Mike Brown says his time racing 125 GPs in 1999 and 2000 helped him come back to America and win the 125 AMA outdoor title against the man he battled in GPs, Grant Langston – and they could have been teammates that year!
Brown on benefitting from MXGP experience
I thank Europe for that! Europe maybe helped me win the championship for sure. Being over over there racing and learning how to ride the tracks, the way they should be ridden. You see now that European guys, it’s getting more equal now, but I think back then the European guys had an advantage on how they rode the track and I learned how to do that. The corner speed was much different than everybody else’s me and Grants, that year we came back, 2001.
It was good to win (that 2001 125 AMA title). Like, you know, everybody counts you out when you go there (Europe). I’ve been to Europe three or four times and came back and still do good here (US). I think, not saying me, but I think me racing and coming back, the same as Zach Osborne, he went there to race, learned a lot, came back and was winning everything. It’s a good learning curve, especially for kids. It’s, I don’t know, say that’s have everything handed to them. It’s hard to go there and race and be competitive when you’re not used to the living part, the language part, the whole thing. So when you go up there, you grow up quick and you come back here, ready to race.
Racing the British Championship in 1999/2000- mini GP!
I love the racing. I’d rather race than sit at home, I’d rather race every weekend, especially when you’re away from America, it just keeps you busy and you’re focused on I’m racing this weekend. That was good. And that, that (British) series then, a couple of years where it was like a GP (Nunn, Sword, Dobb all raced), you showed up, we’d have a European guy show up there nearly every week. So wasn’t easy racing and I actually liked the tracks, a lot of the tracks were technical and rough.
Coming back to America and back to Mitch Payton – but it should have been KTM!
I started with him (Mitch Payton) in 92 on the Honda Peak team and then, you know, went around the world a few times and then back on Mitch’s team and then win a championship for him (2001) was good. I had good bikes.
I could have been on the KTM team that year, but I switched and went with the Mitch. I had a contract – a letter of intent to go KTM when I came back with Grant but last minute, I changed it up. A hundred percent. Yeah, I should have been (teammates with Langston in 2001).
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