For Byron Dennis, his European adventure is already proving to be a huge success. The Australian made his EMX250 debut just one round ago in Sweden and, after an impressive fifth overall, he went two better at the brutally rough and sandy Arnhem circuit to claim his first podium in just his second race in the class. Having quickly adapted to the vastly different conditions and the depth of competition in Europe, Dennis has certainly caught the attention of the paddock.
Racing for Cat Moto Bauerschmidt KTM, the 19-year-old has embraced the opportunity to gain experience in the European championship, with his current plans set to take him to Turkey before finishing the season racing the MX2 World Championship in China and Australia. With his short-term deal already extended beyond its original two-round plan, Dennis admits he would love the opportunity to return to the MXGP paddock for a full season in 2027.
We caught up with Dennis at Arnhem to discuss his breakthrough podium, adapting to European sand, the difference between racing in Australia and Europe, his experience with Cat Moto Bauerschmidt KTM, his plans for the final rounds and his hopes of making a full-time move to Europe next season.
GateDrop: Byron, it’s only ever your second ever EMX250 race and at a rough gnarly sand track but you’re ticking all the boxes at the minute. A podium, just how does it feel to get your first podium at your second attempt? Pretty unbelievable when you think about it…
Dennis: Unreal, it’s pretty cool these events and the atmosphere is unreal so it’s pretty cool to stand up there and see all the fans, all the people that are coming and watching. The atmosphere and everything is just an unreal experience.
GateDrop: I mean what was the track like? Have you ever raced a track as rough as yesterday? That was brutal…
Dennis: Yes and no. I went to Lommel during the week so that was a bit of an eye-opener. The Euro sand tracks are like nothing else you know, they are pretty sandy and they get rough and choppy and have it all. It’s pretty hard to push and really throw down a good lap so I struggled a bit in the qualifying. I got there in the end of the moto.
GateDrop: But I mean it’s not easy, the level is very very high but you’ve slotted in and you’ve made it look easy. How does it feel riding around the track? I mean I think you were fourth in Australia and you’re pretty much the same over here but how would you find the level compared to like Australia for example?
Dennis: We have a pretty good level in Australia, it’s just there’s more riders over here, it’s more than just the top 10 are fast, the top 10 are fast back home but it’s the top 40 that are fast here. It’s really hard if you get a bad start to ride through and make some passes. I feel like the tracks have been, like yesterday’s track had a lot of passing opportunities but today not so much. The tracks are quite on lined especially being so early in the morning so it’s different but it’s all the same, it’s unreal.
GateDrop: I mean you’ve went from Sweden to Arnhem, two completely different tracks, one is rock hard and then this one is deep sand, I suppose that’s the important thing about being here, you need to be good in a lot of conditions, do you feel good in hard pack and sand?
Dennis: For sure. I feel like at home, I grew up on a lot of hard pack surfaces but then I trained down the bottom of Melbourne which is a bit sandier but nothing like this. I feel like I can ride a bit of everything and sort of well across the board. It doesn’t take much to adjust so we just get through it.
GateDrop: You are with the Cat Moto Bauerschmidt KTM team, how have they made you feel welcome? You’ve only been here a few weeks but it all seems to be going well…
Dennis: For sure they’ve looked after me and obviously they took a bit of a gamble and believed in me to let me come over and ride their equipment. Andre and the team here have been unreal and I couldn’t ask for a better relationship so far.
GateDrop: I think you’ve mainly been in the Netherlands/Belgium. How are you finding that as your base, it’s very different from Australia…
Dennis: Yeah, for sure. It is different but it was pretty warm when we first came over here, that was a bit of a shock coming out of our winter back home. We sort of just adjusted to it and that’s the thing that you guys have over here, the world championship, there’s so many different environments and cultures. It is a bit of a shock really but you have just got to take it all as an experience and do what you can and go from there.
GateDrop: Initially this deal was only supposed to be until this weekend but you’ve done so well, do you think we’ll be seeing you in Turkey?
Dennis: I think so. I think the plan is that we are going to head to Turkey and then I’ll meet up with my team from back home to race China to race the MX2 World Championship class there. I’ll then finish off in Darwin so it has just been unreal to be able to come through and do the last five rounds at the GP’s and just take it all on.
GateDrop: For Turkey will that be EMX again or would you be tempted to do MX2 there?
Dennis: No, it’ll be EMX again with the Cat Moto guys.
GateDrop: Are you looking forward to the final two rounds, EMX250 is one thing but MX2 is another step up again…
Dennis: For sure. I feel like it’s a good stepping stone for me to come over and do a couple of EMX rounds and understand how it all works and take it all in. I am looking forward to working my way home and meeting up with some friends and family sort of thing so looking forward to it.
GateDrop: Well, I have to ask you about next year. I want to see you back in this paddock next year, I don’t really care if it’s EMX or MX2 but have you got any options? I mean I’m sure you are turning some heads…
Dennis: Not really, at the moment, no. We will see how we go and just keep chipping away at it, you never know what comes.
GateDrop: I’m sure you would like to come back?
Dennis: Yeah, for sure. I’d love to come and do the whole series so it’d be unreal but we’ll see how it plays out.
