Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127786
,IN R IE MXer Kim Ashkenazi TE V W 21-year-old Kim Ashkenazi dropped everyth ing to race In America. The sixtime Austra lian National MX Champion walked away from a factory ride, would-be championsh ips and countrywide recogn ition In Australia, hopefully to find these same things here. By Eric Johnson ike a number of hi s countrymen who came before him, Au stralian racer Kim Ashkenazi has left hi s home in the land Down Under to make 'In indelib le m ark on th e in ternati on al motocross scene. Much like compatriot Jeff Lei sk d id back in the late ' 80s, Ashken azi has decid ed to pack his bags a n d le a ve h is A us tra lia n N ationa l Ch am pi on ships behind. Unlike high ly touted world-class immigrants such as Jean-Mi chel Bayle, Greg Alber tyn a n d Mickael ~'! Pichon, Ashken azi is not a h ou seh ol d n ame in Ameri ca m otocros s. In' an effort to be noti ced on the most prestigious and vo latile motocross circuit on earth, Ashken azi h as co me to Am eri ca completel y on spec. Setting his sights on obtaining a lifelon g go al, Kim ha s chosen to go it alone, lea ving his fam ily and longtime girlfriend back home for the time being. Ashkenazi is looking to make a name for himself and his country in the United States and he is willing to do it the hard way - by earning it. Ashkenazi has posted some promisin g re s u lt s s in ce his arriva l, mo st notably a second-place finish at the San Die go Supercross a nd m os t recen tl y another runner-up performance at th e Denver Supercross, bo th finis hes coming in the 125cc class. His second-place perform ance put him in third place in the Wes t Coast 125cc SX Ch am p ionship . We spoke with Ashkenazi just before the Denver Supercross. L 22 First and foremost, a number of American racing fans may not know a lot about you . Can you provide us with a little bit of back gro und ? I'm 21 year s old and my birthday is on the fourth of June, 1974. I live in Sydney , and I'm a six-time Au stralian N ational Champ ion, and I hav e b e en a fu lly back ed facto ry rider in Au stralia since age 16. Ashke nazi is a unique name. What type of ethnicity is it? Russian Jewi sh. You inh erited Robbi e Reyn ard ' s Prim al Impul se /B ill ' s Pi pe/Honda ri d e after he s uffere d an earl y- s ea s on inj ury. How ha s th at b een going for you? It' s working out a lot better now that I have finally settled down and got use to the bikes . It was a bit of a hard thing at first , because [ was already riding a Su zuki when I fir st g o t h ere. I wa s thrown in feet first. I o n ly rode the Honda for two days after the Anaheim Supercross, the n drove up to Seattle and raced that as my first race. I gu ess it wa s tough at first , to be thrown int o it like that, but on the same hand it was kind of my opportunity to be able to prove myself. I guess going away from there with an eighth-place finish - I was pretty ha p p y, because it w as a better resul t than I h ad in the first few rounds. At first, I was also a little apprehe nsive about everything working ou t all righ t, 'because I didn't like the feel of the bikes. You obviously got up to speed pretty qu ickly because you ran extremel y well at San Diego. How did you feel about that race ? Well, obv iously pretty good . However in retrospect, when you look back at it, the g uy wh o be at me, Je ff WiIloh , I mean it w asn't really that good when you look back now , bec au se he ha sn ' t qu alified for a supe rcro ss since. (Willoh d id qu alify for the Denv er SX and finished ninth). I su ppose my own feelin g on the event was that it wa s quite good . San Diego is prob ab ly th e best finish that I've had, but I wasn' t riding as good as I am now . How do you like the supercross series the stadium stuff. Do you like it more than outdoor motocross? I really don't have a preference at all, I enjoy them both immensely. Obviously s upe rcross o v e r here is a lot m o re intense than anvwhere else in the world, and obvious ly the gu ys that are racing it a re a lot faste r too . I gu ess I like th at challenge becau se it's new for me. I've been racing 250s for th e last three o r four yea rs. [ have not raced a 125 in like three vears. Be in g Aus tralian, y o u co me from a pl ace th at is pretty much out in the middl e of nowh ere . People like yoursel f and Je ff Leisk have had to globetrot the world in order to race and be noti ced internationally. What has that be en like for you? Have you been all over the world? Yeah, I've traveled to 16 di fferentcountries . I' ve ra ced Asi an races lik e in Malaysia, Thailand and Ind on esia. [ can pick up good start mon ey and ge t some pretty good recognition in those co untr ies. What do yo u th i nk a bout Southe rn California? Do es it remind you of Australia at all? I have heard that th e tw o places are a lo t alike. The West Co ast h er e, whe re I a m, is Are the Americ an guys really loo ked up to in Au st ralia ? Yeah, pretty mu ch so. I gu ess ever ywhere in the world . I mean America is lo oked a t as b e in g t he number-on e country in motorcycling. as far as supercross an d motocross go. How did your plan come togeth er to get yo u here? It sta rte d when I wa nte d to come ove r last year. Unfortunately, I didn' t feel it in myself, wi th my riding and my maturity . I d idn 't think it was right to come last year. It has been a long-term plan. The last few years I've come here for a couple months at a time and do ne some races and sort of got my feet wet. Then last yea r after t he M oto cr oss des Na tions, I mad e my mind up to come to the us. No matter ~ha t [ was coming here. I was goi ng to race 125s, get my fee t w et, get a -bit o f ex p e r ie n ce and move on .-So after the MX des Nations, I came here for two and a half weeks and jus t kn ock ed o n as many d oors as I could; I also sent out over 50 resumes to as many p eople out ther e as I possibly cou ld in an effort to see what I could get as far as an offer. There we ren' t man v. The only person that took me up as f~r as help was Mitch Payton at Pro Circuit. He hel ped me out a lot; he helped me with whatever I nee ded - I just needed to get my bike. How do y ou fe el about yo u r results thus far ? Honestly, I'm pretty d isappointed with my results. I feel that I've been imp roving every week and I'm getting stronge r and fa ste r and becoming more in one with the Honda. Un fortunately, I've jus t been having shi tty luc k. I'm crashing and trying a littl e bit too hard. Thin gs just haven't been go ing my wa y. But m y results, as far as running fourth overall so far in the su percross championship man, that's more than I coul d 've ever expected. Who has been helping you out thus far in '96? Nick Adcock a t Reebok has been provid ing me w ith some help that is very much app reciated. Basicall y, eve ryo ne that is on the team is pr etty much supporting me, and obvious ly Robbi e Reynard and Ped ro (Gonza lez). Do you guys get along well? No problems at all. Me and Pedro hook up and rid e a bit, and I stayed at Robbie's place between Hou ston and Dallas, an d we practi ced all week. Overall, it's been reall y goo d here, but it can be very hard at times. I'm 21 years of age, I' m here all alone and I have a longti me girl fr iend b ack h ome that [ plan on marryin g a t the end of th e yea r. Wh at is up with t he A ustrali an and New Zealan d motocro s s s ce nes? Is there a lot of interaction between the two countries? Unfo rtunately now, within the last few ye ars, there really ha sn't been a lot of interaction. Years ago, in the earl y '80s, there used to be a lot of intercontinental racing where the Australians wo uld go andrace the N ew Zea land Champi ons hips, and the New Zealande rs would co me over and race ou rs. We've d istan ced ourselves a lot. I think the main reason is that New Zealand is hurting weal thwise. The country is not very wealthy and motorcycle racing is an expensive sport as it is. Do you know the K!ng brothe r s, Shayne and Darryll, at all? They are doing very well on the GP scene. , " tit "lit probab ly more like the West Coast back hom e. How long have you b een in the Slates now? Five m o nths, and I'm now li ving in Anaheim Hills (California). How di d you end u p here? What made you d e cide to co m e to the United States? It all started as being a kid and reading the Am eri can magazines in Australia, Reading about guys like Bob Hannah, Ricky Johnson, David Bailey and all the stars of the y ears gone by. I always " always had the ambition when I first started racing that I wanted to race over seas - whether it be Europe or America, it didn't ma tter.