One of the wonderful things about the current format of the FIM Motocross World Championship is how there are different levels, from the EMX, to MX2 and finally the MXGP class, the pinnacle of World motocross.
Getting to that final stop, the MXGP class is a tough road. Of course, the MX2 class has been dominated by the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team in recent years, with the orange bikes taking more championships in the MX2 class than any other brand, but it isn’t just about the bikes, as Dirk Gruebel the team manager of the Red Bull KTM Factory MX2 effort knows.
“Our bikes have been great the last 10 years,” Gruebel said. “I would never take anything away from Tom here though. It was a fairy-tale. I remember when we arrived in Argentina in 2020 and people were asking me, what are you doing, are you crazy or something, who is Tom Vialle? Tom had a nice style and a good attitude and to be World champion in the second year of your Grand Prix career, that is special”.
Vialle did come out of nowhere and it was a similar road as another former MX2 World Champion in Jorge Prado, another Red Bull KTM rider and somebody else who proved that the machine that gets you out of the start could lead to you being crowned World champion.
“There are similarities (To Vialle and Prado),” Gruebel continued. “In the test to see if we wanted him or not, his Dad Fred came up to me said they want to beat Prado in the starts. When he said that, I was thinking to myself, that is a big challenge and if you can do that, you are already in a good place, because obviously the start is very important. Fred (Vialle) said to me, you watch, my son is a good starter we will do it. Well, the first year, when Jorge was still there, he beat Jorge in some starts and was always there with Jorge, then this year, he was great out of the start. Of course, the bike helps, but I don’t think Jago’s (Geerts) Yamaha is that much different.”
Having the right people around you make the job a lot easier and Rasmus Jorgensen, a former GP racer himself and now team manager of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna MX2 team feels that without the right support, being a top GP rider is very difficult. His perfect example is that of Aussie racer Jed Beaton, who arrived in Europe as a teenager and is now a contender for the 2021 MX2 championship.
“It is huge,” Jorgensen said. “It really is huge. That is something you really need to be organized with and for sure with an MX2 team, because getting a young rider from Australia when they are 18 or 19, it isn’t just sticking him on a bike and that is it. There is a lot behind the scenes and a happy rider is a fast rider. You cannot babysit these guys, but we try as much as possible to give them things they need on a personal side, there needs to be a structure, but it also needs to come from them. We signed a 14-year-old from France (Maxime Grau), and the only way we can make that work is that the Dad is fully committed and moves into an apartment and move here with the kid. You can’t send a 14-year-old to Belgium and say he is going to be World champion in three years.”
So, with another few months before the MX2 championship starts, all the new fresh kids entering the 250 championship will be getting the help they need to battle the likes of Vialle and Beaton, and while the Frenchman and the Australian will be at the pointy end of the championship, there will be dozens of teenagers trying to reach the hights of the best in the class.
Photo Copyright: Ray Archer
