Tom Vialle got to return to France for the first time in nearly a year and put on a tremendous display to go 1-1-1 in the MX2 class and even stay with Maxime Renaux in race two! The two-time world champ showed his true speed at home in front of a wild crowd, and can now add MXoN world champ to his list of accomplishments.
We caught up with Tom to discuss his weekend and his first season in Americ, read or watch below:
Tom, I don’t think that could have went any batter for you on your return to Europe and return to France, 1-1-1, it was like GP Tom was back!
It was nice to be back, Ernee is a track I like and I enjoyed the whole weekend, it was amazing, the fans were incredible. I had two good motos, I won the Saturday and today I won both motos in MX2, I felt great all weekend long. It was nice to be back here.
Were you riding your GP suspension this weekend or your American one?
No, I ride my American one.
How did you find the competition, the likes of Laengenfelder and Coenen was quick in qualifying?
Yeah but qualifying doesn’t matter we don’t win points for qualifying. The qualifying race was nice I had a good race behind Simon, I could see his rhythm. It was a little bit different to outdoor (US) we have way more intensity in outdoors but also the track, you can put so much intensity outdoors, the dirt is way better. The track (Ernee) was awesome but it was super hard and slick, you cannot ride like as aggressive as you can in the US, so that’s the biggest difference I think. It was a good weekend both motos today and yesterday, it was awesome.
What was it like riding in front of that crowd, it’s one of the best crowds I have ever seen and it’s all for you!
It was awesome, I have never exprienced that before. For the riders, to see so many fans next to the track, it’s amazing.
How would sum up your first AMA season?
Supercross was way different for me, it’s another world so I had to learn a lot and then motocross the tracks are really new for me and it’s pretty tough because it’s not like a GP were you get a lot of time on the track, you get only 15 minutes and you go straight to the motos! To be honest, the level there pretty high, there is a lot of guys with my speed. We will see, next year I think I will feel way better, I was already feeling better in SMX and the last motocross race, the Nations was good, so next year should be better.
Are you enjoying living over there?
Yeah, it was pretty hard at the beginning but now I am used to it, I really like it.
Regarding supercross last year, you were pretty quick everywhere it was just the whoops, is the plan to work on that for the winter?
Yeah, that’s the plan for the winter, yeah!
And do you know what coast you are riding?
No, I don’t know yet.
Interview: Jonathan McCready
Image: InFront Moto Racing
