Roger DeCoster did not mince his words in an interview with Swapmoto, urging everyone to up their game from the team, himself and the people at KTM in order help better synchronise the bike and the rider.
The blunt assessment comes after a couple of seasons with Cooper Webb not being able to adjust as much as he wanted to the new KTM and then Chase Sexton chasing settings all season in a bid to get comfortable.
Roger said: “Sometimes we are not good enough at understanding what the rider is trying to tell us. Today’s riders, I have to say, it is amazing how good they can ride and what they can do on a bike, but they work less and less themselves on the bikes. They know less about the details of the intricate parts of suspension and also the engine, so it is more difficult to communicate between the riders and the technicians and engineers that designed the bike.
“We need to learn to do a better job at reading the riders. You take three, four, five riders, and if they face the same problem, they are going to describe it in a different way. So, many times, it is our mistake in not understanding correctly.”
“Sometimes there are people that are really stubborn back at the factory also because they are not so close to supercross and sometimes they cannot believe certain complaints, so we need to do a better job on that side also. But we learned a lot this season, and I hope we can put it to good use outdoors and the next supercross season.”
Roger DeCoster, after all these years, is still a ruthless winner and doesn’t accept losing well, he is still doing whatever it takes to win! See the whole interview below:
