In our exclusive interview with Pit Beirer, we asked him about his thoughts on the very popular and increasingly prestigious SMX championship as well as his thoughts on Chase Sexton, who took KTM so close to a supercross title after winning the outdoors last year. His answers were, as always, very interesting and very honest.
Moving over to America, Chase Sexton, you signed him for the 24 season. He said in an interview with the Adam Cianciarulo and Justin Brayton podcast, I think it was, but a week before Anaheim one last year, he was afraid to go through the whoops 20 times in a row. Fast forward a year and he wins Anaheim 1. So can you talk about the progress that you made with him over that 12 months?
Well, I think it was definitely great (progress) because he was scared of the whoops on our bike. Where I want to say I think it was not that bad like he was telling us, but we always want to have the honest truth from the rider in our face. And then he proved the bike and especially Roger, Ian and the WP guys in USA. They turned the thing around upside down so many times. And at the end, we had a better bike, and that’s what’s racing all about. I mean, if the rider is not happy, we need to work day and night until the rider is happy because racing is results at the end, you only get that if the rider is confident. If the rider is not confident, you will not have the results.
You cannot say this is a champion. I pay him a lot of money and now he has to bring the results. This is not how it works. So you need to try to give him a confidence. Is it always possible? No. Even if we try as hard as we can, sometimes it’s not possible. But this is what’s a promise in our camp. We try with every rider to get him what he needs to perform. And with Chase, it took a while, maybe also too long for his patience. But still while he was not so happy, he did still great results.
So it was really on a high level. But then when I saw him going through the whoops this year, where we many times even his lap time against the other best riders in the whoops, I feel this was a big achievement for our side and what it is all about. The bike became better and we learned from it, and so I think we have a really strong package also going into the future.
How is Chase to work with? From a media side, he’s always really honest, whether that’s press conferences etc, maybe that’s not always great for KTM!
That’s fun for you guys, right? If he’s so honest! I would prefer sometimes to tell us first before he tells you guys, but it’s okay. The boys, they take the risk. They have the pressure. They go into a stadium full of people and they need to perform. Everybody can see everything. They get ripped in pieces if they don’t perform. So they need to unload sometimes and it’s okay. So you guys are with us every weekend and you find out. We cannot make you any story.
So at the end, if the rider is not happy, we have to make a better bike. It’s quite simple. And so I’m okay – let them talk. I hope also they talk when the bike becomes better to tell us, okay, now we achieved something. He’s a great guy and he makes us as a team, as a bike, look good. And so that’s all okay. We want the truth. We want the truth and we want to make the riders happy. That’s our target. That’s why we have so many passionate people. Now we are here in the DeCarli (MXGP) camp. I feel the guys we have around the world, starting with Roger and Ian in the US and then all the teams, we want to make riders happy. And if riders are happy, the bike is good. That’s it.
There’s rumors he’s not going to be with KTM next year. So how has your two years with Chase been for you? There’s been big highs and I guess a few lows.
Yeah, you know, there has been highs because there is a championship. And, and if the low is just not winning a championship, it’s not really a low. You know, you’re still performing against the best riders in the world. So, with him, we were in the hunt for championships, both supercross and motocross. And yeah, we could prove it’s a premium project with a premium rider and, and he’s strong. I mean, just now how he’s coming back from his injury. He can come back from an okay race and then the next race already winning. So, so he’s a very strong rider and a strong body. I mean, physically very fit. So the prototype of a great racer.
On the SMX Championship, he still has a chance to win that. That’s a new championship – how valuable is that to KTM?
Yes, but I might not make myself super popular, but I think the season in the US is too long for the riders. So doing a full Supercross season, doing a motocross season, and then the SMX series, it’s just too much. And then we still expect them to come with the best riders to the Motocross of Nations. It’s the calendar that is for me, overloading staff and riders and just look how many riders make it from the first race in Supercross to the last race in SMX. So the riders take their break, but they have to break. They have to take the break by taking an injury.
Chase, he felt he needed a break after the pressure of Supercross.
Yes, and that’s why I don’t think it’s normal that a rider gets a break only if he has an injury. I think every sport season has kind of a beginning, a high and a low, and then sometime off, and then you restart again. So I feel we need to talk there to the promoters and AMA and the industry really to make a calendar which is doable for riders because we want the best guys on track. We don’t want them at home and then winning because another guy is injured. So I feel there we need to react. We cannot go on like this and just have half of the field at home and then just fill up with other riders. So I’m not satisfied. I don’t know. I don’t know about other people in the sport. And it’s not… I mean, you know, I love to see our guys on the track. Yeah, we have the team, we pay the riders, so we have marketing when they are on the track, don’t get me wrong. But we also need to make sure we don’t burn these fantastic guys out. I mean, all of them, and I feel it’s just too much.
And also, to restart this kind of Supercross style straight after motocross, you just saw the guys last year who have been injured and not been in the season, but then preparing already kind of Supercross style for the last few races, they came out swinging. But if you do a full motocross season and you just go down, you’re not ready for Supercross. The team and the bike is not ready for Supercross. So to squeeze that in after an outdoor season, I don’t feel good.
I feel we should have a break and restart the season in January. That’s where we all want to be. Anaheim 1 is the first Supercross. So that’s where we all want to be and that’s where we all want to be with healthy riders, but also with the recovered staff and bikes and things. But yeah, I don’t want to make it too big of a story, but it’s my personal opinion. And if I get asked, I will tell you.
