On-Track Off-Road issue 213

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defy the norm

For those who like to push the limits of exploration, the new KTM 1290 SUPER ADVENTURE S is the ultimate high-performance traveler. This new generation V-Twin powerhouse challenges the status quo with refined ergonomics, performance-enhancing technology and high-end componentry.

SEE MORE AT KTM.COM 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.

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FEATURE MXGP

TITULAR WHAT THEY’RE TITULAR UPTITULAR AGAINST...

TITULAR

Already those few crucial inches ahead. Will Jorge Prado’s excellence with race starts help the Spaniard to increase the heat on Tim Gajser and Tony Cairoli at the top of the MXGP standings?

The 20-year-old made a forward step with his first 2021 victory in the Czech Republic Photo by Ray Archer

FEATURE WorldSBK

#1: WHO ELSE? TITULAR TITULAR TITULAR TITULAR

We’re winding down the coverage of WorldSBK but while Jonathan Rea continues to show his brilliance – and why Petronas Yamaha should not ignore his talent and experience – we’re also unsuccessfully looking for reasons to run photos of the Kawasaki rider’s challengers. In Assen last weekend Rea again showed his utter class and now leads the series again by almost 40 points Photo by GeeBee Images

FEATURE WorldSBK AMA-MX

TITULAR COMING TITULAR IN HOT TITULAR TITULAR

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Photo by Yamaha Racing

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TITULAR TITULAR TITULAR TITULAR

WHAT YA GONNA DO? Photo by Polarity Photo

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THEN THERE WERE THREE

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LOKET MXGP 1. Jorge Prado, KTM 2. Tony Cairoli, KTM 3. Jeremy Seewer, Yamaha

MX2 1. Mattia Guadagnini, KTM 2. Maxime Renaux, Yamaha 3. Thibault Benistant, Yamaha Blogs by Adam Wheeler, Lewis Phillips Photos by Ray Archer

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MXGP SBK BLOG BLOG

TITULAR TITULAR THE FULL 20 Pre-season predictions are part of a good bench-race but are often ghastly things to do. Especially when it comes to a sport like motocross when even a dominant campaign can be suddenly derailed by a small rock, a break and a trip to the operating theatre.

For busy and informed website www.gatedrop.com I decided to place 20-yearold Jorge Prado as my tip for 2021 champion. After the first four rounds of the series in which the talented Spaniard went 7-5-4-4 (and was particularly downhearted by some set-up problems at the second Grand Prix of the year in Great Britain) I figured #61 was going through that ‘difficult second album’ phase. In other words, the competition was fit and strong, Prado hadn’t competed since late October and perhaps he was underestimating the scale of the job in MXGP. 2020 mixed education with the 450, injury, seven podiums in eight races and finally Covid-19 that ended the whole show prematurely when he was in

title contention he was a bubbling prospect.

After last weekend’s Czech Grand Prix and Prado’s 1-3 finish for his 35th career success and his fourth win (with nine podium results) in just nineteen MXGP appearances, I’m feeling a little more chipper about my call. Despite Tim Gajser’s clear authority in 2020, Prado was surging like a rocket.

His final statement was a confident 1-2 haul at Lommel, of all places, before his dice with coronavirus, and he’d closed the gap to Gajser to an enticing 57 points. Even though Prado then had to isolate and recover - thus missing the final five races in the space of ten days he still classified 3rd in the

standings and only his HRCshod rival collected more trophies throughout the whole rushed championship.

For a rider that fast-tracked his way through the pyramid, 2020 was an impressive first tilt. Prado not only had to adjust to the demands of the 450 without a pre-season that had been wrecked by a broken femur and a snapped collarbone but also evaluate a whole new field of opposition; in particular his former training partner and mentor Tony Cairoli.

Previously Prado had displayed signs of trying to ‘catch-up’ with his talent. The junior prodigy was EMX125 European Champion when he was 14 and was making his MX2 GP debut in his first

CREATED THANKS TO

BY ADAM WHEELER year riding a 250 four-stroke at 15 (he diced with a puzzled Jeffrey Herlings at Assen and made the podium at the first time of asking).

Understandably big things were expected in his first year in the world championship but Prado, not even old enough to drive, wilted physically in Grands Prix in Portugal and Italy. He was still growing and underprepared for the 19-round, 37-moto (plus qualification races) series. His occasional fragility did not stop him making the box five times and tearfully seizing victory at Arco di Trento.

It was in 2018 when the first signs of a truly magnificent motorcycle racer really emerged. Prado’s conservative style (a change from the flamboyance of his two-stroke days that yielded European and world titles in the 65 ranks) contained a brutally effective economy of riding but also with the ability to get the knives out

when necessary. His MO was swiftly stamped: a holeshot, blistering three-lap pace to break free and then faultless rhythm to complete many ‘training’ exercises in Grands Prix. He eclipsed the plucky spirit of Pauls Jonass in 2018 and then decimated MX2 in 2019 with 16 wins and 17 podiums from 18. It was Herlings-esque for dominance.

“PRADO’S FIRST MOTORCYCLING EXPERIENCE ON A TRIALS BIKE HAS BEEN PUT FORTH BY INFLUENTIAL FATHER JESÚS AS THE REASON FOR HIS TACTILE FEELING AND ABILITY TO CHANGE LINES AND FIND LINES... ” Prado was also deceptive.

Poster-boy looks, a long-term Red Bull athlete, outside sponsor interest in Spain and a joyful, juvenile demeanour could switch in a moment

when it came to matters of competition. Collecting quotes from him from within the Red Bull KTM awning or mostly around the press conference area, I was able to see how he was a little spiky when challenged or if there was a matter surrounding his rivals that he did not agree with (usually their complaints against him). I’d decided that Jorge was a person that was easy to like, and still a youthful and impressionable human being, but as a racer he was not a young man to cross or mess with. You could see the ambition simmering within.

The broken femur and collarbone during the winter of 2019/2020 were worrying signs that maybe he was underestimating the force of pushing a 450 to the limit.

Nevertheless, he needed only five races in the widely split 2020 calendar (the first lockdown hiatus actually helped him in terms of recovery time) to uncork champagne.

MXGP SBKBLOG BLOG

From that moment there has been little evidence of weakness. His starts on the bigger bike are still something to study and imitate for any racer at any level, he already has copious racecraft experience although he won’t turn 21 until January 2022 and his technique is supreme in an MXGP troupe that features more than fifteen riders with GP winning pedigree.

Prado’s first motorcycling experience on a trials bike has been put forth by influential father Jesús as the reason for his tactile feeling and ability to change lines and find lines. True to cliché, Prado makes the whole discipline look like a breeze. His approach is straight from the Stefan Everts/Tony Cairoli canon.

Although the potential was clear, in 2021 he seemed lost at times. Those four races without a rostrum appearance were puzzling.

Matterley Basin’s lack of deep ruts was a curveball, and he struggled to close

out the second moto at Oss in the Netherlands less than two weeks ago after leading 13 of the 16 laps. It was unusual to see him fade back to 3rd under pressure from Gajser and a rampant Cairoli. It was reminiscent of that turvy maiden season in 2017. But Loket was a turning point. The confidence boost was tangible through his reactions and words, and a big fortnight lies ahead with his favoured Lommel up next and then another sandy outing at Kegums in Latvia, scene of that MXGP podium breakthrough last summer.

If 2021 skews into the leftfield somehow then Prado still has plenty of time.

Winning MXGP at the age of 20 was achieved by Tim Gajser in 2016, but the Slovenian has established his credentials as one of the very best in the modern era with two more crowns since then and has also weathered two injury disturbed terms as well. Prado’s fancy for supercross is well known so that remains a crossroads ahead and his KTM contract

will be up in 2024 when he is bound to be top of many manufacturers’ shopping list.

Right now, his foot is hovering near that fourth gear.

PRODUCTS

BOOKS: ‘OPEN’ If there was one ex-rider fit for a biography publication in the recent modern era of MXGP then Marc De Reuver would be a top contender. The fiercely opinionated, passionate and charismatic former racer – now in charge of overseeing the development of riders at MX2 team F&H Kawasaki – has barrelled through the lows and highs of the sport, professionally and personally.

For every tale of comebacks and Grand Prix wins (in both MX2 and MXGP) there are stories of career-wrecking injuries, parties and other off-track setbacks. Written with established Dutch journalist Tim Gerth, ‘Open’ will

appear in De Reuver’s native language in November but there is a plan for an English version early in 2022. “‘Last year Tim approached me with the idea to write a book about my life,” the 37 year old said. “His only condition was that I would tell him absolutely everything. To be honest that was the only way I wanted to do it as well. There are so many ‘Marc de Reuver-stories’ around! It’s time to tell my own Marc de Reuver story now.” This promises to be an entertaining read and you can only hope that De Reuver doesn’t hold back; a difficult job when he is still working in the sport.

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SBK BLOG BLOG MXGP

CREATED THANKS TO

CHASING EXCELLENCE The 2021 FIM Motocross World Championship has ‘delivered’ over the last month and there has been plenty to discuss. Jeffrey Herlings has dominated headlines, unsurprisingly, and now the resurgence of Jorge Prado is an exciting point of discussion. The gap between the top two in the points, Tim Gajser and Antonio Cairoli, has shrunk as well.

Scroll down the order and intriguing storylines continue to emerge, one of those involving the Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha team.

Gebben is a satellite squad, with no input from a factory, but one that offers those who miss out on an elite seat an opportunity to perform. Think of them like H.E.P Motorsports in the United States. The dynamic beneath the Dutch tent is an intriguing one – Kevin Strijbos has been pulled in as a racer and test rider. The veteran is there to extract the most out of the YZ450F with limited resources and give his teammates, Calvin Vlaanderen and Brent Van Doninck, a base setting to fine tune.

Strijbos has been in this game for a while. In fact, he was the victor at the Grand Prix of Czech Republic way back in 2005. Yes, 2005!

There is no doubt that his best days are behind him, of course, hence why his main role is testing. The other two are there for results, which is why it has caught so many off guard that Strijbos has been the best-placed rider of the three in more than a quarter of the motos. That racer mentality never quite disappears, which poses an interesting question.

How much can he help those who he is battling with in each moto?

“I told them at the beginning of the year that if there is something, then they can come and ask,” Strijbos

commented on his unusual role. “I am not going to go there after every practice every time to ask if they are feeling good with the bike.

They are old enough and know. I think that Calvin and Brent keep what they have and are quite happy with that. I am not such an easy guy, I guess! I do not want to say that I am not happy, because everyone does their best, but I think that there are small improvements and that is what I push for.”

The greatest struggle for those on the team has been starts, which is not much of a shock. They are striving to fight with the full-factory efforts. Strijbos spent the only weekend off in July testing with GET and Athena in Italy, to improve starts,

BY ADAM WHEELER

BY LEWIS PHILLIPS which one would think would be beneficial for everyone beneath the awning. It turns out that he is now using a different ECU to his teammates, as they are running something that is a lot closer to stock and doing their own testing on different circuits. A bizarre turn of events given the way that the team was constructed in the off-season.

“It is strange,” Strijbos commented on getting the YZ450F out of the gate.

“We have no idea. I have always had bad starts this year. I have not felt good on any start, except for that second moto at Oss. Brent takes good starts with the bike how it is. I am the test rider a little bit, but I want to try to improve and sort things out. I always want to go. I feel like Calvin has a set-up and keeps it like that – he is happy and had a good start in the second moto [in Czech Republic].

I always want to have the

best bike and try to improve.

It is not easy to find that sometimes.

“I am using a GET ECU, but Calvin uses a stock ECU. That is what he feels the best on. I feel better with the GET ECU on the starts, because it has the launch control and I feel good with that. We need to test those things more. We were struggling with that over the last few months. I want to keep on working with those things, instead of having something and then keeping it like that for the whole year.”

It is that drive that makes Strijbos such a force in the premier division. Just when one begins to believe that retirement is on the horizon, he maximises another opportunity and proves that he has the skillset to battle inside of the top twelve. It is comical to compare his situation to that of his teammates.

Vlaanderen is there to prove that he belongs in a factory seat, whilst Strijbos has spent more than ten seasons on factory-level equipment. Van Doninck, on the other hand, is just trying to prove that he belongs inside of the Grand Prix paddock. All of the riders are united in wanting to push the factory riders though.

PRODUCTS

FLY RACING Last Friday Fly Racing launched their 2022 off-road collection and we’ll be featuring several pieces from the new catalogue in the coming issues. First-up is the versatile gear: Evolution DST. Fly’s popular rep for decent fit and reliability remain in place and the fresh lines are more about the colours and designs rather than any radical makeovers when it comes to materials or construction.

The 2022 EVO does have a slightly different configuration for taller riders seeking a more comfortable fit around the waist but the other benefits – that include Durable Stretch Technology, BOA fitting system, 900D fabric in the ‘seat’ and DuPont Kevlar for the knee areas - are still the strong selling points.

Evo DST will cost around 199.95 dollars for pants, 59.95 for the shirt and 39.95 for gloves. Our favourite scheme is the Navy/ White/Gold, that also fits nicely with the Fly Formula helmet, Zone Pro goggles and boots.

www.flyracing.com

FEATURE

NO KID-ING TALKING WITH KEVIN STRIJBOS ABOUT A LIFE IN GRAND PRIX MOTOCROSS

By Adam Wheeler Photos by Ray Archer

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

The 2021 MXGP season is Kevin Strijbos’ twentieth campaign as a significant name in the FIM world championship. Originally hailed as a teenage prodigy and Belgium’s great hope to follow the names of Everts, Smets, Bervoets; Strijbos has beaten the best and defies the march of time to still be posting points and troubling riders almost half his age in the premier class. Stints with two factory teams, a special link with Suzuki,

Grand Prix spoils with 250cc two-strokes and 350 and 450cc four-strokes and one of the most likeable figures in the paddock are just some elements of a career that has spanned the highs and lows (it might be easier to list what part of his body he hasn’t injured).

Over the course of an hour conversation there was plenty to get through….

FEATURE In 2001 you were talked about as the original kid ‘star’, long before Herlings, Roczen and Prado. Could you have imagined that you’d still be racing twenty years later at that point?

It’s been a long time! I remember quite a lot of my racing: getting my first points in Finland in 2000. Everybody looked at me like I would be the next big thing. I don’t think that put extra pressure on me because I was so young, and like most youngsters I just wanted to ride my bike and didn’t really care about the rest. If you had told me I’d still be going in 2021 I never would have been able to think that far ahead… but I’ve also had a lot of injuries through the years.

Everything was different back then. No social media, the media coverage – especially for Belgians – was more intense. Were you aware of much pressure around you to perform? Or did Suzuki protect from that quite early?

I was riding the Yamaha in 2001 but then I rode a factory bike, the two-stroke, for Suzuki at Genk and the Belgian GP in 2002 and placed 6th and everything started to move quickly at that point.

There wasn’t a lot of pressure on me because I was next to [Mickael] Pichon and all the expectation was on him to be world champion.

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

I could just do my own thing and learn from him and the team. Pressure-wise it really went up in 2003 when Pichon left and then [Joel] Smets came and we had to set-up the 450. I got a few podiums and it climbed again and I perhaps noticed it most at the end of 2006 when Stefan [Everts] stopped.

There were still a lot of very good Belgian riders on the scene at that time so were you lucky to have some space to develop and grow?

paddock at that time. I was very lucky to be there. Things went a bit sideways at the end of 2007. Injuries, decisions and other teams played their role and then suddenly with Roger [Magee] and KTM I could come back to 6th in the world championship and be picked up again by the Suzuki factory and Sylvain Geboers. I think I was the only rider who left Suzuki and then came back. I know Pichon also wanted to return at the end of 2004-2005 and it just wasn’t possible. I know I was lucky.

“THE YOUNGER RIDERS NOW ARE SO MUCH MORE INTENSE, ESPECIALLY WITH THEIR HANDING OF THE BIKE. WE WEREN’T SCRUBBING IN 2007. IF WE PUT THE FRONT WHEEL SIDEWAYS THEN WE THOUGHT WE WERE COOL!” It’s not the case now for someone like Jago Geerts where people are waiting for him to deliver…

Yeah, somehow there was a normality to it. I was sixteen and I was in a factory team but it didn’t feel like a superbig deal. I cannot speak for how other riders felt but having all the resources and the bikes just didn’t seem strange.

It’s only when you go to a smaller or private team, especially now, that you see how good it was to be in one of the best teams in the

You worked with Suzuki’s team trainer Yves Demeulemeester, John van den Berk and then Harry Everts. Was that trainer/ coach essential for you and the way you went racing?

I worked a lot with Yves for a long time, up until 2007 and he did everything well. I changed, and then went back.

There were only a few guys who knew how to help me in a good way and I followed everything they said. For example, when Stefan Everts took over

FEATURE Suzuki in 2016 I had to work with Willy Linden who had been training him when he was racing and, well, he had his way and I wasn’t convinced to go with him in the beginning but then eventually tried.

The things that he did [Stefan] in the past compared to how I worked was completely different. I didn’t feel good about it and the results didn’t come. He [Willy Linden] was sending me schedules but I was following my own line and what Yves used to set out for me. Halfway through the season I called Yves and said I wanted to work with him again and then I won in Lommel.

I trusted Yves. When he put on the schedule ‘swim, cycle, gym’ then I would follow that regime without even thinking because I knew it was alright. I had the same thing with John.

He would walk the track before my moto and he’d say: ‘in the fourth corner take the second line….’ And I knew it would be good. I didn’t have that with many people. Dave [Strijbos] also helped me in 2001 and he was still riding at the time so it was good that we could practice together and do some motos. I would say I probably learned the most from John and I don’t see him much now but I’m still sure that I could follow his advice on the track pretty much blind. It’s something you just have to feel.

When did you make a mental step from being a kid to a factory rider that was focussed on getting results?

The 2004-2005 years saw your first winsI won my first moto on the 450 in Gallarate in Italy.

But the first GP victory was in Loket right?

Yes, the Czech Republic in 2005. The first win for the Suzuki 450.

A couple of very strong seasons followed in 2006 and 2007 so how did you make the jump to title contender?

I think I just matured. Looking back now I think there were a lot of races where I wasn’t too strong mentally. I like racing…but when it didn’t go well I was like ‘I’ll get it next time….’. I was quite easy like that. The team were probably not so happy with me a few times! When you’re young you think you know better and if I could go back then I would take a different mental approach.

At the time, speaking as a journalist who was covering your races, you were just too nice, too happy to be there…

Yeah, I think so. I’m still that same person and I want the best for myself and other people. I want to be there for everybody and in terms of racing that’s not so good. You need to be a bit harder. A bit more selfish. I didn’t have that in me.

Even now I feel it is a big shame that I never became world champion. It’s been a lot of years. It should have been me after Stefan.

Sometimes that still hurts.

Do you regret not sticking around in 125s or MX2 more because once you’re in the big class with the big stars there is nowhere else to go…

I wanted to stay in the 125s and at the time the 250 fourstrokes were coming in but we just didn’t have the material.

To battle with the KTMs…you needed a KTM! They were so fast. I had that chance with the Suzuki at Genk, then the factory contract and I was on the 250. When the four-stroke came in 2004 I just wasn’t ready for it. The bike was so heavy. I remember that first day clearly. We were testing at Deurne in Holland and everybody was there, the full team, the Japanese and I rode the 450 and said to Sylvain ‘please give me back my twostroke!’ I was struggling so badly and all the Japanese were like ‘oh no!’ They asked me to keep adapting to it and in the end it was fine but I was only seventeen at the time and my body hadn’t even fully formed. I was quite weak.

The Geboers’ Suzuki team was a real powerhouse of motocross. How did it change in your first stint there because Sylvain was the leader

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

“I HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR RIDERS AND TO SEE SOMEONE LIKE TONY STILL BATTLING FOR THE TITLE THIS YEAR? WOW, THAT MUST BE A GREAT FEELING. AGE IS JUST A NUMBER FOR ME AND IT MUST BE THE SAME FOR HIM. IT MUST FEEL GOOD: THE OLDER YOU ARE, BEATING THE YOUNGER GUYS…”

FEATURE but Eric [Geboers] dipped in and out and it was wellknown that you both didn’t quite see eye-to-eye… [smiles] Yeah, that’s true.

Sylvain was like a mentor.

He was a racing ‘Dad’. If I had a bad race he would not say anything to me the same day. There would be a one or two day pause before we spoke or made an analysis, which I think is a good approach. I owe him so much.

Jens [Johansson] was the Team Manager for a while and he was different and I wasn’t always clear with him but we both went ‘through the same door’ and things were fine.

Eric would be there every day and at most practice sessions but then he’d disappear for

a month and we didn’t know where he was. It was up-anddown. I learned a lot from him physically because he was around more in the winter and we did a lot of swimming and cycling and he told me stories of what he did with the triathlons and it was pretty inspiring. I also wanted to do that.

But sometimes he’d want to go left when we’d been turning right. That’s how things with Suzuki went sideways in 2007. It was also my mistake because I was almost bored on the 450 at that time. It felt like it had been a good few years of riding that bike in the same class. There was talk of them running a factory 250 team and I spoke to Sylvain because it felt like the

possibility of a change for me for a year. I was second in the world championship, but 2007 didn’t go well because I had three operations on my knee that year. I was still young… and stupid!

You were an example of a rider that eventually changed teams because he was looking for new motivation and, ultimately, you were an angry guy at that time…

Yes. I’d asked them about MX2 but nothing was clear or had been confirmed. Eric got hold of the conversation and suddenly he was really involved in the workings of the team. I remember before the Grand Prix at Loket he came to me and said ‘OK, it’s the

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

250 or you’re out’ but I still had a contract for 2008! I was so pissed that I said ‘f**k you then, I’m out’. I had a good connection with the GPKR team and Patrick [Gelade] and, even though there were a lot of stories around that move to Kawasaki, the truth was that I was good with Patrick and saw him like another Sylvain. He was an easy guy, so down-to-earth.

I went to his shop, his house and it seemed like fun.

The Kawasaki was a strong bike at the time. Seb Pourcel was winning races with it and James Stewart was cleaning up in the U.S… Sure. It was. On the Suzuki I won at Loket again, I won in Ireland. I won four races at the end of the season I think just because I was pissed off. If I think back now then leaving that team was one of the biggest mistakes I made. It was such a good team and bike.

2008 didn’t go well at all with Kawasaki. I struggled with the bike and the suspension and got injured again. I remember going to Japan to test but – and I don’t know why – I never felt like I raced the same bike that I tested. The team also seemed to change a bit. I remember riding a KRT bike just before the Grand Prix of Spain and it was so good. I pushed for a fast lap at Bellpuig and wanted to go for one more but then I crashed and broke my thumb. I needed another

operation but when I came back I was not ‘there’ mentally. I wasn’t happy.

It seemed like you were a bit lost…

Yes, I didn’t want to ride any more during 2008. I struggled with the bike but also with the Pourcels and the presence of their father and the whole mix was unhappy. Honda approached me and I remember Lorenzo Resta [Team Manager] talking to me after the first moto at the Grand Prix of Ireland – that weird track full of wood chip and built inside the horse racing facility – when he said ‘Kevin, if you want to stop then we still want to sign you for 2009’.

So, I made the decision then, I informed the team and we stopped. It was history. I rode the Honda and the 2008 bike was so awesome. I joined the team and a new bike came along and it was another struggle trying to get that ready! I was with Marc [De Reuver] in the team. It took a while to get parts and make development. I also broke a bone in my hand and the tibfib at the end of August. I had a three year deal with Honda but it was on a rolling basis and HRC were primed to come in but we were just waiting and waiting. It got later and later for the following season and Roger Harvey [former HRC MX General Manager] said to me ‘we understand if you don’t want to wait any

more…’ and then Georges Jobe came in for me with his new KTM team. I signed that contract and a few weeks afterwards HRC confirmed their presence! Georges was a good guy but he saw big things that weren’t really there. We were supposed to have some big sponsors but they were not confirmed and there was no money to race. I invoiced him but was not paid, we waited a few weeks more and he kept telling me to hold on but eventually I made the decision to leave and then two weeks later KTM came and picked up all the bikes and the idea crumbled. Beursfoon Suzuki picked me up, which was good but those few years had been really bad for results. I went from being one of the leaders for the world championship to dropping out of the top twenty. I was even struggling for points. In 2008 I didn’t get any at Loket…where I had won the year before.

What was the lowest point?

Actually, that came later, in 2018, when I was with Standing Construct. I signed the deal there because I knew Tim [Mathys, Team Principal] for a long time and the team was perfect and the set-up was perfect but I just couldn’t gel with the KTM. Everything they tried to do for me led to more struggles. I also had the elbow problem from 2017.

FEATURE

That’s ironic because only a few years beforehand you had resurrected you career with Roger and the KTM 350 SX-F… Yeah, the 350 was great but the 450 was a different story. We changed this-and-that, different frames and they tried everything. At the Grand Prix of Portugal the track was really rough and I just couldn’t keep the bike in any of the ruts. I said to Smets, who was at KTM and was helping me a little bit, ‘I’m done. That’s it. I don’t want to race anymore.’ I was crying. One way or another I always went back because it’s the only thing I can do and what I’m good at.

Even last winter, at one moment

I thought ‘I’m tired, I’m done’ but then two weeks later I still wanted to ride!

Your partner Yentel must be frustrated with you…

I think so! It’s been a few years now where I’ve said ‘this is my last season…’ but I still keep going.

Why and how? Tony Cairoli says a large part is the passion for the sport and for riding. What is it for you?

Especially considering the last win was a few years ago now…

Yeah, I understand Tony. He won at Matterley only the

other week and he’s an awesome rider. It’s about passion for me but if I look back I think my journey has been way-more difficult because I had some really low moments, mentally, physically and with teams and contracts. I don’t want to speak badly about any teams but there were times where life was a huge struggle, when all I wanted to do was race. I always said to myself that if

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

the passion isn’t there to ride and the desire to work is not there in the off-season then it’s over but, for now, I like it and I feel in good shape. My speed is not too bad this year.

My starts are horrible though!

If it’s not about winning, then what is it all about? Going fast? Your own performance

or personal expectations?

The transition from winning to not-winning is a difficult process because I was there at the top and I had to accept 10th, 15th or even worse results, even if I didn’t want to. It was the circumstances I had at the time. Of course, you have stages when you think ‘I don’t want this…’

KEVIN STRIJBOS: A LIFETIME IN MOTOCROSS 2000: Makes Grand Prix debut at Heinola, Finland 2001: Wins EMX125 title 2002: Signed by the factory Suzuki team as team-mate to Mickael Pichon on the RM-Z250 2003: Finishes 9th in the world championship with a best GP result of 4th as an 18-year-old 2004: Wins two motos, takes two podium finishes and wins Motocross of Nations on first appearance for Team Belgium 2005: 16th in the world after injury but gives Suzuki their first GP win with the RM-Z 450 2006: Finishes runner-up in MXGP to Stefan Everts 2007: Finishes 2nd again 2008: Suffers injury and severs ties with Suzuki for ill-fated move to Kawasaki 2010: Rides for Honda but again injured 2011: Finishes 10th in the championship with a privateer Suzuki effort 2012: Takes podium results and rises to 6th in MXGP with Hitachi KTM and the 350 SX-F 2013: Rides again for Team Suzuki and is 4th in the world 2014: Rises to 3rd in the world and wins a moto at the Motocross of Nations 2015: Completes only nine GPs due to injury 2016: Finishes 11th in the championship but takes final GP win at Lommel, Belgium 2017: Leaves Team Suzuki for a second time 2018: Finishes 14th in the world with Standing Construct KTM 2019: Interrupted season of injury with Yamaha 2020: Sits out 2020 and fails to register a GP point 2021: Signs to ride & test for Gebben van Venrooy Racing

but then after some months of accepting those positions you just find happiness from riding and competing and it doesn’t matter so much if it’s a 10th or a 20th. I’d be very happy with a 10th place now because MXGP is so stacked whereas in 2006-2007 you could start 30th and come back to 5th. It was easy. The gaps were quite big. It is so difficult now. I’d love to be racing like Tony and be battling for the lead or the podium but it’s just not ‘there’. So, it does come down to passion for what you do and how much effort you want to make towards it I think we saw that last year when [Clement] Desalle and [Gautier] Paulin stopped.

Apparently, it was not all a money issue. I mean, I had good money in the past but the last four years have produced zero. I just do all I can to bring in what I can. I could say ‘I’ll stop and go to work…’ but what is work? I couldn’t do a ‘9-5’. I would go nuts after one day! As long as I can keep riding and making enough money to pay the bills and spend some on the kid then I’m happy. For me that’s a passion.

What about the health aspect[laughs] It must be hard to get out of bed sometimes…

It is! It’s the same old routine

FEATURE

though: if I am injured, I get an operation, I work to recover and go again. Like I did in 2020 with my hernia. I went back and had a problem with my hip and the doctor said, ‘it will be tight if you can actually ride again’. My right hip is full of arthritis and the left one has started to go as well. They had to take out my cartilage.

I still didn’t want to hear the negativity. I just wanted the op and then start cycling and working again, like I did in the past. I’ll have races like I did in Matterley Basin that is quite fast with big jumps and on Sunday and Monday my back and hips hurt so bad. I still don’t think about quitting. I just hope everything will keep on working and I go again.

I’ve been riding a bike since I was two-and-a-half and it’s my pleasure as well as my job.

The way I feel now I believe I can continue to 40. Maybe not at this level but I’ll keep riding because that’s what I want to do.

Did you have good luck or play the game well with sponsors? With Hens and other companies you were always able to count on some good support…

Hens has been a personal sponsor from 2004 and has helped me so much. When I went to some teams he’d help with sponsorship and paying for fuel. I never asked him to

do that; he started as sponsor but then became a close friend that can help in many ways. He was there in my low points. When I wanted to stop he was still there and I passed through a few moments that were really bad money-wise where I almost had nothing.

You also had the phase of having the big campers and the luxuries…

Yeah, but it goes quickly! I had everything and the results were there to justify buying all that but then 2008-2010 was rough and there was nothing in 2011 when you have the house, the car, the camper. There were problems.

Hens was there and if he hadn’t been then I would have stopped a long time ago.

Having a personal sponsor seems even more relevant now in modern-day motocross because prizemoney went a long time ago and the big salaries of former years are only for the very elite…

And that’s a wrong side of it: that the riders have to search for their own money. It isn’t right, but it’s the way it is. If you don’t want to search for it [your own backing] then you’re not a [GP] racer anymore.

I have some good sponsors who help me and I’m really

happy about that because I can do my job. But for younger kids it’s not easy. Sometimes I also see new teams with big tents and trucks and I think ‘what am I doing wrong?’

I try to do everything by the book but in the end I have nothing! It almost makes you want to quit sometimes. It’s not about the talent anymore.

You’ll always have a few guys that will push their way to the top but there must be so many young riders who are still really good but they cannot find a team in MXGP. It’s a shame, but that’s what we have to accept.

You are still racing GPs Kev, so you must believe in the series and the competition?

It must have been easy or tempting for you to take a deal racing in Belgian, German or Dutch championships…?

Sure. I had an offer just to do the ADAC German Championship but I didn’t want that. I cannot motivate myself to do all that training just for eight races. I needed the GPs as well. It’s still the world championship and it’s still the highest level. If I believe in myself and I still want to do the work and if I still believe that I belong in MXGP then I want to keep going.

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

FEATURE

Is it satisfying to compare yourself to say Tim Gajser, Jeffrey Herlings or Jorge Prado?

For sure but at the moment I’m not anywhere near their level! In Russia Tim passed me just before the finish line and I thought ‘let’s see where he goes…’ but by the end of the pitlane he’d already passed another six riders! I thought ‘f**k…!’ I wish I was getting better starts to see them a bit more in the races because you can still learn, even if you are old.

What’s the big difference then? What are riders doing now that, say, they weren’t doing in 2004?

It has to be the technique… but also with the intensity.

Right now, the GPs are sprints and it takes a special skill.

You are racing for 35 minutes, which is still a long time, but in my first days a moto was 45 minutes and a lap! You can’t push right from the first lap; you need to settle into a rhythm and that’s perhaps a problem for the older guys.

The younger ones just go flatout from the gate.

You raced against Stefan, you raced against and alongside Joel and worked with Eric, [Roger] De Coster was also a big figure at Suzuki at the time. Big names. Was it revealing to see how these

heroes were and how they changed from being athletes and competitors to helpers?

Like the case with Smets…

Yeah, Joel was always a help because he trained with Yves as well, so we went cycling and worked together. When he was a racer he was still helpful, even if it was a bit different because he wanted to be the best in the team and that’s normal. He started to work with me in 2013 when I went back and did a lot more.

He became more like a friend and was coming to practices with me. It was a bit strange because he was a five times world champion but he became like my trainer and practice mechanic; after riding

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

he’d start washing and preparing the bike. Not many people would do that.

I don’t know actually! I had a lot of small operations on the knees. I tried riding the 2007 GP of France after a You experienced the opposite procedure but it just blew-up with Stefan when he took and I couldn’t stand on it. The control of Suzuki… week after was Bulgaria, and Yes. I heard in 2015 that he Eric and the team decided was coming and had signed that maybe it would be betthe deal but I just didn’t want ter to skip it. So, I said ‘OK…’. to be there because I’d heard I went back to Belgium and stories of how he likes to had it drained and I could ride work. I didn’t want to sign, and again. At the end of 2007 I I almost had the same offer lost a chance of the title by 33 from IceOne and Husqvarna points. I’m sure I would have but was pushed to sign with had those points in Bulgaria.

Stefan and that was one of the If I think about that closely bigger regrets of my career. then I want to bang my head It’s nothing personal against on the table. Racing to me him but – like I said with the was all about working towards trainers – if it doesn’t fit then that world title. I finished 2nd it doesn’t work. twice, 5th and 6th but no title.

I know many people can say He wasn’t flexible? the same, there is only one Yes…I think you can see that champion a year but – more because only two years later than an injury – it’s the most the team was gone. Sylvain difficult part to accept. had spent twenty-five years building it up. It’s not as if What about a good memory? the Japanese would sign or The Motocross of Nations win agree to a deal just to stop the in Kegums in 2014 was pretty whole project after two years. special and of course your There had to be a reason. I last GP win at Lommel… mean, Stefan tried. He did his best. I understand that when there’s a new boss then there are new rules but to make everything like you want with no other choice? That’s not going to work.

What was your worst injury?

Your knees have been truly battered…

Lommel: the year had been going so badly. No results, no feeling with the bike. As usual we had Loket the week before and I did nothing, got a handful of blisters and didn’t want to ride before Lommel. I went straight to the GP and then won it! It was really surprising.

It was a 3-3. It was good, and if I look back it still gives me goosebumps but there was a feeling of normality about it.

Maybe I should have enjoyed it a lot more. I won, that was it. Best races? When you win you feel great but Kegums…I loved to do the Nations and always seemed to do quite well at that event. If I put the gear on then I just rose to the occasion. The first time I rode for Belgium in 2004 we won. I was nineteen. Everyone started to party in the beer tent and I was there with my water. They poured all different kinds of drink in the cup and wanted me to drink it, but I just wanted to go home! I was too focussed on doing my job and racing.

FEATURE Who was a good teammate and who wasn’t…? [laughs] I think most of them were good. I learned a lot from each one, especially Pichon. I watched how he approached racing and testing. I remember them clearly, even now. I remember the first season I had to test: we had had a long day and I was done by 4pm but he wanted to keep going and keep going and finally by 6pm we stopped.

I woke up at 8.30 the next morning, feeling tired and I opened the window of the camper and there was Pichon with his gear and helmet on ready to go! I thought ‘s**t, I still need to eat!’. You take all that onboard. He put a lot of effort into so much of his racing. Joel had his routines.

He was not so good as a teammate because he was so involved with his own racing and trying to be world champion. I have good memories of Ben [Townley] and Clement

[Desalle] was also good, even if we didn’t have too much contact for training because most of the time he was around his house and I was around mine. Glenn [Coldenhoff] wasn’t in the same tent because he was in the 250 set-up with the 450 but he’s such a great guy and we speak a lot. When I did badly he would try to cheer me up. Steve [Ramon] was so quiet but he was always good to me. I mean, I’m not a talker and neither was he but he was an easy guy to work with.

A bad one?

I can’t really think of any and if I have any stories then they are more funny than negative.

Marc [De Reuver] was a lot of fun. Even when I was in the hospital he’d call me and say some crazy things.

You’re a fan of old-school tracks but when you started your GP career they were still installing whoops sections…

And I almost crashed every lap through them!

The tracks went from being old-school to quite poor, to infrequent imitations of American-style to a decent level. Over the course of twenty years would you say MXGP circuits are now pretty good?

Well, it depends. If you have those temporary tracks like in Indonesia then there are so many jumps. I didn’t ride many GPs in 2020 but I saw the Spanish GP on TV and there was too much air-time.

In England this year they didn’t rip the track that much.

I mean, they were expecting bad weather, but it was way-better because you could move around it, cut lines and pass inside or outside. If it gets ripped then it goes so deep and the lines start from corner entry until exit. It’s not so nice. Matterley is a nice place anyway because it’s a long track, a wide track.

INTERVIEW: KEVIN STRIJBOS

You also saw the development of the fourstrokes from the first 450s… are they much better now?

Yeah, I think so. I’d love to ride a 2004 or 2005 model again now to make a comparison but, for sure, they are way-better. Maybe even too good. Too fast. They always try to make them lighter, faster, better and with improved suspension.

Where will it end?

How and why did things work in 2012 and with Roger?

Roger was super-easy. He was just there and let us get on with our own thing. Harry [Everts] was working with KTM and he helped me out. I’d had a few bad years and he put me back on rails. I didn’t like the 350 initially because I’d always been on the 450 and suddenly had to run higher RPM and ride differently. I was training at Honda Park and was complaining quite a lot and Harry

said to me ‘Kevin, it’s this and you use this, or it’s nothing and we stop’. It opened my eyes. I adapted and it made me a better racer. I met a lot of good people in my racing life. It is stops tomorrow then I would be happy…except for not having that world title!

Lastly, do you still love motocross? I ask because the definition of the sport has changed so much since you started in the world championship…

I just like racing, and I like racing the GPs. It has changed and I still feel it was better in the past. I remember winning my first GP and afterwards we were just eating ice-cream and hanging out at someone’s camper in the paddock. There is not much camaraderie anymore. I remember mechanics used to gather at the beer tent.

It’s a lot more professional now and I understand there is

a lot more at stake and image involved. But, despite the changes, I still like to be here.

I still like the sport and I want to keep going forever! There are times when I think ‘when I stop, what the hell am I going to do?!’ It seems like there is a black hole out there for me and I think I would be really down if someone said: ‘this is your last GP’.

You could still stay involved in the sport…

Yes, but I think it is just the routine for twenty years of doing the last GP, the Nations, taking three weeks off then getting ready to build and work again for the next year, and I’m scared of when that will go away. It might happen this year. It’s possible. There isn’t really a plan. People ask me but I don’t want to think about it. I’m here racing and then we’ll see.

JUSTIN COOPER

MONSTER ENERGY STAR RACING YAMAHA

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T A K O LO E LOVELY S O TH …..

S Y TO FEATURE

WE ASK THE MAIN BRANDS IN MXGP TO TELL US ABOUT THE SPECIAL ‘BITS’ ON THEIR FACTORY BIKES

The prototype rules for MXGP mean that the bikes in Grand Prix are the most advanced and experimental race machinery seen outside of the All-Japan national championship. While many elements of the 450s and the 250s appear ‘stock’, vast percentages of the competition tech has been swapped-out, changed and upgraded to cope with the extremes of the sport.

Most team managers or mechanics remain coy on the deep-dark secrets buried inside the engine internals but there are components or tweaks that remain individual or particular to certain bikes.

We took a tour of the MXGP paddock to see what stood out and what could be spoken about.

FEATURE

KTM

HARRY NORTON, RED BULL KTM MECHANIC FOR MX2 WORLD CHAMPION TOM VIALLE The Australian highlights a few of the tweaks on the title-winning KTM 250 SX-F; the fifth generation of the quarter-litre bike before Red Bull KTM Factory Racing reveal a brand new model for 2022.

“The Akrapovic header pipe is one of the coolest things on our bike. We have a cast titanium header pipe section. The exhaust port comes out with the standard Akrapovic titanium but then this section is aligned to the engine. Instead of using springs it is bolted into place and - like many things we change for the race bike - it is much stronger than stock. We can match the engine characteristics to the exhaust pipe. I think Akrapovic are the only company doing this because it is quite a process to cast. It’s not so easy or cheap. This piece gives us more peace of mind because there is less chance of something unpredictable happening to the engine if the bike gets hit. Everything we do on the bike is to minimize risk. We want to lower the potential of something breaking as much as we can and sometimes that means we have to add weight…but we get more of a guarantee. We need that protection because in racing there is more punishment for the material and more contact with other riders. You are always trying to make something stronger.”

“The rear brake lever tip is 3D printed titanium, so it is quite new technology. It looks the same as the standard part but it’s super-strong and super-durable. It won’t wear-out whereas the standard piece is forged steel and is a bit more brittle for a big hit. We’ve only had 3D titanium printing since last year. Tom has welded titanium for the actual footpegs because he prefers the different shape; the foot-bed and the diameter is a bit different. The brake lever tip is quite expensive and that’s not such a factor for us in Grand Prix racing but for production it’s another matter. Tom’s set-up generally is very neutral. There is nothing too crazy about his handlebars, brakes and other controls. It’s all quite calm, just like him really.”

SEE THE KTM BLOG FOR MORE SPECIAL PARTS ON THE KTM 250 SX-F AT BLOG.KTM.COM

FACTORY BIKE BITS

FEATURE

KAWASAKI

VINCENT BERENI, TEAM MANAGER, MONSTER ENERGY KAWASAKI RACING TEAM Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team have some delicious modifications to their KX450F and Romain Febvre’s mount counts on a special rear end section.

“We don’t use the OEM subframe and instead use a full rear made of carbon by CRM. We gain airbox space, and the biggest evolution for us is the smaller volume of the unit. We adapt the stock plastics and relocate other parts near the airbox, such as electronics. Of course, we’re slimming weight and it’s a very strong part that is well made, so unless we have a major crash then we won’t change many of them. Across the bikes and through training and testing and racing for

the full year I’d say we’re using 15 pieces.

Chassis development is important and our subframe is taken into consideration for our set-up. When we made these modifications then testing is made back-to-back with stock or other versions and the rider always has the final say about feeling and the feedback. For us it’s a positive point but I know some other brands feel that a carbon piece like this would make the bike too rigid and more nervous.”

ROGER SHENTON, HRC TECHNICAL CO-ORDINATOR HRC might be the most secretive racing group in the paddock but the team’s staff are always quick to point out just how close Tim Gajser’s winning CRF450R is to the production base.

“Many parts of our race bike are the same if not similar. One unique part is the Yoshimura exhaust system which is a special package for Tim and suits the characteristic of the engine, following on from our tests at the end of last year. We found that this was best solution for how Tim likes the power delivered. We have a factory fuel tank with a slightly smaller capacity than stock and we’ll use a bigger one for sand tracks just to be safe. We’re using a production chassis now, whereas last year we were the only ones to use the pre-production unit. A lot of the results we made and information we found has been transferred into the latest production model. We have an aftermarket radiator which is larger and helps more with the cooling in race conditions. The suspension is provided direct from Showa and the triple clamps are from HRC. The cable attachment on the rear brake pedal is just to stop it bending out if it catches in a rut, we had that happen to us once when the part hit a rock. The pegs are factory HRC and made from a block of titanium. There is a lot of wastage there and that’s why they are expensive.”

FACTORY BIKE BITS

HONDA

FEATURE

YAMAHA

MANUEL VOLPATO & LUIGI ROSSINI MECHANICS (GLENN COLDENHOFF & JEREMY SEEWER) MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA FACTORY MXGP TEAM

Yamaha’s inverted YZ450F is one of the most experimental pieces of engineering in the race paddock and has been the focus of intense development since the basic engine concept was introduced in 2009. The three-man Monster Energy Yamaha line-up utilise a fuel tank that is different to stock for ergonomics.

FACTORY BIKE BITS

“We are using a factory fuel tank which is smaller. It makes the bike narrow and allows the rider to feel the bike better.

Compared to some other motorcycles the Yamaha is a little wider so we use a reduced tank – which is made of carbon, compared to the production unit - to improve the ergonomics. The capacity is similar to the production but is obviously less as we only need it for a 35 minute moto. The design is done by the Japanese.

They send us an aluminium version to try and if the riders like it we ask CRM to make it in carbon to save weight. In terms of testing it is something we decide quite quickly because the rider will feel an improvement or not. We go through different versions though. We’ll test the aluminium, make it in carbon but then test again when we’re in Japan where we’ll find more small improvements. The current version has some alterations near the front of the bike where we also made adjustments to the radiator and the frame to bring everything closer together and make more gains for ergonomics. As everything is a bit smaller it means we have to cut the standard plastics. The shape of the tank means we have to carefully watch the positioning of the fuel consumption and that the levels do not affect the handling. The tank is quite internally located on the bike, so it’s protected and we don’t have to use or change many. If anything, it’s the hard rubber shock absorbers on the frame that get more abuse, like in hot conditions or from tracks will a lot of big jumps.”

FEATURE

GASGAS GAS GAS

WIM VAN HOOF, TECHNICAL CO-ORDINATOR, STANDING CONSTRUCT GASGAS FACTORY RACING The MC 450F is remarkably similar to KTM’s 450 SX-F. The Austrians purchased GASGAS in 2019 and immediately logged the brand into MXGP where Glenn Coldenhoff gave them a milestone first victory at round four of 2020. Like Husqvarna Motorcycles, the GASGAS could evolve over time but the emphasis for the Standing Construct team, who do their own development work, is crafting the bike into race trim for Pauls Jonass and Brian Bogers.

“There is not too much that stands out from the KTM 450 platform but inside the team we try to do as much as possible to shave weight. So, we removed the cold starter on the throttle body because we never use it, even in the winter, and then there are engine internals, and other parts that you cannot really see, such as the

construction of the wheels. We start with a stock engine, a stock bike and I would say our race bike ends up being 30-40% different to what you can buy. The main frame is a bit different and the triple clamps also because we run a different diameter of factory suspension but we run the stock swingarm and subframe.”

FACTORY BIKE BITS

HUSQVARNA

JOEL DE BUSSER, TECHNICAL MANAGER, ROCKSTAR ENERGY MX2 FACTORY RACING

Like the GASGAS, Husqvarna lean on the rapier SX-F models, and Jed Beaton’s Rockstar Energy MX2 FC 250F is modelled closely on the bike that opened the feature: Tom Vialle’s triumphant KTM. Husqvarna differ in the use of a carbon subframe and Austria prepare Beaton’s special works motor, that is one of only two in the class.

“A lot of our bike is the same as the production machine but the race engine is pretty special. The ratio and size of parts are similar but the material and the products used are completely different. The gearbox, the bearings; a lot more is constructed and refined for top performance.

Our current engine is now five years old but we get updates every season and they always find something new to get

better and better. The durability has always been good and it’s very rare for us to have a DNF but finding the best scale between durability and speed is the tricky thing in MX2 and until now we’ve always had some progression. Right now, Jed and Tom Vialle are the only two riders using this engine specification because those internals are pretty expensive! Kay is racing Jed’s 2020 engine.”

THE RED-URRECTION Honda found themselves in the highly unusual position of holding red plates as leaders of both the MXGP and MX2 categories during the formative stages of the 2021 season. Team HRC have mastered the premier class for the better part of two years thanks to the excellence of Tim Gajser but the extra competitiveness of the 114 Motorsports team, and the unfancied CRF250R with Spaniard Ruben Fernandez in control, have helped make the Japanese a force in both divisions.

How did that happen?

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by Ray Archer

FEATURE

I

n 2009 Marvin Musquin took a privateer CRF250R, run on a shoestring budget, to the top of the MX2 world championship standings. The flakiness of the effort around the Frenchman, then 19-yearsold and on the way to being a double world champion before disembarking Grands Prix for the USA, led to a messy contract dispute. Musquin left NGS, won the title for Red Bull KTM a few months later and has ridden a SX-F ever since.

Come 2015 and an 18-year old Tim Gajser brought Honda their first MX2 Grand Prix victory in six years in what was his second term in red. The Slovenian’s fast development and Jeffrey Herlings’ second seasonending injury in a row led to an unexpected first championship for Honda with the 250 that had benefitted from HRC technical backing.

Gajser quickly departed for MXGP for 2016 (where he became the only racer to win back-to-back crowns in different classes) but the Japanese remained keen and Calvin Vlaanderen was able to profit from a rapid CRF to triumph in Indonesia in 2018. ’18 was also the year that Team HRC principal Giacomo Gariboldi decided to form 114 Motorsports. The passionate Italian had come to prominence with a strong

Yamaha effort in the European Championship, well before the EMX series’ became part of the MXGP support card.

His team helped Christophe Charlier to a memorable EMX250 title when the Frenchman defeated a certain rider named Herlings in 2009. Enticed to Grand Prix racing in blue, Gariboldi became disillusioned with the lack of control in heading the Yamaha’s MX2 factory wing and defected to Honda in 2013. After a campaign that Gariboldi describes as the “worst season I ever had” the crew veered out of Honda Motor Europe control into the climes of HRC, they signed Gajser and have been one of the biggest and most potent units in MXGP since.

With one of the best riders in the sport at the top of his game, a fleet of Japanese technicians and the rapidly evolving CRF450R all in his care, Gariboldi still wanted to grow further in MXGP. “What I noticed, being in the HRC factory team, is that we missed some kind of selection stage of young riders,” he says. “If we don’t look to the younger riders then we will never get another Tim Gajser for Team HRC.” FIGHTING THE MX2 CAUSE “The idea was to have my own MX2 team to grow this talent,” Gariboldi continues.

“I didn’t want to have it in Italy beside HRC because it would be complicated, and also – at that time – I didn’t know if the Japanese would have appreciated me having another team!

I wanted to find someone with who I could work.”

Things moved quickly in 2018.

Honda had the chance to secure Hunter Lawrence and the promise of Geico Honda engines accompanied the Australian while American Honda aligned their teams and line-ups for 2019.

Lawrence required a seat for a final ‘waiting’ term in MX2.

Gariboldi had production 250s, unusual engines, a special rider and needed someone to run point. “Livia was in her last season in the WMX world championship,” Gariboldi recalls.

“I approached her, we talked and found an arrangement for the training and team management. For the first couple of years we were based in France, where Livia had her workshop, and then we moved back to Italy because it endedup being easier for me to work with the new guys in the team.”

Livia Lancelot’s transition from two WMX Women’s World Championships and running her own racing set-up to the role at the helm of the fresh MX2 project helped establish the ‘114’ moniker, her former

114 MOTPORSPORTS & HONDA IN MX2

GARIBOLDI:“I NEVER DOUBTED THE 250. I SAID, ‘I’M HONDA, AND WE’LL WORK WITH WHAT WE HAVE’. I FOCUSED ON THE FACT THAT WE HAD TO IMPROVE THE BIKE BECAUSE WHEN YOU HAVE TO COMPETE AGAINST A FACTORY KTM - AND EVEN YAMAHA IS PUTTING A LOT OF EFFORT INTO THE MX2 CLASS NOW - WE KNOW THAT WE NEED A VERY GOOD ENGINE...”

FEATURE race number. “I wanted to have my own team for a number of years,” the 33-yearold French woman says. “It was different when I was racing myself in WMX: it was a great experience and it helped me a lot for this team but it’s a different game organising yourself for five-six events and then doing MX2 where you have to sort things out for more people.”

“I’m really pleased that Giacomo and Honda trusted me to handle the team. It was created to give young riders to Giacomo. It didn’t really work with Hunter because he’d already signed to go to America but it worked with Mitch Evans.”

Lawrence was not a title challenger in 2018 but he did place the 114 Honda on the podium. That result, Gariboldi’s conviction and the tendency to hover towards Australians thereafter saw the squad up-and-running.

Lancelot, as one of just two female team managers in MXGP, was another ingredient and where her Grand Prix winning credentials were an advantage for young and influential racers.

“First of all, I’m woman so without my background of racing it would be hard to be here and give guidance,” she smiles. “They would be thinking ‘what do you know?!’. My background helps a lot in

terms of things like winning races and riding the tracks – I know almost of all them that we visit for the GPs – and it was not a long time ago.

I know what places we can use for training that might be similar to the race conditions they will find at the weekend.

It helps to get them to trust me, and it helps me every day. Apart from 2020 we have been on the podium every year at least once.”

Gariboldi had the will, the resources and the management staff but was tied to CRF250R machinery for MX2. Honda is one of the last to the MX2 bowl when it comes to pedigree for results and competitiveness.

“It is what it is. Through Honda Europe we try to manage,” Gariboldi shrugs. “We don’t get any special parts for the engine, so the development has to all be done internally.”

for Yamaha in MX for almost a quarter of a century and was curating the race kits for the bikes Gariboldi had used to such powerful effect in the European Championships. After an unsatisfactory stint in Enduro with GASGAS, Ibañez was headhunted. Gariboldi: “The idea to hire someone like Pere was so that we could build a very good engine ourselves”.

Could he work some magic with the Hondas?

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE BIKE?

For 2019 and the need for a new technical plan after the Geico tech departed with Lawrence, Gariboldi called on an old friend and contact, Pere Ibañez Pujol. The Spaniard had been working

“Motocrossers, especially with the 250, always want more from the engine whereas in Enduro it seems they always want less! They chase sweet and less aggressive motors, and I found myself at a bit of a loss.

It was a contrast to something like MX2 where the teams and riders want more from the technology,” Ibañez explains.

“It [the Honda] was like a challenge but, like I told the Japanese, the base of the engine is very good,” he continues on the job spec of transforming a dependable but lethargic motor into a potential GP winner. “Of course, we had to work quite a bit. The stock bike had some advanced components, like the ‘finger followers’ whereas the Yamaha doesn’t. The concept of the CRF250R is good; it just needed some careful attention for areas of improvement.”

114 MOTPORSPORTS & HONDA IN MX2

KTM, Husqvarna and Yamaha have been the dominant winners in recent years. In fact, KTM have won every MX2 championship, aside from Kawasaki popping up in 2006, Yamaha in 2005 and 2007, and Honda’s Gajser year in 2015.

FEATURE

Progress was made in 2020 when Aussie rookies Bailey Malkiewicz and Nathan Crawford were surprising sights near the front of MX2 starts, even if the season did not transpire well with only a handful of top ten moto finishes. The campaign highlighted just how vital the right rider is at the right time…but the Honda was not looking like such a slouch.

“The job was more or less now I imagined,” Ibañez says.

“Some people have the idea that the more you touch and play with an engine then the better it will be, but you really have to work on it in the areas where it’s missing something. You don’t need to turn it upside down and change everything. On the contrary the more you mess with it then the more you can go backwards! A four-stroke is difficult because it is very sensitive. With a twostroke you can have a slice of luck in changing one part and you find an improvement, but the four-stroke is more mathematical: 2+2 = 4. You have to stay in the parameters and if you move outside then you don’t know what you’ll end-up with.”

“Pere is like a magician!” grins Lancelot. “He has been around forever and he found horsepower in this bike. It seemed almost too easy, even if I know he is working 24-7 to making it happen. We don’t have crazy parts in this bike. It’s not like the first year when we had the Geico Honda engine. It’s not HRC, it’s not Pro Circuit, it’s just done by Pere and I honestly don’t know how he does it.”

“More than changing parts it’s about changing configuration,” the Spaniard goes on.

“The experience in working on Yamaha engines for more than twenty years helped and there are things that you can transfer across. We have changed some parts because you don’t always gain the performance you hope for with the standard pieces; you might need some more durability. Also, there is that subject of manufacture because one part might fail quite quickly and another does thirty hours. You always have to compromise and not only with the engine.

You have to make the most of the best attributes you have with the bike.”

Ibañez’ influence has so far paid off. Honda 114 Motorsports also found their next starlet in another acquisition from the Iberian Peninsula: the burgeoning talent of Ruben Fernandez. The 21-year-old has suffered upsand-downs in 2021 so far but that maiden podium at the season-opener in Russia was a major statement for a rider that spent most of 2020 on the periphery of the top three with a fragile Yamaha. Fernandez, who hails from the same region as countryman Jorge Prado, has talent and potential that is beyond doubt – look out for a feature interview with him in the next issue of OTOR – but was initially wary of accepting a contract with Gariboldi’s team because of the technical package. “I honestly thought the same,” he admitted, when asked about possible concern over the potential of the Honda for MX2 spoils. “But it has surprised me in a good way. All the engine and bike development is done by the team and they’ve done a great job. I’m super-happy with what I have and I think the results show that a little bit. For me it’s an improvement from last year, and not only the bike but also the way to work. It’s all coming together.”

114 MOTPORSPORTS & HONDA IN MX2

FEATURE

Gariboldi was also not dissuaded by running red for his MX2 project. “I never doubted it because I said, ‘I’m Honda, and we’ll work with what we have’. I focused on the fact that we had to improve the bike because when you have to compete against a factory KTM - and even Yamaha is putting a lot of effort into the MX2 class now - we know that we need a very good engine. I never thought our CRF250R was a weak bike because it is actually very good and very strong. I think we have the best handling bike on the track…we just needed to build a stronger engine.”

As with Gajser in 2014, the presence of Fernandez at the front of Grand Prix racing might stir the curiosity of HRC once more. According to Gariboldi the interest is still cool. “Nothing yet,” the Italian says. “I think they are quite surprised that the engine can

114 MOTPORSPORTS & HONDA IN MX2

fight with the factory bikes, just by reading some of the comments that have come from Japan. I think soon they will come to see the engine or to get some specs.”

AUSTRALIANS & EVOLUTION

Hunter Lawrence gave 114 Motorsports instant profile but the podiums and talent of Mitch Evans proved that the programme was up-and-running. The Australian jumped into the HRC factory for 2020.

“When HRC asked me what I thought about Mitch, I said that I believed he deserved a

chance on the factory bike,” Gariboldi says. “He has not been lucky with injury but he can be – and has been – very fast and a top three guy on a 450. The success of the MX2 team is shown by Mitch Evans because he transferred across and was performing at a top level when he became injured.”

Injury for Bas Vaessen in 2018 and a fractious experiment in 2020 were splutters in the trajectory. “It was tough,” assesses Lancelot of the previous season.

“Everything happened at the same time. Covid and the

lockdown was hard for us and our budget and the logistics.

There were some problems with the riders; Bailey was young and it took him a long time to understand that he had to work and when he finally got there he had a knee problem with his ACL. The results never really showed up and Nathan missed home a lot. It was a difficult year, and it was hard to stop with Bailey because I’m sure he can be a good rider but he needed a knee operation. Budget-wise it was also easier to get a European rider…even if stopping a project with a rider is not something I like to do.

FEATURE

114 MOTPORSPORTS & HONDA IN MX2 GARIBOLDI: “I ALWAYS SAY YOU CAN GET THE BEST OUT OF ANY RIDER WHEN YOU PUT THEM IN THE BEST POSSIBLE CONDITIONS TO PERFORM MENTALLY BECAUSE THEY ALL KNOW HOW TO RIDE THESE BIKES, THEY ARE ALL FAST AND MOST ARE ALL FIT, BUT SOMETHING AROUND THEM MIGHT BE HOLDING THEM BACK SOMEHOW...”

FEATURE

I’d prefer that a collaboration ends because the rider is moving into HRC, like with Mitch, which was ideal. He had a two-year contract with us but we stopped after the first one because he made that jump into MXGP. I was really happy for him and also a bit sad because I had to find someone else! It’s part of the job.”

Fernandez was a shrewd choice. “He is open minded and he trusts me and the programme,” Lancelot says.

“He’s in a good moment,” says Ibañez, who was key to convincing #70 that he could claim trophies and races with the crew. “I remember in 1994 I was Bob Moore’s mechanic when he won the world championship, and we didn’t have

the best or the strongest bike but the condition of the team meant that he could make the best results. The bike was on a good level, he had a good relationship with the team and that gave him a sense of calm to go out and race.

Performance is a pack: it’s not just about the fastest bike.

We hoped Ruben could make good results but even we were a bit surprised that he was fighting with the leaders. Being confident in the bike to be able to charge into 2nd place on the last corner of the last lap at Matterley Basin is a good sign and gives us great satisfaction. He could have said ‘I’ll sit where I am’ but he had the will to give everything that he could and that really gives us all a boost.”

For Gariboldi the secret to success is not a complicated elixir. “I always say you can get the best out of any rider when you put them in the best possible conditions to perform mentally because they all know how to ride these bikes, they are all fast and most are all fit, but something around them might be holding them back somehow. It might be something with the set-up.

The surroundings might be OK for you [as a team owner/ manager] but not OK for them. So, you need to find that combination of factors and I think we found it with Tim a few years ago and I think we have found it now for Ruben to perform.”

The mentality of normally very young athletes cannot be underestimated.

XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXXX

“Kids are always the same,” she rolls her eyes. “We had the case a few weeks ago with Axel Louis, who has been with me for five years, but he decided to go in a different direction because he wanted a different bike, even if Ruben

was leading the championship. You cannot try to make them change their mind. They have to know what they want and today it’s not just about the bike because all of the bikes are competitive. I won’t say we have the best bike ever, we certainly don’t have the worst, and if you are working hard on your side then you can be ‘there’.”

With good results however comes heightened curiosity. It might be harder for 114 Motorsports to concentrate on being a funnel to Honda in MXGP if they have the chance to sign starlets seeking top prizes in MX2. “Our goal is to have riders that we can give to HRC: so this could still be established riders that make one or two years with us and then jump onto the factory 450,”

Lancelot insists. “Anybody riding a 250 can be in the team…if they trust the bike and our philosophy.”

“For me it was always longterm project, not something I started to run for one, two or three seasons,” underlines Gariboldi. “We want to find good riders that could improve and give us what we were looking for in MXGP.” Red is getting faster and thanks to Gariboldi’s vision Honda’s fragmented approach to motocross has a channel that is much smaller compared to KTM’s chute for talent development but could be equally effective in years to come.

114 MOTPORSPORTS & HONDA IN MX2

MX2 has had a 23-year age cap for over ten years so even those racers at the peak of the class and with years of experience on a 250 are still youthful. 114 Motorsports know they have a ‘palette’ to be reckoned with, and they also have a very juicy bone to offer with the most direct link to one of the most desirable seats in MXGP. The hesitation in racing a Honda in MX2 as a career choice is only very recently on the wane. Lancelot has first-hand experience of the uncertainty from others.

FEATURE

AMPLIFIER: IT’S LIKE NO HOW’S SCOTT’S NEW TECH IS CHANGING THE WAY YOU’LL SEE RUTS AND BUMPS ON THE RIDE

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by Ray Archer/Scott Sports

OT HAVING A LENS AT ALL

FEATURE Not content with having one of the biggest field-of-vision measurements on the market, Scott Sports have seriously progressed their Prospect goggles by implementing Amplifier lens technology. Distinctive thanks to the orange or rose hue, the injected chemically-treated product is a breakthrough in terms of high-contrast clarity. We’ve sampled the goggles – launched this summer and only used in MXGP by Red Bull KTM’s Jorge Prado at present – and the results are astonishing.

“I’ve been using it since the start of this year and I think it is one of the best things Scott have done in a long time,” Prado says, with earnest enthusiasm.

“WE WILL PROBABLY END UP SEEING A BIG SWITCH ACROSS THE RANGE TO AMPLIFIER, PURELY BECAUSE IT IS SO MUCH BETTER. IF EVERYTHING GOES TO PLAN THE PRODUCT WILL BE ON THE MARKET BY THE END OF SUMMER, AT THE END OF AUGUST.” “It is very, very good. You see everything so much clearer. I don’t have every single goggle with Amplifier, so I notice the difference when I use a tinted lens, for example, and with the tear-offs I don’t see the bumps so well. It’s not so easy to explain but the performance of the Amplifier is outstanding. Also, the way it deals with the light: it’s never too shiny or bothering your eyesight. I love it. I think the lens is also a bit thicker, which is another benefit. I use the Amplifier lens every single time I’m on the race bike.”

At Maggiora we insisted on booking 10 minutes with Scott’s International Motorsport Marketing Manager Marco Galli for him to explain a bit more.

Scott are already one of the top brands on the market for goggles so what was the motivating force for coming up with Amplifier?

The goal behind the project to step-upthe-game in terms of lens technology.

Luckily, we’re able to work on an already excellent product base but were somehow lacking an element of advanced tech for this area of the goggle. The injected lens, in general, is something that’s pretty common nowadays and we are definitely not the first to introduce it to the motocross field and wider off-road.

What we are trying to do with Amplifier is provide one of the best contrast technologies on the market right now and, luckily, we can prove this with data.

Thanks to laboratory results we can show that we provide one of the best contrast rates out there. Some people can ask ‘why so late?’ because other brands have been making injected lens tech for a number of years, and the answer is linked to the development of the product itself, and also there was a lot of discussion internally on the compromises, mostly on the final retail price that you can offer the user. It’s no surprise that injected lenses are more pricey than standard Lexan. It’s not only about cost though, it’s about making sure that we have a ‘bulletproof’ product of features like anti-fog and impact resistance which are also high-performing. We’ve had this technology in our winter goggles for a long time, so we were one of the first to work on contrast enhancing that allows people to see better, but it hadn’t made it to moto for the previously mentioned

reasons. We thought 2021 was time to finally launch. In the weeks and months to come the Amplifier will be presented in the Prospect platform and the best news is that we can pretty much offer it for the same price as the standard Lexan.

The big difference is that the product will come with only one lens mounted in the frame and not a spare clear version that usually comes with the Prospect. The main opposition is the Oakley Prizm and pricewise we are way-more competitive and pretty sure the contrast technology is better.

How does it work?

There are two main benefits: the clarity and the quality of vision. Lexan material is flat and then bent to go into the goggle and when this happens – no matter how thin the material is – there will be some sort of distortion of light. With injected material it’s already printed. So, there is no distortion. Many people inject the lens, but what we do is give the material a chemical treatment which provides this rose tint. The treatment allows a certain colour of light to go through and for others not to pass. This is what gives you the advantage of the contrasting technology. For the human eye, if you block some colours and allow others then you will see better, whether that’s shadows or holes. In the end it gives more confidence to the rider and allows them to judge the track or trail earlier and improve performance.

So, every Amplifier lens has this colour?

At the moment yes, the base is this rose tonality that enables the contrast enhancement. There will be two colours on the market. One is the rose Amplifier and the second is a chrome coated version called ‘Gold Amplifier’ and you’ll

FEATURE still have that rose colour but the outer chrome offers extra darkness and will be a Category 2 product; for very bright days.

Was it difficult to get the chemical blend right?

It was. It took a while. The treatment is two things: one is the rose tint which gives the Amplifier its main feature and the second is the anti-fog, which is on every lens we have. I’m not a chemist but the anti-fog solution reacts completely different from Lexan to the injected lens.

It took us quite a while to get it right.

You can make really effective anti-fog but then it might be sensitive to scratches.

The other extreme is a very tough and resistant lens that doesn’t perform too well for anti-fog and in muddy or humid conditions. So, to get the balance spot-on is why it took us so long.

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AMA-MX

Photo by HRC

AMA MX - WASHOUGAL

OUT OF THE SHADE

WASHOUGAL 450MX 1. Chase Sexton, Honda 2. Eli Tomac, Kawasaki 3. Dylan Ferrandis, Yamaha

250MX 1. Jeremy Martin, Yamaha 2. RJ Hampshire, Husqvarna 3. Justin Cooper, Yamaha Blogs by Steve Matthes & Mike Antonovich Photos where credited

Photo by HRC

Photo by Align Media

AMA MX - WASHOUGAL Photo by Yamaha Racing

Photo by Align Media

AMA MX - WASHOUGAL Photo by Yamaha Racing

MX BLOG

NARROWING THE POINT We’re seven rounds down in the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships and just like clockwork, a series that started out with a number of riders who ‘could’ win championships are just down to, well, one in the 450MX class and probably just two in the 250MX one.

Yes, these things move along quickly right?

Star Yamaha’s Dylan Ferrandis looks like he’s going to pull off the impossible as he has a lead of almost 50 points in the 450MX series with just five to go. Honda’s Ken Roczen, battling illness at the last race, had a poor day while Ferrandis went 5-1 for third overall. He’s been such a rock all series long by making the podium in the first eleven motos of the year and even in the two he didn’t make the box - second moto Millville and the first in Washougal he rebounded strong in the other moto.

Raw speed? Dylan’s got that this year. Endurance? Yup, also there for him and he’s not got much weakness. At times his starts haven’t been

there but he’ll zap some guys late in the motos. Rookie year in the big class and unless complete disaster strikes, he’ll be national champion for the second year in a row also.

Great job to Dylan and the Yamaha squad.

Eli Tomac will probably look back at the first four races of the year and wonder what could have been, he’s been very good the last month but hasn’t been able to get an overall yet. The four-time national champion had an amazingly bad to start the year – by his standards at least - and has had some perplexing first motos as well.

But the raw speed he’s known for has been back for the last little stint (although full props to Dylan for holding ET3 off at

Redbud and at Washougal, not many can say that over here in the USA) and Tomac’s been a real force here. That slow start will come back to haunt Eli for sure in his final season at Kawasaki.

Roczen started strong but lately hasn’t been the same guy. His Washougal was a disaster due to sickness and he crashed out of Millville moto one. As the motos go on, the free weekends become more rare, Kenny’s not shown the same spice here lately. These coming two weeks off will probably go a long way to helping him for the final push but it’s too late.

Tomac is just seven back of Roczen for second place in the points.

CREATED THANKS TO

BY ADAM WHEELER

BY STEVE MATTHES The rest of the class has been hit-and-miss. TLD GasGas rider Justin Barcia captured Millville but other than that hasn’t been able to be on the podium enough.

Honda’s Chase Sexton won Washougal with a great ride but his starts have abandoned him most of the summer. Sexton seems confident that he’s fixed that issue but, like Tomac, it’s too late to make a title push.

Aaron Plessinger has been the surprise of the series but he’s had crashes and bike issues that have him sixth in the points.

If anyone knows what’s happened to Red Bull KTM’s Cooper Webb or Marvin Musquin, please let Roger De Coster know immediately.

Webb’s gotten starts but has been shuffled back and Musquin, out of Washougal, just hasn’t shown. It’s been very odd to see these champs and race winners be just ordinary dudes out there.

In the 250’s, it was Honda’s boy wonder Jett Lawrence taking the series by storm early and opening up a points lead but then his starts (and to be honest, some of his speed) went away and Yamaha’s Justin Cooper has gotten better and better and combined with his always excellent getaways, is the superior rider right now.

Cooper’s second moto gaffe at Washougal while in second and while having the overall could come back to haunt him but if his Aussie rival can’t get off the gate in the coming motos, it’s not going to matter. This is the first full year of racing for Jett in his three here and maybe it’s catching up to him, the spark from earlier in the season hasn’t been there lately. Just a theory I have, not sure what’s gone on, but the crashes he had in Millville are going to happen to him more frequently if he’s back in the pack early on.

Cooper is just so damn consistent out there and he’s got experience on Jett as well. The average start for Jett is 8.4, for Cooper it’s 3.1. Those five spots are a lot. The gap between them is only 8 points so just one mistake by either and things could change but I like Cooper to carry this thing out. ‘The Jett’ will be a national and supercross champion one day, there’s no doubt about that but he’ll have to get a bit more experience.

Meanwhile, ruining Jett and Justin’s day out there is two-time national champion Jeremy Martin who’s got over double the moto wins out of everyone in the class and also more overall wins. J Mart missed three motos with injuries and was thought to be getting some surgery. But nope, Jeremy came back and he’s been very good outside of his first race back (where he still

made the podium in a moto). Martin’s got tons of speed, endurance and experience on these guys and it’s showing for the most part. The interesting part to me is if Cooper needs some help down the stretch for points and Martin, who’s never really been a buddy to any of his teammates, decides to help out the team and Cooper. Keep an eye on that everyone. All J Mart needs to do is keep winning races and overalls, then he can rest his head at night knowing that without injury, he would’ve won another title and will be the favorite in 2022.

Photo by Kawasaki

Honda’s Hunter Lawrence, the older brother to Jett of course, won his first USA national at Southwick with great speed and has been just a tick off the top three guys most weekends. He, like Jett, can’t seem to get off the line when he needs to, and it’s hurt him as well. RJ Hampshire has shown a lot of speed but a lot of crashes as well. Still, it’s been a step up for the veteran and he’s got his name into the Team USA MXDN hat which is something that not many saw happening for him. Props to Hampshire for stepping up his game.

As I said, things are settling down over here and we’re seeing the cream rise to the top in both classes as per the usual. We have five races in a row after the two weeks off and they should be great racing in both classes as the title contending riders have one eye on the ultimate prize while the other guys are just interested in making a highlight.

Photo by HRC

AMA MX - WASHOUGAL Photo by Yamaha Racing

MX BLOG

AN ALL-OR-NOTHING YEAR Aaron Plessinger might be the most popular man in American motocross.

Yes, there are massive cheers anytime Jett Lawrence emerges, complete by shrill screams from teenaged girls, and Eli Tomac gets abundant applause for his unbelievable speeds on the track, but the reaction hits another level whenever Plessinger takes to the podium. Need an example? NBC Sports announcer Ashley Reynard had difficulty interviewing him about an intense pursuit of Tomac in 450 Moto Two at RedBud because of “AP” and “USA” chants from the crowd; the reporter and racer were two meters apart from each other on the stage.

Similar scenes have played out across the country, from Southwick to Spring Creek, and always he amps-up the masses just before the champagne spray.

Plessinger’s displays of personality seem to be a big reason why fans love the 25-year-old father of two. He asks people where they’re from or how the weekend is going during autograph signings, cracks jokes before pictures are taken, sees them off with a smile, and does it again for the next person in line. The interviews are always entertaining, complete with sound effects, laughs, and expressions that help convey how fast he felt or how intense a battle was.

“Dude, that was the fastest I think I’ve ever went on a dirt bike,” he recalled of an all-out sprint with Tomac at RedBud. “It probably didn’t look as rough as it was, but we were hitting the bumps with so much speed, it was insane. Insane.” He plays up the role every with cowboy attire during races in Texas, a sleeveless red-white-blue button-up shirt at RedBud, and an accent that makes

you think he’s from a place much further south than Hamilton, Ohio, yet every act is genuine and shows how much he enjoys being the center of attention.

Getting to this position hasn’t been easy for Plessinger. A broken heel at the 2019 Daytona Supercross and a dislocated wrist while preparing for the 2020 Pro Motocross season were complex injuries that kept him off the bike for extended amounts of times in his initial seasons in the 450 Class. When he was able to ride the YZ450F set up by the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory Racing group, he appeared uncomfortable, out of control, and off the pace of the front runners. The lack of results made many, including himself, wonder if the multi-time 250 Class champion was worthy of the equipment and financial perks of factory contracts,

CREATED THANKS TO

BY ADAM WHEELER

BY MIKE ANTONOVICH and he came into 2021 knowing that his future in the sport depended on the results.

Fortunately for Plessinger, the last part of his current three-year deal with Yamaha coincided with its decision to outsource its entire US MX program to Star Racing. The restructuring put Plessinger back with the people he’d spent the formative years of his career with, and they immediately went to work on a new setup for the blue bike. “Getting back with these guys is like being with old friends,” he explained in early March.

“They know what I’m talking about because I guess I have a strange language when it comes to testing and improving the bike. It’s a breath of fresh air to be with these guys, who know exactly what I’m saying”.

The rider and team focused on the engine and chassis characteristics of

the YZ450F during the offseason and intended to trim off excess weight and finetune the engine’s output. As a result, Star Racing claims their YZ450F is seven pounds lighter than last year’s factory bike, a reduction achieved through condensed electrical components and an array of parts from sponsors that includes copious use of titanium and carbon fiber, and that the mellow power delivery of their engine package is better suited for racing than the high-horsepower package created by the old crew in Cypress. Plessinger is one of a few people that’s ridden both the Factory Yamaha and Star Racing bikes, so you have to take his word that there’s a big difference between the two. “The [Star Racing] chassis changes made the bike feel so nimble and predictable,” he noted.

“I can feel so in-tune with the motorcycle, and it’s like a dream come true.”

Although Plessinger’s 2021 Supercross season got off to a modest start, with 8-16-79-5-11-6-9 finishes through the first eight rounds, there were noticeable improvements to his pace and confidence, and everything came together at the Daytona Supercross.

Plessinger appeared to be practically flawless around the fast and rough Florida track when he challenged Cooper Webb for the win in their Heat Race, matched Eli Tomac’s pace in the opening laps of the Main Event, and rode to a third-place finish.

A “Do It For Dale Earnhardt” quip in the post-race interview got the NASCAR crowd to erupt in cheers, and once he was away from the lights and cameras, Plessinger turned tearful and emotional about scoring a career-first podium at a track that had caused him anguish in the past.

MX BLOG

The Daytona result might end up being the turning point in Plessinger’s career, as it brought adoration from fans and turned him into one of the most sought-after riders by teams. Yamaha and KTM began a bidding war over him during the Supercross season, a months-long process that’s included negotiations, increased earnings, and offers to race practically anything he wants when the motocross portion of his career is complete. Although Yamaha recently made a last-ditch effort to keep the rider for another term, a move to KTM and Aldon Baker’s looks to be the most likely outcome for Plessinger due to a letter of intent that was signed far back in the spring.

All of that will be sorted and announced soon enough because for now, Plessinger’s only objectives

are to maintain his place at the front of the field, to win a race, and to enjoy the moment. “To have those two years, it really put stuff into perspective,” he told me after one very intense race weekend. “It makes me appreciate this stuff a lot more. To be back and battling with the top guys, and that it’s starting to be every weekend, I can’t be more thankful.”

PRODUCTS

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FEATURE

MICK DOOHAN:

“I’VE GOT FULL BELIEF MARC’S GOING TO BE AS STRONG AS HE ONCE WAS, IF NOT BETTER…”

By Neil Morrison, Photos by Polarity Photo/HRC

FEATURE

T

he current MotoGP championship table might not say as much.

But things are starting to look pretty rosy again for former champion Marc Marquez. The Catalan’s battling instincts were certainly on show last month as he produced flashes of his former level after going to hell and back over a ninemonth period that started with that fateful crash out of last year’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Those were long, hard months in the autumn of last year when, as Marquez said, he not only feared for his career, but for the normal use of the limb in everyday life. It was a grim series of events: the 28-year old rebroke the bone then opening a window at home two weeks later. A second operation at the start of August failed to knit the bone cleanly. He then went back under the knife for a third time in December. And only in the last month have we seen the Marquez of old, scrapping all race long, that trademark aggression very much intact.

His return win in Germany marked one of the sport’s great comebacks. And Marquez’s subsequent displays of emotion were something to which grand prix legend Mick Doohan could relate. The Australian was in serious danger of having his right leg amputated after

operations to fix a fractured tibia, suffered at the Dutch TT in 1992, went badly wrong.

From there he had to fight infection, a lack of strength and machine limitations before he could return to winning ways the following July.

You are not riding like you want, stupid mistakes, stupid crashes, some races you will be fast, some practices you will be slow and you don’t know why. All the problems I’ve had this year is what he had in the past.”

With that recovery in mind, Doohan reached out to speak to the eight-time World Champion after they crossed paths at the Italian Grand Prix in May. Marquez endured a nightmarish weekend at Mugello. Issues with his right shoulder – a possible consequence of a heavy crash in the previous race – combined with Honda being completely lost with the development direction of its RC213V left him in possibly his most uncompetitive shape in any time during an eight and a half year stay in the premier class.

Doohan was keen to play down his role in Marquez’s comeback. Speaking to On Track Off Road, the five-time 500cc champion said, “I didn’t really have any input into the result he achieved anywhere, especially in Germany!”

The Catalan was in need of a pick me up. Thankfully, Doohan was on hand to remind him of the challenges he faced before. “I had a phone call with Mick Doohan,” Marquez revealed after his triumph at the Sachsenring. “I was thirty minutes on a phone call with him. I was listening (and) he was just speaking. He was explaining his situation, but it was like he was explaining my situation. He had exactly the same problems.

(Like) You don’t understand the bike.

“I just felt everyone was putting pressure on him to perform quicker on a motorcycle that doesn’t seem to be capable of it. (I wanted him) Just to understand that it was a similar situation to what I went through close to 30 years ago. It’s always good to hear stories like that. (It was) A different era but a similar situation. Coming back from an injury like that, which is prolonged and complicated, is never easy. Really it was all A-B-C type advice. It wasn’t anything leftfield. The only thing I could offer is you do come through the other side and he’ll probably be stronger for it.”

Robbed of a preseason and working with a right arm and shoulder lacking strength and endurance, Marquez was initially handicapped at clock-

MICK DOOHAN ON MARC MARQUEZ

FEATURE

That called for a rethink to set-up. “I had lost the use of my right ankle, which, on a motorcycle, you’ve got the rear brake there,” Doohan said. “So, I didn’t have a rear brake on a two-stroke, which had no engine braking. It was fairly important, especially for me, as I used a lot of rear brake anyway. It took me six months to develop a different system, which is now used by a lot of riders – the thumb activated rear brake. I had to move around with less mobility in the ankle. Also, I had to move my body around a bit differently. I’d imagine that’s similar with Marc and the shoulder injury that stemmed from the arm injury. These are things you adapt to but it’s learning to ride different so that takes a little bit of time.”

It wasn’t just injury that has left Marquez tenth in the standings, 106 points of leader Fabio Quartararo. He returned

with Honda enduring its worst spell in premier class history since 1981. Cost-cutting regulations brought in last year meant engine development was frozen from 2020 to ’21, meaning the RC213V’s current engine, which suffers from too much inertia, remains.

Development direction was seriously confused, with all four Honda riders running different spec machines or chassis at the Spanish Grand Prix.

It was then a lack of preseason testing time for Marc or team-mate Pol Espargaro, new to Honda for 2021, became clear. “I imagine the engineers at Honda work similarly today as they did back in the nineties,” said Doohan. “The only thing I said that was different to what happens today is that we could actually test. Even back then they were starting to limit the tests but I was still able to ride the bike, whereas he is restricted to (how often) he can ride a MotoGP bike.”

always going to be the same, and I think it’s the same with any manufacturer. If you don’t have your lead guy there to give direction then it’s quite easy for it to run off track quickly. Then you’ve got to get it back on track, and that’s not easy as well.

“When it’s one (new part) on top of the other, finding the piece or item which makes the difference is difficult. So, you almost have to go back to square one. Quite often those parts or those items don’t exist any longer! But anyway, this all seems to be getting back on track. But it all takes time. Because of the limited testing available (to MotoGP riders now), it becomes quite difficult to do this on a race weekend.”

As Doohan professes, that first win after a long injury layoff was a boost that did wonders for self-belief. The start of 1993 was a grind at times, and there were days it didn’t go to Of his own return to racing at plan. But by the fifth race of the end of 1992, Doohan found the season Doohan was back the Honda NSR500 to be a on the podium and a win at downgrade on the machine on Mugello that July, when he which he racked up five wins recovered from a heart-stopand two second places in that ping moment at the final turn, year’s first seven races. chased down Schwantz – at that time in the form of his life “They were just minute chang- – before holding him off in the es,” Doohan said. “But minute closing laps was confirmation changes when you stack them he could still beat the very on top of each other become a best when he was far off his major issue. That’s the thing: own. engineers love to engineer. It’s

MICK DOOHAN ON MARC MARQUEZ

wise tracks and struggled to deal with a revised riding position. Back at the close of ’92 and throughout ‘93, while Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey were riding at the top of their game, Doohan had to find new ways to cope with his physical limitations at that time. Those included his right leg. The bone hadn’t knitted together and included a 20-degree angulation, meaning he couldn’t steer the bike in a conventional sense.

FEATURE

So how much of a tremendous boost was that Mugello triumph? “Absolutely, it was,” said the 54-time GP winner.

“Basically, I was still riding with a broken leg. To win with one and a half legs essentially gave me a lot of confidence to know I am capable of doing it and that once I’d regained full strength in both legs then I should be able to get back to the form prior to the accident.

It certainly gives you confidence. Knowing you can run with them is one thing.

Winning is a different level altogether. That gave me the belief to keep pushing, that I was on the right track”

Despite an enormous free practice spill leaving him battered, bruised and doubting whether he could continue through the weekend, Marquez fought back from his worst ever MotoGP qualifying performance (20th) to rescue a commendable seventh. Crucially, a new HRC chassis was, according to the Catalan, “the first item that more or less is different and works this year.”

Expect more new items to be in the Repsol Honda garage when the series reconvenes in Austria in early August. Plus a five-week break will provide him the necessary time to recover full fitness.

If the Dutch TT was anything to go by, Marquez’s German GP triumph provided a similar injection of morale. For one, his rivals have definitive proof that if the circumstances are right, as they were on Sunday, his determination and racecraft are as fine-tuned as they always were. As Jack Miller said, “He comes back here with one arm and still smokes us.” Then there is the positivity it generates within Marquez and his team. He put it nicely in Germany, saying, “The fuel tank was in the limit and here in Sachsenring we found a petrol station.”

So, can he return to his very best, the levels shown through 2019, his last title year?

Doohan is convinced. “I have no doubt. No doubt,” he said.

“Like every other rider, he’s still young and he’s still learning. Pretty much every rider is still learning until they stop.

He’s not going to get any slower, that’s for sure. The other guys racing – the likes of the Quartararos, the (Johann) Zarcos, the Millers etc – are all pushing. They don’t slow down or wait for anybody. The sport is always evolving.

“Having time out is never easy and coming back and working around an injury is not easy, either. But the mental strength of someone like Marc Marquez is a different level. To win as many world championships as he has shows that he is no pushover and that he’s not going to lie down without wanting to get back up and on top.

I’ve got full belief that he’s going to be back and as strong as he once was, if not better.”

The rest best watch out in the second half of 2021.

MICK DOOHAN ON MARC MARQUEZ

MotoGP BLOG

RETURN OF THE CANNIBAL There is nothing like a break to find fresh inspiration. Empty the mind, revitalise the body, remind yourself why you made all those life choices which brought you to where you are. That is certainly how I feel, three weeks into a five-week break.

So, you can imagine how Marc Márquez feels. Though his break was shorter than mine – just 11 days of relaxation, before getting back to his training regime – his had been a long time coming.

The six-time MotoGP champion had either been training, racing or recovering from injury every day for the best part of threeand-a-half years.

After cruising to the 2018 MotoGP title, he underwent surgery on his left shoulder to fix a problem with chronic dislocation. He spent all that winter working with his personal

physiotherapist Carlos J. Garcia to recover the strength and mobility in the shoulder, Garcia moving in with the Spaniard to allow him to do multiple physio sessions each day.

Márquez dominated 2019, finishing either first or second in every race except for Austin, his crash there the fault of engine braking issues with the Honda RC213V. But as the year progressed, his right shoulder started showing the same dislocation symptoms as his left had in 2018, and so more surgery was in order.

Another winter was spent on recovery, physiotherapy, and getting ready for the 2020 season.

Then came Covid-19, and Márquez got caught up in the same malaise of the pandemic, of lockdowns and enforced inactivity. More time to recover, but like anyone living through that period, it felt more like an interminable wait than a holiday.

MotoGP returned in July 2020, at Jerez, but Márquez’ return was

extremely short lived. Two mistakes: running wide early in the race, prompting a chase through the field to fight his way back into podium contention. Then his luck finally ran out at Turn 4, when he crashed and the front wheel of his Honda RC213V hit his right arm, snapping his right humerus.

What followed is still fresh in our collective memories: surgery, an ill-advised early return which weakened his plated humerus, a broken plate, more surgery, a bone infection which prevented the humerus from healing, a third operation for a bone graft and new plate. And every day, more treatment, more rehab, more physio. No days off from recovery for Marc Márquez.

Even when he returned at last at Portimão, the days between races were focused on rehab and recovery.

All this, and Márquez faced constant questions over his condition. Would he really return to his former glory, and dominate MotoGP once again? Would he win a race again?

BY DAVID EMMETT

Would he even make the podium again?

Those questions were answered at the Sachsenring, where Marc Márquez continued his winning streak, making it eleven consecutive victories in three different classes at the track. But the Sachsenring was a special case, his critics pointed out, a strange track full of left handers, which never really challenged his right shoulder and arm.

A week later, at Assen – a clockwise circuit with lots of right handers – Márquez finished a more modest seventh. More modest on paper, perhaps, but given the massive highside he had on Friday – the result of an electronics issue, for which the Spaniard issued rare public criticism of HRC – and then having his qualifying lap in Q2 cancelled, and starting 20th on the grid, perhaps we should see seventh place, 10 seconds behind the winner Fabio Quartararo, in a more positive light.

Márquez himself was remarkably positive after the race, despite having to start from the last row.

“I pushed a lot in the beginning, used a lot of energy. But I was impressed by my performance. It is the first race in a track with right corners when I finished in the right way.”

That was a shot across the bows of his rivals, though it largely went unnoticed, as agent of chaos Maverick Viñales sucked up all of the media attention with his shock departure from Yamaha. Márquez told us he was looking forward to a break, and then to getting back to training on motorbikes again, something his injuries had prevented for the last 18 months. He has been good to his word, his social media full of motocross, flat track, and training on a Honda CBR600RR. If Fabio Quartararo et al are not terrified by this, then they should be. The one thing which Márquez had been missing was time on a bike, as he nursed his recovering shoulder. That was evident in occasional lapses, in a lack of sharpness, a lack of ‘Marc-ness’ for want of a better word.

Assen will prove to be key, however. If he feels he can ride as he used to, “the real Marc” as he puts it, at a clockwise track, then it means he can be competitive everywhere. And if he has used the summer break to hone his aggression and his skills once again, woe betide the rest.

They called the legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx “The Cannibal”, because he won everything: sprints, time trials, mountain stages; classic one-day races, Grand Tours, and all in between.

Marc Márquez, likewise, wants to win everything: clockwise circuits, left-hand circuits, fast tracks, slow tracks. He has missed out on a lot of winning in the last 18 months, and his ambition is unsated. A fit, sharp #93 will want to change all that. And who dares bet that he won’t be able to?

ENJOY YOUR RIDE

MotoGP BLOG

TRIGGER HAPPY OR FORWARD THINK For much of the 2020 season, Danilo Petrucci’s foresight was lauded.

When it had become clear the stocky Italian had no future in Ducati’s factory MotoGP programme, his choice to pick a seat at KTM – rejecting offers in World Superbike – last May seemed inspired. Not least when the Austrian manufacturer began to regularly outperform its Italian rival when racing resumed last summer. “I’m happy Gigi fired me at the beginning of the season,” he joked last November.

But motorcycle racing at this level is a cutthroat business. Not even half a season had passed before new names were being linked with Petrucci’s current seat at Tech3 KTM as the Italian adapted to new machinery and struggled to fit his 80kg frame around the RC16.

After months of speculation, reports from reliable outlets at Assen stated Raul Fernandez – a rookie currently operating in Moto2 – is on course to be promoted to the Italian’s seat.

One way to view this is to see Tech3 and KTM as trigger happy.

Just eleven months ago, Motorsport Director Pit Beirer had lauded Petrucci as “a rider that is committed with the right attitude.” Granted, the first nine races of 2021 have been something of a struggle and have fallen well short of Miguel Oliveira’s two wins last year. But Petrucci is a premier class race winner, a name that has eight three top finishes in bike racing’s toughest championship and is an entertainer off the bike, one of a few names currently operating in MotoGP that can light up a stale press conference. A man of his experience should be given adequate time to find his feet in a new environment.

Yet as much as I admire Petrucci as a competitor and a person, if would be remiss to write the decision off as hasty. It’s worth pointing out that no rookie in Moto2 history has amassed the numbers Fernandez has managed in a brilliant three-month spell from April to June. Fernandez has totalled 153 points in those nine races, including three

wins and two further podiums.

For some perspective: Marc Marquez and Maverick Viñales managed 120 at the half-way point in their respective rookie years. Andrea Iannone had 106 points nine races into his, Alex Rins 103 and Joan Mir 95.

Indeed, no rookie has made this big an impact in the intermediate class since Dani Pedrosa in 2004.

More than the numbers, there has been something genuinely impressive about the manner in which Fernandez has taken the fight to team-mate Remy Gardner, now in his fifth year in the class. Last time out at Assen he had become the first rookie to reach four pole positions in Moto2 since Marquez’s turbulent debut in 2011. He then produced a fightback that would have gained even the eight-time champion’s approval, displaying the composure to win after a second lap mistake that saw him drop to ninth. After Gardner acknowledged his team-mate, 31 points back in the fight, will be no pushover in the season’s second half.

KING? “I’ve got to keep the eye on the ball and keep on top of it because Raul is quick!”

At just 20 years of age, Fernandez already looks like the complete package. As well as his sterling results, the rider from Madrid has proved blistering over a single flying lap, racking up six front row starts. His work rate can’t be faulted. Last year current team boss Aki Ajo said, “It’s really important to analyse the rider to understand how committed he is. With Raul I don’t have any doubts about this.

Sometimes we need to stop him and tell him to relax!” This is a trait KTM’s top bosses value over a good deal else. Add in that he’s tough – see how he recovered from arm pump issues at Jerez – and is a remarkably quick learner – his remarkable weekend at Mugello in June was only his second visit there – and it’s clear why he is being fast-tracked to the very top.

At this point it’s worth reminding ourselves where Fernandez was nine months ago. In his second full season in Moto3 – and his

first in Ajo’s outfit – the Spaniard was yet to covert free practice and qualifying speed into top results. He repeatedly cut a nervous figure on the grid and hadn’t quite found the knack for managing his tyres correctly.

Ajo recently told me, “It was a big part mental growing. Also, the riding style and improving to understand his riding style… He was always really strong with the new tyres but maybe he could not keep the same style with used tyres and [he] took some time to understand and adapt to this.”

Ajo even went as far as to admit there were the smallest of concerns over his late decision to move Fernandez up to Moto2 late into last year. “Of course, I had in mind this ‘old Raul’ is coming, who was a little too nervous and hot in the box, and sometimes hot on the bike…But it never came. I have to say it seems he made another step this season so far. I’m really happy to see. And I’m surprised also that everything has happened so quick.”

BY NEIL MORRISON

MotoGP BLOG

“When [I first signed him] I was sure he would be a rider for us in the bigger categories. His riding style and how he was practicing with the bigger bikes.

[But last year] I wanted to see more if he was mentally ready.

Riding-wise I didn’t see any problem. But mentally [there were initial questions]. But in the other hand we were working a lot on this. Raul improved a lot mentally last year. He showed really good and big steps, how he was maturing during the season. He was much calmer and focussed on everything. In the second half of the season, he really improved his race performance.”

For all the talk of his future, Fernandez insisted he was more than happy to stay in Moto2 in 2022. But with Yamaha and Aprilia making their interest in him very real, it appears KTM has had to do everything in its reach to prevent him from slipping away.

Considering he is already a fully-fledged title challenger, the evidence from the past nine months tells us he has the tools at his disposal to make it in the big time.

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FEATURE

PROPROTECTORS

By Adam Wheeler, Photos by Ray Archer

CHECKING IN WITH LEATT…

FEATURE

L

eatt have been protecting necks, lives and a heck-of-a-lot more for almost two decades. In the last two years alone, the South African brand has crafted and improved a very decent selection of motocross/off-road riding wares.

Garments, gear, necks and expansion: we grabbed 10 minutes with Moto Marketing and Athlete Manager Dave King to gain some orientation on where Leatt currently stand midway through 2021 as their portfolio now boasts innovations – and the word is not used lightly when it comes to Leatt’s ideas for improved safety - from head to toe thanks to the Turbine 360 tech helmet, Velocity goggles, neck braces, body armour, C, X & Z knee braces and the 5.5 FlexLock boots.

Dave, where is the company right now?

Priority-wise, it is difficult to say because 2021 has been challenging for all brands - I’m sure - but we have every category now, and we are expanding within those categories to produce products that available for all pockets. The FlexLock boots have been surprisingly strong. To the point where we had to plead with the factory to have another order made.

We have been crying out for more stock.

Maybe they were apprehensive, and that’s normal for a company with a new product, but they have sold so well.

The neck braces have advanced to the point where they are light, minimal and very functional. Is it likely we’ll see any big changes?

It is tricky. The current range of braces – especially the 6.5 and the 5.5 in terms of adjustability – there isn’t a model on the market that comes close.

“IT’S GOOD FOUR-WAY STRETCH MATERIAL. AND I FEEL THAT WE HAVE HIT THE BALANCE BETWEEN STRENGTH, PERFORMANCE AND LONGEVITY...”

Having said that it is a foundation product, and we are constantly looking to upgrade it but it’s hard because the platform and the way it is designed is optimum. We will never stop banging the drum about neck braces and Chris Leatt has been on quite a few podcasts recently talking about them. Chris is the founder of the company and is still heavily involved, so when a product category

is discussed he is involved in the product briefing: a white paper document if you like, charting a product’s birth until finalisation. He was involved in the Flexlock system in the boot to reduce forces to the ankle and the knee. We try to look at what is in the market and how we can improve it. That’s the priority for how we approach products. Other brands will farm-out projects but because we have bio-medical engineers in the lab in Cape Town we start from scratch with every single item.

Do you continue to see changing attitudes about neck protection?

Chris keeps pushing with the FIM. We have our data, we have a white paper and now there are independent test results which was done through American EMS Action Sports and was a ten-year study on neck protection – all braces – and the results are outstandingly positive.

We didn’t even know it was happening and saw it on a social media post. We picked it up from there and the results are astonishing. The nice thing is that it also halts a lot of the myths around neck braces. The simple fact is that it’s safer to use a neck brace than to ride without one.

SEE THE STUDY HERE You probably won’t be able to say but is there another area that Leatt want to explore?

To be honest the categories are done.

Now we are just working within them for ground-breaking technology, for example that might be new fabrics or materials with our gear – we don’t make any custom-made shirts, pants or gloves for our athletes, they are all using off-the-shelf products, apart from the jerseys which

FEATURE are supplemented with their team logos but there is no difference for fit and material. Compared to other brands, we are starting to see and get feedback on how predominantly strong and high-performing our gear is. The helmet technology with the 360 turbine means we are glad for new standards for 2021 which is the ECE 2206. I think we were one of the first brands to pass that certification last year.

It’s nice to see that helmet standards are improving. We know we are a safety brand but we also have to be an aspirational brand to the public: we know that the first thing people do when they look at a helmet is check the colour and the design. Hopefully they then dig-down to see how safe that product is. I hope we tick all boxes. [we also asked Dave about off-road airbags. The full feature will come in the next issue] The riding gear has evolved quite quickly. Has there been a change of vendor or is there a special story behind the fast improvement?

There has been a change of vendor, but that is something which is quite common in the industry to be honest. When we started with apparel we didn’t have the same number of units as other brands so we could not be too fussy. Now we are making the numbers we can be choosier for the best products. The vendor we use now is fantastic and we work really closely with them. The gear is usually developed by us so it won’t be an off-the-shelf material but one that we can manufacture and the feedback that we have from people like F&H Kawasaki and Jonny Walker is that the resistance is really good. The riding gear is a decent example of evolution from where we started.

The design and aesthetic also: we began very conservatively and now I think you can see we have one or two ‘statement’ pieces which we try to tie into a South African theme and our heritage in some way, such as the Tiger print and in 2022 there will be another animal livery! We feel confident to do something quite loud now and it’s accepted well.

Gear is always a compromise between performance, fit and durability…

It’s good four-way stretch material. It might not be the lightest but we’re talking grammes, and I feel that we have hit the balance between strength, performance and longevity. We don’t get complaints from athletes or consumers.

Leatt seem to have improved their endorsement programme but it’s a shame that not many riders at the top of the sport are using neck braces now…

It is a bit. There have been some riders recently that have taken the brace off. I had an athlete that removed the brace and also his kidney belt because he wanted to feel freer, he admitted that the brace was not restricting him in any way but still wanted to take it off. Professional athletes are prepared to make decisions

“I HAD AN ATHLETE THAT REMOVED THE BRACE AND ALSO HIS KIDNEY BELT BECAUSE HE WANTED TO FEEL FREER, HE ADMITTED THAT THE BRACE WAS NOT RESTRICTING HIM IN ANY WAY. PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES ARE PREPARED TO MAKE DECISIONS ON ANYTHING IF THEY THINK IT WILL GIVE THEM THE SLIGHTEST ADVANTAGE FOR PERFORMANCE. WE DIDN’T PRODUCE THE NECK BRACE FOR PRO ATHLETES...”

on anything if they think it will give them the slightest advantage for performance.

Tell them that not wearing a helmet will mean an extra two-seconds a lap and some will want to go without! We didn’t produce the neck brace for Pro athletes.

We did it to make people safer. To use one is a personal choice and we do like the fact that a Pro can endorse a brace but at the same time they are always the easiest people to work with!

Cycling and mountain biking seem to have boomed during the limitations of the pandemic. Leatt have entered this field substantially as well…

The category itself is huge, that’s not to say it is taking precent though.

Everybody seems to have a bicycle in their household or has access to one.

You cannot say the same for a motorcycle. There are so many disciplines within mountain bike and they all want different products. I can see the development in that category and it is growing so much but we only starting pushing there around five years ago; we have been in moto much longer. We have a long way to go in MTB and it will grow for sure.

WorldSBK BLOG

FAST BUT FLAWED Garrett Gerloff has the talent level for MotoGP but he’s far from the finished article.

Every time a rider gets on track is an opportunity. A chance to show their talent and their speed. When we see a rider crashing in morning warm-up while chasing a lap record the immediate feeling is “why would you risk everything in a session with nothing at stake?”

There’s always something on the line, there’s always a spotlight and there’s always a scorecard in your hand when you’re an elite racer.

That competitive streak is something they take with them wherever they go.

Most riders have a chip on their shoulder and a point to prove. Garrett Gerloff has shown himself to be a fast but flawed rider. His talent is at MotoGP level but his racecraft isn’t. He’s a diamond in the rough at the moment and every time he leaves pit lane he sees it as a

referendum of his ability.

He’s out to impress and drive home why he deserves to be there.

Last weekend in The Netherlands we unfortunately saw another example of this. Crashing with Toprak Razgatlioglu in Race 2 was inexcusable. Yamaha has a title contender in 2021 and suddenly the Turk finds himself 37 points adrift through little fault of his own. It was the latest incident in a long list for Gerloff. Clashes with other riders while battling at the front in Aragon, Estoril and Assen has given the soon-to-be 26 year old a bad reputation amongst his peers.

In isolation most incidents are forgiveable. In any walk of life it’s only when incidents are accumulated at a quick rate that people start to lose patience.

In an office when someone makes a mistake it’s rare that everyone flies off the handles and jumps to criticise. However, when it’s the same person making mistakes on a regular basis suddenly it starts to cause a reaction. Racing paddocks are the same.

Riders always feel persecuted by the media when they’re scrutinised but at this point Gerloff needs to hold his hands up and admit fault and take the flak. After clashing with Michael Ruben Rinaldi in Estoril, and taking the Ducati rider out of a podium position, Gerloff was adamant that he wasn’t to blame. The panel of Race Stewards saw it differently and he was forced to start the next race from pit lane.

With the pressure-on in Misano he crashed in qualifying before setting a lap time.

Suddenly a tough weekend

BY ADAM WHEELER

BY STEVE ENGLISH was made even tougher. It was a similar story at Assen and with WorldSBK regulations having been changed midseason to allow riders to make use of two qualifying tyres it was a very costly mistake.

In both Misano and Assen the crashes meant Gerloff qualified last and had to come through the pack. He had the pace to win in Assen but 12 points was the reward for his weekend. It was another meeting of missed opportnity.

Gerloff’s eyes were bigger than his stomach and he made a massive error in judgement.

Coming from so far back meant that it was Toprak’s corner and this was another example of Gerloff riding too far on the limit. It’s a style that is easier to implement with the Yamaha but when you’re in the pack there isn’t any margin for error and that’s why the Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu incidents are being viewed so harshly by rival riders.

Coming from the back of the field he did a great job to walk away with top ten finishes in the opening two races of the weekend. His Superpole Race performance netted him eighth on the grid for Race 2.

A stunning start saw him vault up the order and heading to Turn 1 he was in the leading positions and down the inside.

He clattered Toprak while trying to take the holeshot and with that took out a brandmate vying with Rea for the top slot in the points.

Gerloff was taken under the wing of Ben Spies a few years ago and the 2009 WorldSBK champion was instrumental in opening doors at Yamaha Europe. The younger Texan’s speed has ensured that those doors have stayed open but it’s also interesting to contemplate the importance of his mentor in Gerloff’s on track persona.

Spies had to grow up tough and mean on the race track.

He was up against Mat Mladin

and the hard charging Aussie had a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude to racing. It forced Spies to be the same. They were the dominant duo in AMA Superbike racing at the time and everyone else was irrelevant to their battle. If Spies wanted a shot on the world stage the road went through Mladin. Rivalry is too weak a word for Mladin versus Spies. It was open war at times and the Suzuki teammates were focused solely on one another. Has that been a mirror to the attitude that Gerloff takes now?

In MotoAmerica Gerloff was racing against Cameron Beaubier with the established star firmly seen as a world class talent in the domestic series. He was head and shoulders above everyone else until Gerloff arrived and the Yamaha teammates could focus on each other. Racecraft wasn’t as important because, as they’ve proved, they were the elite in a shallow pool of

WorldSBK BLOG

talent. In WorldSBK for Gerloff though almost every rider is top notch. They won’t give an inch but they do expect riders to meet certain standards on track.

Gerloff has done a fantastic job of adapting to WorldSBK and immediately proving his speed and talent but he needs to learn from these mistakes. This is his fourth season on a superbike and his fourth season on a Yamaha R1.

Inexperience isn’t an excuse for him at this point. He is a special talent but the mistakes that have littered his season need to be cleaned up otherwise he’ll not fulfil his undoubted potential.

WorldSBK wants him to be successful. Having a fast American is always good news for any series.

Off the bike he’s popular and well liked but on the bike he’s seen as a loose cannon by his rivals.

There are gaps to be attacked and there’s times when you have to realise that you’re only one of 21 riders heading down to Turn 1.

Hopefully Gerloff can use this as a learning exercise. low-res image from yamaha-racing.com

TEST

UPPING

G THE SPEED TRIUMPH’S SPEED TRIPLE GETS BEEFY WITH THE 1200RS

By Roland Brown, Photos by Phil Masters

TEST

Until now, that is, and the Speed Triple 1200RS. This latest product of Hinckley’s famous family is distinctly more purposeful than its 1050cc predecessor – 30bhp more powerful, 10kg lighter and so much more finely honed that it almost belongs in a different class of motorcycle. It’s as though a slightly pot-bellied bare-knuckle champion had gone into hiding to re-emerge lean, mean and with a place on the Olympic boxing team.

The centrepiece is the new engine, which is enlarged to 1160cc with more over-square dimensions than the old unit, using experience Triumph have gained from their Moto2 race effort. Numerous redesigned parts have made the

12-valve lump both lighter and more compact. It matches its predecessor’s output until about 6500rpm before shooting ahead and revving 650rpm deeper to generate a maximum of 178bhp at 10,750rpm – slightly up on Aprilia’s Tuono V4 1100, if not on Ducati’s outrageous 205bhp Streetfighter V4.

This Speed also incorporates a comprehensively updated electronics package, incorporating five riding modes (one a customisable Rider setting), and an IMU to control sophisticated traction control and cornering ABS. It has keyless ignition and a colourful TFT instrument panel, designed to display turn-by-turn directions when paired with a smartphone.

Cruise control, backlit switchgear and a two-way quick-shifter are standard fitment rather than fancy accessories for this former back-street brawler.

The chassis is suitably ripped and refocused, based on a lightened cast aluminium frame that shifts the centre of gravity slightly forward and down.

SPEED TRIPLE 1200RS

T

riumph’s Speed Triple has always had more mouth than trousers.

The naked triple has long bristled with aggression, notably in the late Nineties when the T509 model led the Streetfighter craze with its menacing twin-headlamp glare. But the Speed has generally been as much about the High Street as high performance; its popularity based on muscular motor and appealing character rather than any ability to lock handlebars and trade lap times with stripped-down superbike rivals.

TEST

SPEED TRIPLE 1200RS

“...THE SPEED FEELS DELIGHTFULLY MANAGEABLE, AIDED BY ITS ADMIRABLY LOW 198KG DRY WEIGHT FIGURE, FAIRLY LOW SEAT AND SLIGHTLY WIDER, RAISED BARS THAT GIVE PLENTY OF LEVERAGE...”

TEST

Suspension is via multi-adjustable Öhlins units at both ends; the front brake features Brembo’s radial Stylema calipers and master cylinder with racebike-style adjustable lever ratio. The 17in wheels wear Metzeler’s track-ready Racetec RR K3 tyres, just in case anyone is any doubt about this bike’s new sense of purpose.

Ironically, the technology often fails to make a good first impression because the TFT screen takes several seconds to come to life after you press the starter button – so much so that at first I thought something had gone wrong. But it’s an attractive and easily navigated-through thing once it’s up and running. And the Speed feels delightfully manageable, aided by its admirably low 198kg dry weight figure, fairly low seat and slightly wider, raised bars that give plenty of leverage.

The RS’s compact size and grey paint (black is the alternative) are reminiscent of the 675cc Street Triple R of a few years ago, but despite being tall I found the bike respectably roomy. And this Triumph sure goes like no middleweight when you tweak its throttle. The short-stroke triple is a storming powerplant, matching the previous model’s midrange flexibility

and then coming alive from about 7000rpm to deliver awesome acceleration, the experience enhanced by revhappy smoothness, slick quick-shifter (shame the box’s neutral is hard to find at a standstill) and a tuneful if muted exhaust howl.

In Speed Triple tradition the performance is pretty useable, the slightly leant-forward riding position allowing tolerably comfortable cruising until speeds get silly, despite the almost total lack of wind protection. That’s true on warm days and short trips, at least. The accessory fly-screen and heated grips would help in the cold. But the Triple isn’t built for touring and its 15.5litre tank means the warning light comes on before 100 miles when the bike’s ridden hard.

On bumpy roads the Öhlins suspension gives a superbly controlled ride most of the time, but is distinctly firm, occasionally harsh even with compression damping backed right off. At least damping

adjustment is simple.

Two minutes’ twiddling, using just an Allen key, had both ends firmed-up to provide a superbly taut ride on track, where the sticky Metzelers and superbly powerful front brake helped make the Triumph gain time when entering corners as well as when exiting them.

Semi-active suspension, as used by rivals including BMW’s S1000R Sport and Aprilia’s Tuono V4 1100 Factory for several years, would allow a more compliant ride without loss of control. But that would add to the price. As it is, the Speed Triple 1200RS costs £15,100 – roughly on par with the BMW and the more basic, conventionally suspended RR version of the Aprilia.

Triumph’s rebooted Speed Triple is a worthy competitor for either of them.

The RS lacks a little of the old Speed’s rider-friendly charm, and might prove too hardcore for some long-time fans. But its new-found pace and poise will appeal to a new audience, and as a high-performance naked sports bike it’s a significant step forward. For the first time ever, the Speed Triple is as hard and fast as it looks.

SPEED TRIPLE 1200RS

BACK PAGE

FQ, Assen 2021. By Polarity Photo/Rob Gray

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