He is a five-time world champion and just won his 50th, yes 50th(!) GP of his career with a sublime display in the Spanish mud but, sometimes, it feels Tim Gajser isn’t held with the reverence he should be.
But that might be changing. Despite just missing out on the title last year, it was arguably one of the best seasons of his career. Going head-to-head with Jorge Prado and Jeffrey Herlings all year, winning his fair share of races and showing brilliant consistency and very few mistakes even Jorge Prado admitted he was riding the best he ever has to beat the Honda HRC rider. Gajser then recovered from that bitter disappointment to beat Jett Lawrence in the race of the year with the whole world watching to underline his brilliance.
No one will ever forget that race, and it might just have been the moment the doubters became believers. Gajser has always been under the radar. He didn’t have the hype of Herlings or Prado, coming in, but when it came time to perform, he delivered. Like Dungey in the US or Dave Thorpe in the 80s, the quiet, unassuming, nice guy makes it happen over and over again.
If you didn’t see Tim Gajser ride a bike and just had a conversation with him, you would never guess he was a living legend of the sport. No obvious ego, very respectful and very humble, Gajser is almost a secret star.
But he shouldn’t be, his composure at round one on Argentina to take a podium and not risk more than he needed too, plus his performance in the mud underlines his maturity and confidence right now. With Prado gone and Herlings injured, all eyes are on Tim Gajser and he deserves the spotlight, the statistics speak for themselves, five world titles and 50 GP wins, Gajser is a living legend already and is still adding to those stats.
And he did it coming from Slovenia, off the radar with no major help, he still made it happen and put Slovenia on the map in motocross, underlined by that MXoN performance at Matterley Basin.
Tim Gajser deserves all the respect in the world for what he has achieved. If in doubt, just ask Jeffrey Herlings and Jorge Prado how fast and tough he is to race.
