During our interview with Antonio Cairoli at Lommel we asked the nine-time world champion to look back on some of his favourite rivals during the course of his 20 year career but there was one rider Cairoli wishes he could have raced bar-to-bar with – James Stewart!
Cairoli told us: “Actually, the only one I miss, I couldn’t share a track, let’s say, with was James Stewart. I think, for me, he was the guy who I really want to race, you know, share the track and try to battle some races, but never happened, let’s say, for a lot of reasons. This, I think, is my biggest regret, because I think I was a big fan, and whatever he did on the bike was just amazing, let’s say. If you compare him with Jet, I think, if you see James, you are like, wow, this is fast. But then you see Jet, you think, oh, this is not fast, but then you check the clock, the and you say, this is very fast, too. But James somehow shows more speed and more style in a lot of situations. So I really appreciated watching him racing, but I never had the chance to race.
To the guys who I fight with, of course, Desalle, we had a lot of good battles. He was a very tough guy to battle with for the championship. Jeffrey, of course, also, because, I mean, he was, let’s say, maybe the fastest I ever battled with, but he was quite wild, so sometimes, you know, he disappeared from the championship before injuries.
Christophe Pourcel, was a guy who I really respect a lot, because his technique was amazing, and fighting with him was always fun and nice. Yeah, and then many, many riders, I cannot remember everybody, because fortunately, I had such a long career, yeah.
The one time you might have got a race in James was the first moto at Matterley on a Sunday, but I think Mackenzie, or somebody took you out or a crash?
No, I think Stefan took me out. Yeah, I think, if I remember good it was with Stefan, he just missed the ruts and then went outside and took my front wheel and I crashed.
It could have been Cairoli versus Everts versus Stewart that moto!
Yeah, that would be the highlight of my career, probably, but yeah, I was gone after three corners.
That day ended quite well as well with winning the second race, MX2 was you, Villopoto, Townley, Pourcel and the four best of the time, and you come out on top. That race must be very memorable for you as well.
Yeah, that was fantastic. Also, I mean, riding the track, one of my favourite track, always, you know, was still a track and race that I really remember, yeah.
