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/128231
liter four- strok e c lass - th e opening round o f the WEC se ries brough t a ma xim um 50 -p oint haul. But it wasn't quit e as ea sy as that for Eri ksson . Cle arl y not ye t at hom e on h is new m o unt, Vor rider Ro m an Micha lik k ept Erik sson hon est on day one to fin ish j ust one second behi nd . Suff er ing an un fortun at e DNF on day two , Erik sson had been gifte d a co mf ortabl e wi n. Wh il e Eriks s on h a d pr ov en those who doubted his ability to " downsize" w ro ng , he had do ne it in less-than-spectacu lar fashi on . "Th ere 's no doubt I reall y felt th e pressu re at the beginning of the season ." ad m its Eriksson. " But as I said , the new class was also a challe nge. It w as a st ra nge bec ause com ing in to t he first rac e I didn 't know so mu ch abo ut my ri va ls - wh ich was going to be th e fast est , etc . I als o didn 't kn ow too much abo ut th e bike because we didn 't have too much t ime d uring th e winter to te st with it. " Havin g c om e out on to p in Por tug al , Er i k s son was to f ind him s el f oc cupying a differ en t ste p of th e ros tru m in both Spa in and Greec e as Michalik tu rn ed th e speed he 'd shown at ro un d o ne into race - w inn in g perfo rma nces at ro un d two and th r ee . With the ta ll Czech rid er finish ing fi rst on both days i n Sp a in and G reec e , Eriksson pla ced w ith a 3 -2 and 2 -3 scorecard , letting h is grip on the championship slip . With the halfway point of th e seri es fast approaching , Er ik ss on a n d his CH Rac ing team went back to th e drawing board in the hope of ensuri ng furth er success. "We chang ed many things o n th e bi k e after Gr eec e, whi ch a ll worked r eally w ell , " h e sa i d . " I c a me to F ran c e w ith a l ot m ore c o n f ide nce than at the ear lie r rounds . I realized in Gree ce that Mi cha lik was the man I was going to have to watch if I want ed to w in t he title , and the aim then was sim ply to try and win the World t itle. I co uld have p ushed hard er fo r a better ove rall resu lt o n ce rt ain days, Hu sqvarn a t ha t we've w on a Wo rld title th is ye ar." So w h at does winni ng th e t itl e m e a n to Eri k s s o n h im s elf? " O f co urse, it' s great to be World Ch am pion again ," he answers in a sim ila r wa y to how you o r I would if we'd j ust been asked ho w our holiday w a s. " I' m re a ll y h appy to b e World Ch amp ion , but I'm not rea ll y happy wit h my resu lts . I wou ld fi nish te st s th is y ear t hinki ng th at I' d don e reall y w ell o nly to fi n d that I hadn't, in the overall cl as sifica t io n more th an an yth ing. It was hard at times beca u se last ye a r, eve n w he n I d idn 't feel I'd rid den we ll , m y ti m es wou ld be rig ht up t here." B y a d mitti n g that he was n't h a pp y with h i s r esu lt s i n th e o ve r a ll Sc rat ch classifica t io n th is ye a r , Er ik s son co n f i r m s w hat was v is ibl e th ro ugh o u t t he yea r - despite win n ing th e title, h e was nev er reall y at hom e o n the 4 50 . Lon ging fo r m o re bottom -end p o wer , th e type o n ly a 500 co ul d g iv e him, no matter wha t he t ried. old habits proved har d to c h a nge , an d a true Op e n-cl a s s th um pe r p il ot he rem ain ed. Not that th at' s a bad th in g , bec au se for '04 Eriksson is p lann in g o n heading back t o t he 500 cc c l a ss - t h e p l a c e h e k no ws he 's m ost co mfo rta ble . . " A ft er riding a 500 , wh ich has lots of bottom -end power, f or so many ye a r s , it was r ea ll y d iffi cul t to get used to the 450 - ba si c ally I had to cha nge m y st yle," he said . " I was ge t t in g nerv ou s, try ing a littl e too har d at ti mes , which was affect ing m y rid ing. It wa s frust rat ing , bu t ther e was never a time that I want ed to go bac k to t he 500cc cl ass . "2004 will be eve ry bit as hard as thi s yea r, if not harder , but I'm lo ok ing fo rw ard to it becau se it is ano the r ne w ch all enge . I h av e to m ak e th e m ost of th e comi ng m onths and the testin g I ha ve to do so tha t I' m fully p rep ared for next yea r. I won 't kn ow who m y m ain rivals will be next ye ar un t il after the ISD E, but, yea h, it will Eriksson's forte is the big-bore four-stroke class. He.rode the 4S0cc th is year, but he'll move ba ck to the SOOcc class next year. but it w as th e t it le th at wa s imp or tant. " Wh ile Michalik 's pace in both Spain a nd Greece surprise d E rik sson , t he Swede knew t hat there wa s a lar g e c hink in the Vo r p il ot' s arm o r - his spee d i n c r o ss - c o un t r y te sts . Wi t h th ere h av in g o n ly been a " p ro pe r " c ross- co u ntr y te st at t he ope ni ng round of th e series, Eri k sson was co n fid en t that in t e rm s of t he champ ion shi p fro m Fran ce on in , he woul d be able to cla im th e up per hand. While he k new Mi ch ali k wa s the rider he had to watch, Eriksson began to ride wit h his head . Knowing that as lo ng as he fin ishe d co n s is te n t ly an d a hea d of Michalik, he wo ul d st art to reach his goa l of win ni ng the World t itl e. " O n e place the bike p e rfor med reall y well th is year is on cross -c o untry t e st s, " E r ik ss o n sa id. " I put i n good tim es in the ove rall as well as in the 4 50 cc class on those. Roman was sti ll reall y fast in th e m ot ocross tests in Fran c e an d Ital y , but he co u ldn 't follow m e in the end uro tests." With Michali k performing badly in both Franc e and Ita ly , allow in g Eriks son to forge a hea lth y cham pio ns hi p lead, th e tw o rema in ing rounds of th e WEC series wo uld effectiv ely t ak e pla ce in Eriksson 's backy ard - in Fin la n d and Sw eden. Er iks son , a long with his title , wa s a ll but hom e and dry . And although well aware that nothing was ass ured , with six p revio us title s to h is n am e th e b ig m a n kn ew better th an to become co m pla ce nt in such a situation , the re was a d efinite a ir of confide nce abou t the Swede as he sta rted t he pe nu ltim at e ro und of the series . Ridi ng we ll but su rp ris ing ly fin ish ing second on both da ys afte r bein g beat en by a Sp aniard and an Ita lia n , E ri ksso n lifted hi s se ve n th t itle with hi s hom e ro und of the cha m pions hip st ill to go. Wi th littl e time t o sa vo r his vi cto r y , t he CH Ra c ing Husqvarn a rider was soon on a ferry and head ing for home. M aking fo r th e type of seaso n end th at not eve n a fiction novel.i st co u ld d r eam up , Er i k s son h a d managed t o w rap up Hu s q v arn a ' s 21 st World Endu ro ti tle less th an 24 ho u rs bef ore th e company 's 100th birthday b ash . Hav ing t hr ee months earli er been t hrown into t he relati v e unkn own, E riksso n h ad now give n Husqvarna the o n e th ing it wanted more than an ything els e for its birthda y - a World title . Lining up alongside form er World Champions, enthusiast s, co m pa ny workers and directors , Eriks son had well and trul y put th e ic ing on th e bi g H-sh aped birt hd ay ca ke - if yo u' ll exc use the pun . " I realized befo re th e seas o n had eve n st arte d t hat this ye ar was proba bly go ing t o be my m o st important ev er , be c ause of all t he chall enges I was facing ," Er ik sson sa id . "The fact that it was Husqvarna 's lOath birthda y a lso ma de it ve ry im portant. It means a great dea l to t he people at cy cle n be a diffic ul t seaso n ." Wh ile '03 was a frustra ting one fo r Eriksson it c ert ai nly wasn 't a wasted one. Not on ly cla iming a Wo rld title , he wa s also able to adj ust to Husq varna ' s new generation c hassis an d smaller, m o re compact engine away fr om a class he w ould have been ex pec te d to perform in . "If I had taken a new bike straight into the 500cc class th is y ear. it would hav e been really hard to have wo n," Erik sson said. "It wouldn't have been th e p l ace t o adj ust to a n ew b ike. Competi ng in the 450 cc class ce rta inly hasn't been easy , but th e inconsis ten cy of many of m y com pe t itors has h el p ed me. N ext y ea r , of co urse , I wa nt to win aga in, but eq ua lly I wa nt to improv e as a rid er." eN e "" S • S EPTEM B ER 1 0 , 2003 45