Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Yeah, it crossed my mind, because until about 10 days before that race, we were out practicing one day, and we were battling with each other - just passing, repassing - we were having a good battle, and I'm like, "You ain't that slow for an old man!" So it was fun, you know? It would've been interesting we were out there - I think I would've had to dug deep to beat him if he was behind me or in front of me. over here and had incredible speed, had an injury, came back, was quick, had another injury, and he just seems to have never gotten back to where I feel he used to be. I don't want to be one of those guys. I want to come back and win this championship more than anything. To think that people have already started to write you off at 20 years old ... I mean, I think that a lot of people have a lot of knowledge about the sport or can tell. .. You know, if you just watch as an outsider with no insight as to what's going on, you probably think, "All right, the guy's had injuries he's had bad luck. Maybe Are your spoke nipples steel now? Yeah. What are your favorite tracks coming up? I'm actually really looking forward to Southwick. I rode there the first year with my shoulder separated, so 1 never really got to give it 100 percent. I didn't get to ride there last year, so I kind of like the sand, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forwa rd to racing Budds Creek because I've never ridden there in two years - this is the third year· so I'm at least looking forward to doing that race. And I like Millville a lot that's probably my favorite track. None of the rest really bother me over aII. he's not going to rebound, or maybe he'll be a quick rider, but maybe that's it." I think a lot of people are starting to think the same thing about Travis [Pastrana J. I heard he now retired, but he came out at a very young age, shocked the world, and then since then hasn't really done all that much - and yet, he still has incredible talent. I just want to prove to people that I am a champion and I can come back. I feel that I lost the championship in an unfortunate way in '01, and I want to come back two years later and prove that I can still win. Is your being from South Africa the only reason you got the nickname How's your health right now? Good. My hand is getting a little better - I was struggling with some movement and stuff like that, but it's getting better. My riding fitness is probably improving by the week, and I feel good. It's fun A You've got another year on your KTM contract. What's the situation regarding the rumored linked rear suspension? At this point right now, we're not sure what's to be back, and I'm having fun riding again. going to happen. Are you and Mike Brown going to behave yourselves this year? Who knows? I mean, we were rivals back in the GPs for two years, and then we came here, and it was down to a championship, and your adrenaline gets going; everything's pumped up. I never had a problem with him. He was an aggressive rider, and I'm the kind of guy, when my adrenaline gets going, I'm up for a challenge, and I do get aggressive and mean, and I think everything was I know you look up to Greg A1bertyn. Were you surprised at his speed last week? Yeah I was. I kind of laughed that he was the top-finishing Suzuki rider. I always give him a hard time and tell him he's a pork pie and ... I like Zulu? It started in Europe because the area I grew up was where the Zulu warriors were from, and they fought the British back in the days when the British came to take over. I think people in Europe - I remember them saying that I was a fighter; I'd go down hard and get up and keep charging, keep pushing. They said, you know, Zulus are tough warriors. They can fall out of a car at 80 miles an hour and get up and keep on going. So they gave me that nickname, and it's just stuck with me ever since then. People have always referred to me as the Zulu. Greg a lot, you know? It was really cool to see him out there again. I was trying to convince him to carry on racing the outdoor season, just because I love to see him riding. He was a guy that I used to look up good. It was good, clean racing. The only thing that to as a kid, and I still admire him and everything he's I think was out of line was when he turned around and flipped me off at Steel City for no reason, in my opinion. That was about the only time I thought he done to this day - his tenacity and his ability to come back when the odds were against him, and he came • back to win. In my opinion, more than just being a was out of line, and I think a lot of people also blow good rider, I think he proved a lot of people wrong, it out of proportion a little bit. I think it's going to be a lot of aggressive racing this year, but let's hope that it doesn't get to the stage where there's a lot of negative press or any kind of fists flying or anything like that, you know? I think it'll be a good season though. and I like that when someone can do something like that. Q Did it occur to you at all that it's at least possible that he could've beaten you that day if you were out there on a 250? What do you think about the current state of the GPs, having raced over there when it was multiple motos and such? You know, I was watching it the other day, and I was saying, in my opinion it's a bit of a joke. If I look, 95 percent of any top rider is now in the U.S. I know there's going to be a couple more kids coming like Ben Townley - I think had he not had that injury this year, he would've won the championship in my opinion. One moto, they race every third weekend, so I'm like, how can you even call that a championship? One moto every three weeks? C'mon. It's a joke. At least when I won, I can say it was still real racing - two times, 45 minutes plus two laps. You had to be fit and strong. cue I e n e _ S • JUNE 4, 2003 39

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