You ended up not even getting a ride. From your perspective, what happened? The French media asked me many times and I told them the story. I told my agent, and my agent was percent with me; we said we were going to stick with Kawi because we believed in the bike. At the time, it was Mike Fisher [as Kawasaki team manager] and we never, ever got the offer. Then Mike Fisher said that I wanted too much money, but we never got anything and never even asked for money.
I refused Suzuki. The only thing I wanted to do after two championships is to win another championship on the , or at least give me the chance to win. I knew the bike was good. I won a lot of races in Europe with the Kawi. I don't know why. But I don't know what the deal is. There was nobody else. I talked to the Japanese and everybody was on board, even Kawi Europe.
Talk about the fit that you had with Bobby Hewitt at Rockstar Husky? It seemed like a perfect marriage. Finally got an amazing team, especially Bobby as the team manager. The bike is good. He [Mike Fisher] never gave me anything. I think also RV [Villopoto] was a friend of mine, and then we were not friends anymore.
I beat him before and they were not very happy about that at the time. In when I came to the U. No, never ever. The money was just second for me because I won a bunch of money winning my two championships already. When I was a kid, all I wanted is always to win. I want to ride that bike and then retire from that. That killed me. I was really mad at Kawi. Everybody thought we knew the answer. We thought you asked for like five million dollars. I think Mike Fisher put this out there, because he got fired then.
I have no reason. I had other offers I could have taken. Actually KTM was a lot more money than any other brand. It was just for the bike.
So things were good when you fit in with Husky here in the end. That actually worked out great. Now the bike is good, the KTM and Husky team and everything. Once you have a good bike and then a good team and everything, everything is good.
I think I did some good things with them, some good podiums and finished top five outdoors. I think with all my injuries, it was a little bit too late for me. I enjoyed my time, but it was time to retire. There was no point for me to be just in the top 15 in supercross, and no point for them to have me there. I told them that my neck was bothering me. I talked to Bobby every day, so he knew all about it. You can always regret your life. Can I just ask you about your qualifying laps? When you came back that year with Yamaha on the and then through these last few years on a , that was must-watch stuff.
It was awesome. Was that something that ran through your mind? Did you look forward to qualifying? What was it? The training for lap time was important, because we had to qualify a few years ago to qualify for the GPs, and we had to do a lap time. That was all about lap time. So, we trained so much for this. I finally got to go to my first GP and finally qualified because I was so good at lap times. I can really put everything together just in one lap.
In the U. At the end of the year, you guys were putting a little bit of pressure on me [by showing his last few qualifying laps during the live internet coverage to see if he could get the top position]. He most do something different for sure. Otherwise, I would say the industry is more professional now with the TV and stuff. The level of riding, I mean Tony always improves every single year but you can only go so fast, you know.
I think they improve the speed with the bike. The bike and electronics and stuff are getting better so the rider can go a bit faster. That was a bad day for your career but you must be happy you made a comeback after that and to win titles again?
I broke my back, being paralyzed and then coming back. But it made me a better person for sure but the pain was a bit too much though. I was happy to at least be back on the bike. My dream was to go to the US and beat those guys at least once and I did it twice — I almost done it four times! You know, if I win what is that going to do, you know? Christophe Pourcel: Yeah, I think so. I think we have 4 or 5 guys that are very very good.
At least we see Lupino riding very good, especially today, amazing. But on the cc, who do you pick?
I hope France beat them for sure in their home country. It feels good you know, when you beat them there laughs. Happy retirement again and enjoy your awesome family. Febvre and Gajser — dealing with disappointment Bervoets leaves Kemea Yamaha on top! Published on 24 September Christophe Pourcel on Cairoli — hardest rider to beat!
Your comments. The 84, who has been a KTM racer …. He earned it the hard way but, in the end, when it really mattered and his back was against the wall, Jeffrey Herlings delivered. Despite four zero scores, a broken ….
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