Jay Wilson ‘shocked’ at MX2 World Championship speed!
After six rounds of the MX2 World Championship, Jay Wilson decided to split from his I-Fly JK Yamaha outfit to return home to Australia so he could be with his newly born daughter.
Motoonline.com recently caught up with Wilson and he had some interesting things to say about the World Championship, you can read the full interview here. It appears that he wasn’t all that surprised at the speed of the top ten riders but more so at the depth of the class and the riders battling for world championship points.
“It was tough, it was definitely tough”, reflected Wilson on his time competing in the MX2 World Championship.
“I enjoyed travelling and stuff like that, but it was a bit of a shock. I knew the top guys were unbelievably fast, but the guys from 15th and beyond were still on it, those guys are all going so fast as well. That’s probably what shocked me so much, the speed the guys outside the top 10 were still going – they’re actually not that far off. If you don’t start up front or you don’t qualifying well, it makes it so hard on you. That’s probably where I struggled a lot, I was struggling with qualifying and that would set me up with bad gate picks on the outside. But in saying that, I learnt a lot while I was there and I really enjoyed it” Wilson added.
Another quote that caught our attention was, “We’re not talking about just a little club day, we’re talking about every guy being the champion of their country racing to be the number one guy in the world. I underestimated it, as I know many people do, and I give it up to the guys that have gone over to race GPs and been competitive”.
It’s nice to see Wilson being so honest about his GP experience and acknowledging the fact that the MX2 World Championship is so tough and everyone is on the limit. When it doesn’t work out for some riders it’s easy to make excuses by putting the blame on other things such as the language barriers etc. It’s to see him give the MX2 riders the respect they deserve by saying how deep the field is.
There seems to be a lack of respect from around the world about the MX2 World Championship and due to the age rule it tends to get a lack of respect. There is no doubt though at how fast these guys are – they are the best 250cc riders in the world!
The EMX series is working wonders and really helps push through the talent of tomorrow. Look at Thomas Kjer Olsen for instance, he was able to gain lots of confidence by winning the EMX250 series and it helped him develop as a rider. If he didn’t have the option of the EMX250 class and had to ride the MX2 World Championship from when he was sixteen, would he ever have gained that confidence? It’s hard to pinpoint.
One thing for sure is that there are plenty of talent in the EMX classes that will be breaking through into the MX2 World Championship in the next few years. The likes of Mikkel Haarup, Brian Moreau, Kevin Horgmo, Rene Hofer, Jago Geerts and Miro Sihvonen all have a great future ahead of them and it’s only a matter of time before they break through into the World Championship scene.
In terms of Wilson and his future, hopefully he can get an MX Nationals ride back in Australia. Even though things didn’t work out for him in the GP’s he is still a good rider and could be a front runner in the MX2 class over there.
