After a dream start to the season for the KTM factory Junior EMX125 team, Team Manager Thomas Traversini has every reason to be satisfied—but not complacent. With his young Austrian duo delivering another dominant 1-2 result, the Italian has overseen one of the standout performances in the EMX125 paddock so far this year. While Ernecker continues to impress with his flawless form at the front, Bauer has shown grit and determination to fight through adversity following injury setbacks. We caught up with Traversini as he reflects on their rapid progress, the long-term vision for KTM’s rising stars, and also shares his thoughts on the top Italian’s in MXGP.
GateDrop: Thomas, the overall result, it couldn’t have gone much better. You must be pleased with your weekend with the riders going 1-2 again. You seem to be working with another two very bright young talents there.
Traversini: Let’s say if you told me before the season begins, I wouldn’t believe that it was going so good, but for the moment it’s going well. Especially with Moritz who had a strong winter, he never stopped for not even one day, so he managed to do his job and now this pays off. It’s a different story with Ricardo that he gets injured during the first race of the international Italian Championship and therefore he had a surgery on his wrist. He just came in time for the first EMX in Spain which he performed good. He also managed to win a moto but he’s for sure not 100% fit, especially because he has some illness between Swiss and Sardinia that doesn’t give him a chance to train and he lost quite many kilos before Sardinia. Anyway, now it’s quite good so that was a good weekend for us and then we went 1-2 and I cannot ask for better results. I still believe that we will not stop working and we have something to get better for both of them. We are working on it because you know the championship is quite long. We just did four rounds and what is done is done, we think about the future so I am always looking to improve something and get better and better every weekend.
GateDrop: With Moritz, I mean how impressed are you with him? Okay, his starts are really good but when he gets out in front he makes it look so easy, it looks like he doesn’t even try, so smooth, very technical, you must be impressed when you’re watching him out there at the front, it looks like he’s out on a Sunday stroll…
Traversini: It’s amazing the way he rides the bike. He’s really confident at the moment so I think it becomes all the things together that makes the feeling and the confidence 100% so he can show the real potential and he can play with the bike. Of course, he gets almost every start and he’s made life easier for sure but then he pulls away quite a lot in the first two laps. He is three or four seconds per lap faster than the competitors and he did not make mistakes so he just does everything he likes in the good way and that’s it.
GateDrop: With Ricardo he’s a little bit on the opposite, he hasn’t been getting the good starts but on the other hand you must be happy with the way he’s able to battle through a pack, it’s not easy especially in that class, there’s a lot of riders the same speed…
Traversini: That’s true and actually he gets some good starts but many times especially in the first races he throws the chance in the garbage because he makes a small mistake or crash. In Sardinia, he was two times top ten and then he crashed in the first moto and in Swiss he was also crashing after two or three laps but anyway this can happen. It’s a learning process so let’s see the glass half full and I think they can both improve – especially Ricardo because he’s not 100% and we will see what’s going on for the rest of the season.
GateDrop: When it comes to Austrian talents we’ve kind of been waiting for somebody to come after Rene Hofer, KTM must be happy that these two have come along now, it’s great for them being Austrian, KTM must be very happy with your work you’re doing with them…
Traversini: About the riders we decide always together. KTM for sure has the last word on the riders but they always ask me what I think about this rider or the other one. They are all small kids that somehow get some help from KTM since they start racing so I said why not take the chance. KTM is an Austrian brand, and we have two Austrians that deserve this place, this spot on our factory team so I think we took the right decision because it’s good advertising for the company and for the whole country as well.
GateDrop: Do you think long term in the future that it’s likely that we’ll see them stay with KTM you know to race the EMX250 class and hopefully in the future the World Championship?
Traversini: I think that’s the idea behind the 125cc factory rookies, to take riders from 85cc and give them some knowledge and some structure to ride the EMX125 class. Then when they are ready send them to the next step with the other factory junior teams like Shaun Simpson and Van Venrooy KTM. Maybe they also get a chance to go to the factory team.
GateDrop: Just on MXGP, Andrea Adamo, it’s his rookie season, so far some very good races considering it’s early days in the class, just what have your thought of him so far this season?
Traversini: I think he’s doing a really good job, he’s a guy which is firstly a hard worker so he put a lot of work together in the winter time. He knows that it’s not going to be easy for many things because he’s racing the queen class, I would say. You have a lot of good names and good teams, everything is high level so you cannot do small mistakes which will cost you quite a bit. I think he did a really good winter and he’s improving race after race, he made a couple of mistakes but this is understandable for the rookies here. I expect before the end of the season that he can show something even more on the top.
GateDrop: Alberto Forato, he’s really impressing me because he’s missed so much racing – pretty much two years, the comeback is never easy never mind and the level this year is unbelievable so running inside the top 10 plenty, you must be pleased to see that and hopefully he can stay injury free this year and keep getting better…
Traversini: I think he’s a strong guy, he’s always been fast and in the last few years like you said he was not so lucky. He has to deal with a lot of injuries and long injuries so now I keep my fingers crossed for him because we are good friends. I hope for him that he’s going to get back on business and he did a good job for the moment. Let’s see if he can continue but I think he can, I’m quite confident and maybe he’ll also be in the top 10 more consistently and then it will already be a really good thing for him I think.
GateDrop: Antonio Cairoli is probably going to race a few AMA Nationals, are you looking forward to that and of course he represented Italy last year, are you still open for that if he impresses in the races he does?
Traversini: It’s difficult to say now because I think in the MXGP class we have a lot of riders which are there, we have Adamo, Forato, Guadagnini and Bonacorsi. All four of them race the MXGP class so they can be ready for the MXoN if that’s the question. For sure we cannot forget about Antonio but I think now it’s too early to say. We have to see what’s going on. He gave a lot to this sport and also to our country so we cannot push him so hard now. Last year he really made the job with some injuries during the first moto he wants to race the second moto. It’s not so common that you see from even from a young rider that he tries so hard to do it so imagine from a guy which is so many times world champion and so many years in the field.
GateDrop: In MX2, Valerio Lata, are you happy with his progress obviously he’s probably got a little bit of pressure this year because he’s the biggest Italian let’s say in the class. You’ve got Zanchi too, but he got injured and is only back…
Traversini: I think in MX2 class we have just those two boys. In this moment I would say they are ready for the MXoN. It seems to be that Valerio now for some reason is more consistent than Ferruccio. I think it’s too early to talk about the MXoN, I need to count on those two and I hope both of them go well until the end of the season and then I will pick the best one in the end.
