Cornelius Tøndel has a new mid-season challenge as the MXGP rider has the opportunity to race three rounds of the AMA Pro Motocross series with his JWR Honda squad. The Norwegian has shown flashes of his potential whilst competing at both Southwick and RedBud. While speed hasn’t been the issue, bad luck has made things tough — but Tøndel remains upbeat heading into Millville.
We caught up with Tøndel to get his thoughts on the two races he’s competed in so far…
“Southwick started off great, I qualified third overall, it was probably one of the best qualifying laps I ever did,” Tøndel reflected. “It was even at the end of the session in the B group and one lap away from the A group who went on track straight after us, that was great.”
The opening moto in Southwick also looked promising as he even battled Eli Tomac for the first part of the race – clearly feeling at home in the American sand.
“The first race I was running seventh the whole race until four or five laps to go and then the heat got to me, it got really hot, and I had a bit of a heat stroke,” he explained. “The second race I made it to the start but unfortunately on the first lap one rider crashed in front of me and I had nowhere to go and I high-sided straight over him, so I had to stop the race. I was a bit banged up, but I had a full week to recover, and I didn’t ride during the week because Honda transport the bikes, and we don’t have space for it. So, it was just a week of recovering and alternative training.”
Tøndel kept the momentum going into RedBud with another strong qualifying.
“RedBud was also a great qualifying for me to be honest. I was ninth in the first session, and I didn’t improve in the second session, but I was 12th overall which was great as well,” he said. “I had Antonio Cairoli straight in front and it was really close to fifth position so that was also a really good qualifying.”
Unfortunately, bad luck struck again in moto one which hampered what could have been a top ten result.
“In the first race I had a good start again. I was round the top ten at the start but at the end of the first lap, the shift lever bent under the foot peg, and I couldn’t shift. I came into the pits, and we tried to bend it back. We were not able to bend it back properly and I had a small tip over, so I bent the handlebar, and I hit my hip a bit and we decided that it was better to stop. Not being able to shift it was not really going to be like I would get back to the top 10 either way so that was just unfortunate.”
The second moto required a fightback from the outside as he had last gate pick – in America the second moto gate selection is based on where you finish the first moto.
“In the second race with the way it is in the US I had to start from the complete outside so gate 40 and obviously not the easiest from the outside with a stock bike against the factory bikes on the inside. It was not a great start, and I went from basically last to inside the top twenty. I had a small tip over and I came back to 20th again, so I got a point.”
“It was just unfortunate with the bad luck in the first race which could have been great for the second race if I could have got in the top 10 and have a better gate pick, top 10 again for the second race would have made it a lot easier for me. I think I had it in me to be top 10 in both races so that was just bad luck and nothing we can do about it.”
Despite the misfortune, Tøndel remains positive and is now focused on the next round taking place this weekend.
“I am looking forward to the coming weekend in Millville. It’s a track I think I will enjoy a lot and I’m really excited for it. I will have one week again with no riding, but we will just take it easy and enjoy our time here in the US and then hope for the best in Millville. I really think it can be a great day for me there.”
The American race-day format is also something Tøndel is enjoying and something different for him as the MXGP World Championship is a two-day format.
“The one-day format — I really like it… It’s a better way to be honest,” he said. “We arrive on Friday morning, you do the press day, and the Saturday is nice and compact. Before 4PM we are finished, we pack up, eat dinner and then we go to sleep. We still have Sunday to have a day off, take it easy and do what you want. On Monday you start the next week so it’s quite a nice way to have it and it just makes it way more relaxed, it’s super nice.”
As for the level of competition, Tøndel isn’t intimidated and is keen to mix it with the best in the world on either side of the Atlantic.
“The competition, there isn’t much difference and for me it doesn’t matter who I line up against. You have top riders in both AMA and MXGP, so it is similar. The prize money is good in AMA which is nice, I was privateer of the week after Southwick and despite the bad luck at RedBud I could still score a point.”
With clear top-10 speed and a good attitude despite setbacks, Cornelius Tøndel will be one to watch as the series heads to Millville in what will be his last AMA Pro Motocross race before he heads back to contest the rest of the MXGP World Championship.
There is still a chance that Tøndel could race one more event in America but that depends on Norway sending a team to Ironman for the Motocross des Nations in October, that is still to be decided.
