Mitch Payton confirmed he is a big fan of Kay de Wolf and would love to have the talented Dutch rider on Pro Circuit Kawasaki. Mitch even spoke to him a year and a half ago about coming over to the USA. The legendary tuner also revealed he tried to sign Jeffrey Herlings in 2011!
Mitch told us when we asked about De Wolf: “I would love to have Kay de Wolf, absolutely, I talked to him a year and a half ago about it.”
Mitch continued: “I watch every GP, I watch every Saturday qualifying race, I pay attention to that – that’s kind of how we got Ben (Townley) back in the day. I called Stefan Everts and Pichon…’hey, what do you think of him?’ And they’re like, ‘he’s really good.’ So I wanted Ben and I got Ben and I think he was amazing.
“I think there’s a lot of talent over there if you’re lucky enough to get one of them. I do believe their amateur program coming up through the 125cc and the 250cc EMX and all that stuff for them to ride real tracks, longer motos, I think it’s better than what we have in the United States. I think they gain more experience at a younger age. So the ones that are talented, like look at the Lawrence brothers. they came over here and both of them were really successful. I think that’s important, look at how they grew up and the background of everything as well. Even Kenny – I’d have loved to have have Kenny.
Mitch then said of Stefan Everts and Herlings: “I know he was toying with America (Stefan Everts) and he kind of locked in over there. I tried to get Jeffrey Herlings in 2011, I really wanted Jeffrey, and he just was worried about the Supercross thing and then he just said I’m going to lock in over here – he’s still one of my favourite riders.”
You can watch the full interview below as Mitch talks about his success so far outdoors as well as managing McGrath and Carmichael back in the 90s.
