Yamaha back in force, expect him to have to work like hell to achieve it. But, as the past two years have proven, Marquez rarely shies away from a challenge. Ducati and Yamaha had better be ready by Qatar.

Silly season could see riders falling out of favour before the first race Bradley Smith called it right last November. The ’17 season had yet to draw to a close, and the Englishman was already fielding questions on contract extensions

By Neil Morrison

and signings – for 2019. “It’s crazy,” he exclaimed. Two months on and we’ve already learnt that Maverick Viñales has signed to stay at Yamaha until 2020, Ducati will try to sign both its riders before the first race, and Danilo Petrucci is more than likely out of Pramac, with Francesco Bagnaia coming in.

Johann Zarco will notch up a first win…

The revelation of 2017 came within 0.3s of winning a first race in the top flight last time out. He began the new year with some fighting talk, too, opining that, “Maybe I can fight for a championship this year,” on the eve of the first test.

It was always going to be a crazy year of rumours and intrigue as all twelve factory riders (bar Viñales) are out of contract come December. Several names will be vying for a factory berth with possible seats opening up at Repsol Honda, Suzuki, Aprilia and KTM. If 2016, the year in which we witnessed the last silly season, is anything to go by, we could see team-mates clashing (Dovizioso-Iannone in Argentina comes to mind) and rider performances fading badly, knowing they will be out of a ride next year. Don’t be surprised to see early signings and the 2019 grid forming before the summer break.

Journalists are quickly learning to avoid pressing him on bike spec specifics. “I don’t listen to all this bullshit,” he said on Sunday when asked which chassis he had ridden that day. For Zarco is very much his own man: staunch in his convictions, and unwilling to bend to any preconceived notions of what a certain chassis or engine may do, the Frenchman carries himself in a manner that suggests an elite level of self-belief exists behind that placid exterior.

Few were more impressive in ’17.

And Zarco is out to prove that he is deserving of a factory seat. Victory challenges will come at Qatar, Le Mans and Assen, if not more.

…and Jack Miller will score podiums – in the dry A dark horse for the year ahead?

Look no further than Jack Miller, one of two former Honda men now enjoying the relative comfort of Ducati’s smooth, linear power and well-sorted electronics. The Australian was in the top six on the first two days at Sepang, suggesting the potential is there for podium finishes – and not just in the rain.

A fighting recovery from a leg break last September showed the spirit that will be key to the year ahead.

“I’m able to really focus on my lines and get the same nearly every lap,” he said of Dovizioso’s ex-GP17 that he will ride through the year. “It feels very in control.”

Now in his fourth year as a premier class rider, Miller is clever enough to avoid making bold predictions.

Could he push Zarco and Crutchlow for top ‘Satellite’ of the year? I think so.

Alex Rins may well cost teammate Iannone a job The dynamic within the Suzuki garage promises to be as intriguing as what is said and done behind Ducati and Yamaha’s closed doors. Spirits have rightly been high within the camp after a fine end to ’17 and Alex Rins has continued to go from strength to strength over the winter months. “He’s building his method, feeling what is happening on the bike, and transmitting to the team,” said crew chief Jose Manuel Cazeaux. “My feeling is that we can keep this momentum.”

Iannone has already had to contend with more scathing criticism from factory legend Kevin Schwantz over the winter months, and has yet to find an answer for Rins’ preseason pace. There were more than a few titters at Iannone’s assertion that Rins had been ‘lucky’ to inherit the bike he had developed at the end of ‘17, but his team-mate has been the more impressive in the three preseason tests.

Should Suzuki follow Schwantz’s advice, the factory would quietly consider the Spaniard as its leading man for the 19 races ahead.

motogp: sepang

SBK

horizon looming Blog & Photos by GeeBee Images

worldsbk 2018

worldsbk 2018

SBK BLOG

back to the grind It has been back to proper work in the last two weeks, pushing the little button. My first assignment for 2018 was at the Ten Kate Racing workshops in Netherlands to shoot Red Bull Honda Fireblades along with new riders Leon Camier and Jake Gagne in their 2018 garb. Whilst the livery on the bike remains almost identical, there have been a lot of changes over the winter in the Honda camp as they try to put their terrible 2017 behind them.

No one could have predicted the tragic circumstances in which we lost Nicky Hayden but at this time last year, with a new machine and the big bucks of Red Bull behind them, expectations were high.

In reality the new race bike, with no development as the season started, was a step backwards from 2016.

BSB and MotoAmerica teams suffered a similar fate and it took the teams in those series almost the entire season to become competitive. It was only at the Suzuka 8HR that the HRC bike looked anything like the race machine it should be.

So where now for the Dutch squad?

It’s over 10 years since James Toseland won the WorldSBK Championship on a Ten Kate Honda and in an attempt to shake things up Honda Europe and Ten Kate Racing have made a number of changes in personnel and team structure.

Company founder, Gerrit Ten Kate, has for the last few years taken a back seat in the racing operation, concentrating on the workshop and dealership he has in Nieuwleusen, and nephew Ronald took charge of the race teams. This season Ronald will also step aside and concentrate more on the business at the workshops with former racer Kervin Bos taking up the reins at the race team.

The rider line up has finally taken shape after a half season cruelly upset by Nicky’s passing and also the fact that Stefan Bradl was sidelined through injury for a large part. Last year’s stand-in man, Jake Gagne gets the reward of a full time ride for his patience and performances last year and he will be partnered by Leon Camier, who moves from MV Agusta.

News also broke at the weekend that Honda Motor Europe’s Marco Chini has left his role as WorldSBK Operations Manager. Having been at the Ten Kate workshop last week for the pre-season photoshoot I was aware of this but some parts of the press suggesting that this was another piece of the shake-up are wide of the mark. As far as I know Chini has made the decision himself feeling that it was time to move on to new chapter in his career.

I have known Leon since he raced 125cc in the British Championship alongside a young Aussie kid called Stoner. What ever happened to him?

Leon was/is as equally as talented but has always seemed to miss out on the ‘big’ rides. He won the 2009 British Championship on a Yamaha R1 with GSE Racing, a feat made all the more impressive when you consider that he went through the whole season with just one bike, often didn’t ride in Free Practice, only qualifying and the races, and

By Graeme Brown

wrapped up the title with a few races in hand. That for me shows his ability to get the most out of what he is given.

The same can be said for his performances at MV. It’s something I picked up on more last season but if you look at the results, he is consistently within the top 10 and always roughly the same distance behind the Kawasaki and Ducati.

That suggests to me that were he on a green or red bike he would be right at the nose of the race every weekend. Towards the end of last year he was shouting for a podium position on a machine that was under-powered and in a team that was under funded. He could be the perfect man to pull Honda out of the current doldrums that they are in.

Chatting away whilst doing the photoshoot he appeared genuinely upbeat about the season ahead. He is fully aware that there is still a lot of development work to do in the first tests and races of this year but he has set a realistic target of achieving a podium finish at some point in the year.

His optimism was shared by Bos who has seen the spark in Camier’s eyes and feels his eagerness to succeed. He agreed that Honda had to figuratively press CTRLALT-DELETE over the winter but reckons they are ready to hit the ground running.

The final piece in the jigsaw of changes is the little box of magic that sits just behind the dashboard.

For many years Ten Kate persisted with Cosworth Engineering as their engine development and electronics partner. Whilst everyone else was migrating to the Magneti Marelli system it was almost as if the Ten Kate squad were being different on purpose.

The plan is to use the Italian system for 2018. However at the recent tests in Jerez and Portimao the team persisted with the existing electronics package, mainly because they have not been supplied with sufficient stock to prepare all the bikes and as a result have had little or no time to prepare the base settings to build from.

Camier was honest enough to acknowledge that it wasn’t going to make the Honda a race winner overnight. He has used the Marelli system all through the MV project and has seen that particular team develop and learn its many features and capabilities. He considers that it is in the fine-tuning of the electronics where the Marelli system wins over. He explained that there are times when you know what adjustment needs to be made, you make it, and you get the expected feeling. That must do wonders for a rider’s confidence and if he can transfer that to his new team there is no reason why collectively they can’t be performing at a higher level, and challenging for podium spots.

Gagne flew in from California for the shoot before heading to Spain and Portugal for the first tests over the coming weeks. He seemed really chilled and relaxed with the prospect of his full time move from MotoAmerica to WorldSBK. Kervin Bos feels that he has the potential to match Camier as the season goes on.

SBK BLOG

He watched from the sidelines in Qatar when Davide Giugliano set much faster qualifying times but Gagne quietly and steadily improved in the races till he was lapping the same as the Italian. He has a feeling that Jake will be a dark horse who will quietly get on with his work and consistently surprise people with his race day performances.

The recent tests in Jerez and Portimao turned out to be extremely positive for Honda with Camier posting genuinely fast times, albeit on a qualifying tyre. What would appear to have been his race pace was still a little way off the Kawasaki’s of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes, but he has made huge strides on the team’s performances from last year within the space of a few weeks. It augurs well for the season ahead.

I really hope that the fortunes of the team can turn around. I have known many of the technicians for as long as I have worked in WorldSBK and I feel some of their pain when things have not been going so well.

I also think that the Red Bull livery is one of the sharpest in the paddock. That alone puts a few bhp in the tank for me. Let’s hope it can give the big red wing some lift.

worldsbk 2018

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Feature

jd beach The All-American All-Rounder

By Steve English, Photos by English, Andrea Wilson, BJ Nelson

Feature In many ways JD Beach is a throwback to a bygone age of American racing. The Washington State native is rightly regarded as one of the most versatile racers in the United States. One that is equally adept to sliding on the dirt of American Flat Track or going bar to bar in MotoAmerica on a Supersport machine. There’s little doubt that if Grand National Championships were still decided by combination of Road Racing and various Flat Track disciplines that Beach would be a contender.

Brad Baker, the 2013 Grand National champion, leaves you in no doubts as to whether Beach could cut it with the best. The Bullet grew up racing against Beach in Washington State and the two became close friends.

“I think that JD could definitely be a grand national champion contender,” said Baker. “I’ve no doubt. Before he focused on Road Racing he was competing and focused on nothing but Flat Track and he was a top contender in flat track. So there’s no doubt he’s got it. Since we kids racing together on 65’s he’s been one of my biggest, if not my biggest, competitor. If JD really wanted to put his head down and do Flat Track full-time with a good team around him and it being his only he’d be a championship contender no doubt.”

High praise from Baker and in 2017 Beach showed just why he elicits such admiration.

Versatility has been driven into him since childhood and by winning on a Supersport machine, finishing on the podium in the AFT Pro Twins class and ending the season by winning the Superprestigio in Barcelona it came to the fore once again last year. That Spanish triumph was arguably the result that brought Beach to the attention of many Europeans but he’s

spent a lifetime honing his ability to jump from one machine to another is natural.

“When I was growing up and riding dirt track my dad always made sure that I was riding lots of different bikes and classes,” said Beach. “He always wanted me to be riding something different all the time so that I would keep learning. When I go road racing it’s on a very different bike to what I train on because through the week I’m just riding my dirt bike all the time.

JD BeACH

Once I get to the race weekend and I jump on my road bike it’s all very different compared to training but that variety helps me a lot. I think that if I ever get the chance to have a wildcard in World Supersport that experience of jumping from one bike to another would help me a lot.”

While Beach may be jumping from a Flat Track bike to a Supersport machine throughout the season he’s aware that the opportunity to jump from his Yamaha R6 to a Superbike, or indeed from MotoAmerica to WorldSBK, isn’t an easy one to make.

“If I had the chance to race in Moto2 or WorldSBK I’d definitely think about it though.

It’d be cool to have a chance to ride in the world championship and prove to the world, and the teams, that not only am I a good rider but also that our series is at a high level. Jake Gagne will race in WorldSBK next year so hopefully he’ll be able give our series a lift.

“I think Jake is a great rider.

He’s very fast and he’ll ride the crap out of any bike that he gets on! I think that him going to WorldSBK is good for American riders. I think everyone knows how competi“Unfortunately at the minute it tive that bike is. It’s been a is difficult to get the right pack- struggle for a few years but age for a Superbike. There’s it should get better and Jake a lot of good bikes in the Sushould be able to prove that perbike class but it would be he’ll ride it hard. He’ll show difficult for me to jump from that Americans are fast and the Supersport class because can ride the bikes to the I already have a really good limit.” package with a great team.

titles compared to Beach’s 2015 crown but their rivalry has lifted both of their games to a much higher level.

“There’s not been much between me and Garett over the last few years. Our riding styles are completely different but the speed is very close and every time I’ve been able to take a step forward I’d win races but then suddenly he’d have worked on something and improve himself and he’d be winning again! It’s a lot of fun racing like that because you learn a lot from each other.

“The last year was probably the biggest challenge for me because we had a new rear tyre halfway through the year. In the past the tyre had been the same size as a Superbike tyre, which suited my style of sliding the bike, but the smaller tyre really hurt me because you had to ride it differently. I like the bike to to back the bike to be sliding and to use the gas to spin the tyre whereas with the new tyre you had to brake in a straight line and pick the bike up.

WHILE BEACH MAY JUMP FROM FLAT TRACK TO SUPERSPORT THROUGHOUT THE SEASON HE’S AWARE THAT THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO FROM HIS YAMAHA R6 TO A SUPERBIKE, OR INDEED FROM “It took me time to learn how MOTOAMERICA TO WORLDSBK, ISN’T AN EASY ONE TO MAKE to ride it and it was only in the last couple of races that I figured it out and to wrap my head I’ve looked at my options for Over the last three years around how I needed to change a Superbike ride but it’s hard Beach was pushed to the limit my riding style. At the last round because Yamaha has been

by Garrett Gerloff. The story of I’d figured it out and win at the great to me over the last five or the MotoAmerica Supersport last round of the year. Honestly six years and it’d be difficult to class became their head to though I’m glad that Garrett was leave them. head tussles. The Texan has able to kick my ass at first with come off the better with two that tyre because it forced me

Feature

“There’s only nine rounds in MotoAmerica this year so I’m also trying to arrange more Flat Track races. I want to have more races because racing is what I love to do.” to learn something else and change myself. In the long run that’ll help me a lot.”

The adaptability on track is matched with a relaxed nature off track and very much a throwback attitude to the life of a professional racer. For Beach the trappings of success aren’t nearly as important as the journey to winning.

Having moved to Kentucky ten years ago Beach has been able to look close to home for inspiration.

“He was always so helpful with everyone and giving them advice. He was a fast rider but the biggest lesson I’ll take from knowing Nicky was that you’ve got to work hard and never give up. It was when he was struggling with the bike that it really showed because he’d still put in the work. He’d come home after races and just hammering himself on his bicycle or the dirt bike. He always put in the work!

“I’ve so many stories about Nicky but after his funeral we Living with Hayden Gillim, got a call to say that the track cousin of Nicky Hayden, the was ready at the house. We pair were inspired by the 2006 didn’t plan to ride that day MotoGP world champion. and it all just kind of hapBuilding a flat track at their pened but it was really cool. house the MotoAmerica racWe were trying to scrounge ers are able to roll out of bed together as much gear as we in the morning and just jump could find for people. It wasn’t on a bike. Even when he’s had planned but I think that if his moments of triumph it was Nicky had have been there looking at the grafting nature he’d have thought it was really of Nicky that showed Beach cool to ride that day. the importance of hard work and resilience.

He just loved to ride and it wasn’t anything serious that “Nicky was a great rider and day it was just a fun day of a big star but for me he was riding with friends. I think it always just a friend.” was a great way to honour Nicky.”

Beach also honoured his friend by winning at the Road America round following his death with a Hayden helmet.

For 2018 Beach will start the season as the title favourite as he attempts to regain the MotoAmerica Supersport title.

The path to the title appears clear with Gerloff moving to the Superbike class but Beach isn’t afraid of the expectation.

“I don’t find it difficult to deal with the spotlight and the expectations that come with that. I race the exact same way if I had the number one plate on my bike or not. I’d approach everything the exact same if I was the guy to beat or trying to make a name for myself.

“There’s only nine rounds in MotoAmerica this year so I’m also trying to arrange more Flat Track races. I want to have more races because racing is what I love to do. Hopefully I’ll be able to put together a programme for some AFT races.

When I’m racing it doesn’t matter to me what series I’m in I want to win.”

jd beach

TEST

still the heavyweight Words by Roland Brown, Photos by Jason Critchell

t seems strange that one of the best-selling motorcycles in most major markets is an even bigger, heavier, better equipped and more expensive version of a hugely popular model – BMW’s R1200GS – that is already pretty damn big, heavy, well-equipped and expensive itself.

I

The Adventure also gains the ability to be fitted with BMW’s Emergency Call system.

And its rear suspension is upgraded with the latest version of the firm’s semi-active Dynamic ESA, featuring automatic damping adjustment and self-levelling preload.

Strange, that is, until you ride the R1200GS Adventure and discover, like so many others before, that it’s a brilliant bike. Huge, weighty and far from cheap, sure; but also long-legged, comfortable, versatile, quick and improbably wieldy. The Adventure has always been as happy commuting to the office as setting off around the world. Now subtly updated for 2018, it’s slightly better suited to either task.

That might not be a long list of updates, but the Adventure already came with just about every feature known to motorcycling, either as standard or as an option. At heart it hasn’t changed. It still shares the standard GS’s 1170cc, liquid-cooled dohc eight-valve boxer motor, which punches out 123bhp.

And it still follows the GS format of steel frame, Telelever front end and single-sided Paralever rear, complete with even more generous suspension travel at each end.

Some of the new features are options: a TFT screen and a Connectivity package that includes the ability to control phone calls and music via Bluetooth using the click-wheel on the left bar.

bmw R1200GS Adventure

“All useful stuff, although it took my own, more humble bike to highlight the Adventure’s class. I rode homewards across southern Wales without its creature comforts – and before long was wind-blown, cold and stopping for frequent map checks to avoid getting lost...”

bmw R1200GS Adventure

Inevitably that means the Adventure’s large and tall seat is tricky to get your leg over, but once you’re aboard it’s a fine place to be, provided you’re tall enough to keep balanced. The big, colourful info screen has neat tricks including a tachometer red-line that is automatically reduced until the engine is fully warmed-up.

Before using the Connectivity system you need to download BMW’s app to your phone, download maps of relevant countries, and pair bike and phone via Bluetooth. One connected, you can use the click-wheel to find landmarks from petrol stations to pubs, or addresses from your phone. Visual instructions are limited to small arrows and text on the display, so can’t match a satnav for clarity; hopefully future upgrades will allow the display to become one large map. Accuracy is generally good, though one T-junction did confuse the system.

You can also use the dashboard to control music and receive phone calls, via Bluetooth headset. Hopefully you won’t require Emergency Call, which is based on the system pioneered in BMW’s high-end cars. It uses the bike’s data sensors to detect when it’s in an accident, and automatically dials the firm’s call centre for help.

The Adventure’s other electronic wizardry, Dynamic ESA, does its job in the background with admirable efficiency. Whichever riding mode is selected, and whatever the load, the system simply sets the rear shock’s preload and damping to suit, allowing fine-tuning via buttons on the handlebar.

That helps the handling of a bike whose pace and agility belies its size and weight. The Adventure grunts effortlessly out of turns from below 3000rpm, and stays smooth even when its tacho bar is creeping towards the 8500rpm red zone. I rarely revved it so high, because the midrange delivery was so strong and because it was a pleasure to use the two-way gearbox quick-shifter.

bmw R1200GS Adventure

My test ride on mostly narrow Welsh roads, in typically mixed weather, highlighted why adventure bikes in general, and this Adventure in particular, are so popular. Occasionally the tarmac would be dry, smooth and clean, and I’d barrel into turns thinking it might be even more fun to be aboard a lighter, more firmly suspended super-naked bike.

Then I’d encounter bumps or potholes, and again be reminded that it’s often useful to have plenty of suspension travel. That was even truer when I turned off down a gravel track. With its riding mode set to Enduro Pro, the BMW floated along with impressive control, splashed nonchalantly through a stream, and thankfully didn’t end up on its side to test the standardfitment crashbars.

A fairly long day’s ride was effortless, thanks partly to the comfortable seat and usefully large screen, which in its highest position generated very little turbulence.

The trademark 30-litre tank boosts realworld touring pace, pushing realistic range to 300 miles.

All useful stuff, although it took my own, more humble bike to highlight the Adventure’s class. After a day on the big BMW, I left it and rode homewards across southern Wales without its creature comforts – and before long was wind-blown, cold and stopping for frequent map checks to avoid getting lost.

Never mind the high cost of the R1200GS Adventure. With darkness falling, spits of rain and many miles to go, it was easier than ever to understand why so many riders fall for the attractions of BMW’s big, heavy, comprehensively equipped and now very well-connected boxer.

back page

By Monster Energy/Swanberg

on track off road

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