Tom Vialle discusses plans for his rookie AMA Supercross season
Tom Vialle faced a tough decision this year as he already had a deal in place to race the MXGP World Championship in 2023 but then he had interest from KTM in America. The French talent had to decide his future whilst battling for the MX2 World Championship title that went down to the wire and very last moto of the year. It was a very exciting championship battle and fortunately for Vialle he got the better of Jago Geerts to clinch his second world title.
The French talent has decided to make the move to America which will see him take on a different discipline – Supercross and racing the best in America.
Kellen Brauer from Racer X caught up with Vialle at the test track to discuss his plans for his rookie season. It has already been decided that the young Frenchman will race East Coast 250cc Supercross season which is a good move as it’ll give him more time to adapt to Supercross before having to race. The opening round of the East Coast series takes place in Houston on the 5th of February which will give him an extra month to prepare.
“Yeah, the whoops are something that I never really did before. So, it’s tough for sure. It’s a struggle any time you learn and all the whoops are a little bit different from one track to another. The rhythms are quite okay. I feel okay and I have some time still. I will ride the second coast [East] so I still have three months to train and that is going to be nice”, Vialle told Racer X.
Brauer from Racer X also revealed that Vialle will be working with Mike Brown and will train at Aldon Bakers facility. Brown is a rider who has been there and done it with plenty of experience so he should be able to help Vialle and he’ll also have former MX2 French world champion, Marvin Musquin in his corner.
“Yeah, you know Marvin is in the team for one more year, so I was really happy about it. We train together here in California and it’s nice to have him. He’s still training to race so it’s not so easy, he’s not like a coach you know. But for sure sometimes we talk together on the track and it’s nice to have him. Especially also to go to the race. In the training maybe a little bit less, but once we go to the race it will be nice to have Marvin there after practice just to discuss a little bit about the track and he can for sure give me some nice advice”.
In the end Vialle’s decision to go to America was influenced by his desire to have a go at racing Supercross and whilst he acknowledged the Motocross program in MXGP is strong – he wanted to experience SX.
“My goal is to win a supercross one day and it’s really why I came. I think motocross in Europe, let’s say the program is pretty good. The tracks over here are very nice also, but I came over here for supercross more than motocross. Of course, motocross is my goal also, but if I have to choose, supercross is why I came”, Vialle concluded.
For 2023, it is important to remember that it will be Vialle’s rookie season so the expectations shouldn’t be too high for Supercross. It will all be about learning and picking up experience for the future when he’ll hope to be a front runner.
History suggests that Vialle is a quick learner as he was only an MX2 GP rider for four years and ended up with two world titles to his name. Fingers crossed he can avoid any Supercross injuries because going into the AMA Motocross season he’ll be expecting to be at the very front.
Read the full interview with Racer X.
See how Vialle is currently looking at Supercross:
