Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I rea lly don't know . It's stra nge, because if you think a bo ut it from the real motocross scenes, South Africa is miles away. But I think South Africa has only produced four or five good riders , and only two of us have made it as \'{orld Champions. Hon estly , I don 't know . Ever since I started, everyone said I had the talent , and I always told them I'd be World Champion. I think that's one of the reasons I got here, is because I always believed that I was the best, and did whatever it took to get there . When yo u were younge r, wer e you ins pired by Greg? O h , yeah , for sure. Greg was always my her o , a nd I hav e posters from him , a nd shirts , and all th at. I jus t said to everyone, "I' m going to ho pe fully follow in his footste ps ." The funny th ing wa s , last year, I e nded u p with th e nu m be r- I 0 pl a te , a nd when Greg got his first World title in 125 s . he was number 10 . E ve ryo ne sa id , "If yo u follow in Greg 's foo ts te ps , you have to go from 10 to I," a nd I did it. And th en th e really s tra nge thing is, when Greg won 250s his next year, he numbe r wa s 6 7 , a nd for de s Na tions , I go t 67 . Ever yon e sa ys , "Well, now yo u're going to ha ve to win des Nations." Wha t' s the talent level like in Europe in the I 25cc class? I t hink it's pretty good , b e c au s e the re 's so m a ny countries, and so m a ny good riders. You ca n go to sand tracks, and the Dut c h guys are just so fast, it's scary. And then you go to a hard track, a nd they won't even qualify - they're like 15 seco nds off the pace. But you go to a hard track in France, and there's 10 guys th at you've never seen or heard of in your life , ru nni ng up front. And then you go to Italy, and there's It a lia n s , so there's a lways someo ne out there on th at pa rticular da y , having a day , and that's what makes it so difficult to win here. It seems like to me, from my po int of view , in America the tracks are very ro ugh , but they all seem pretty similar, with ruts and b umps and that. But here, the trac ks go from one extreme to the other. Th is track is like a freeway with so me jumps , but re all y fa st, a nd ye t Holl and , I s uppose , is like So ut hwick fo r yo u guys. In America, it's gene rally the sa me g uys , week-in , week-out, that a re up fron t - just s light variations. In Eu rope, some guys are winning one weekend a nd the next week the y ca n't even get points in the top 15 . The ta lent is p rett y good. I'm not goi ng to s ay, "Pa s tra na 's better than me ," or "I'm better than Pastrana ," but you can 't really compare. You have to both be do ing the sa me championship. You won' t be he re to see it, but what do you th ink a bo ut th e ne w fo rm at fo r t he GPs? I think it' s good for the sport. I don 't agree with the one moto . In my opin ion , that's not real motocross . Supercross is a big showtime thing , and that's why it's one moto - it' s for the crowd, it' s quick , it's exciting - but motocross is motocross. Motocross has always been endurance - the tough , strong guys that come through in the second moto, when the track 's rough and the riders are tired . I do n't know if it's going to be 30 or 40 mi nutes [it will be 18 laps]; if it's 30 mi nutes , it's lite rally a sprint - like 100 meters racing, flat -out for 30 min ute s . I don't agree with that. That's one rea son why I'm re a lly looking forward to going to America, is I wouldn' t enjoy doi ng one moto. It stinks . Do you th ink having all three classes t oget her could hel p the 12 5 c c class? I t h ink it 's a lways goo d , b e c au s e yo u c a n watch a nd le arn . That always does he lp. Is the fa c t o ry KTM 12 5 really as fast as everyone s ays? I thi nk so. I think a lot of pe ople in America say KTM is history , a nd they all thi n k it's a jo ke of A A Q Q A A L- bri ng in new fac to ry stuff. The whole time, it's a chain reaction ; each one goes down . So the factory bike I have this year will be next year's [semi-factory ] production bike , and on a dyno , our bike is the same as a stock KTM 250 - the same horsepower. How did your decision come a bout to race in the Unite d S tates? It actually came about when Mitch Payton phoned me one day . It took me by surprise we were .d riving to a GP. The phone rang , a nd he said, "Yeah, this is Mitch ." Mitch? "Mitch Payto n fro m Pro Circuit." And he kind of got us goi ng on that, a nd KTM cam e with a really good offer to ride 2 50s . Kurt [Nicoll , KTM's GP tea m m an a g e r] jus t re a lly thin ks I'm a 250 man . I'm a ctu a lly pr obably a bette r 250 rider be cause I ride a lot rp m and I'm qu ite a m ore techn ica l rider - not balls -ou t. He was ~ sa ying , "I want yo u o n a 250 : and I said , " No , I ~ want to go to Am er ica: and he said , "O ka y, that's CD UJ m y sec ond ch oi ce, bec ause KTM are wa nt ing t o [j to push big in Am erica. " iii That's kind of how it got go ing , a nd then Mitch o 5 came with a n even better [offer] tha n KTM. I said to ----l iE KTM, "If yo u want us to sta y, you 've got to match A se rious young man and an Int ense rider , Langston is not afraid to stat e his f ee li ngs off the track" or to m ix it u p on it. a bike. But if yo u've been to the facto ry and seen the engineers and how the b ike is bui lt.. . I wou ld pu t money on it - if you put every bike on the dy no, the KTM is head and shoulders above the re st. I mea n, I . was behind T ra vis [pastrana I in free training [at the MX des Nations], and up the hills , I was just gai ning on him, like two or three bike-leng ths, a nd he wa s just flat-out. I guarantee yo u that KTM is a lo t stronger tha n his Suzuki. How can that be, when KTM is a much s mall er company? The thing is , they've got th e righ t people wo rking the re . I know there's some e ng ineers tha t are there th a t a re lite rally br illian t guys - they could be rocket sc ientists . There's two guys th at I kn ow do o ur e ng ine, and they just are so cl ue d- up th a t th e y're think ing light years a head of everyone e lse . It's maybe a better thi ng tha t it's no t suc h a big company, because Kawasaki and all those other big compa nies - it's a long process. With KTM, they're small enough and that, that they change something and it's done . That 's the great thing about working with them . Whenever I was not happy with the bike and needed any change, it was there . T he y'r e constantly developing and coming up with new ideas, and they're bikes are just really awesome. ", w ould put money on it - if you put ellery bike on the dyno, the KJ""" is head and shoulders abolle the rest." How different is yo ur bike fro m a stock KTM 12 5 ? We ll, the 2000 stock bike com pa red to m y fa cto ry b ike , th ere was lite ra lly no thin g on t he b ike t hat was th e sa me, a lmost. Even the e ng ine was a ll sa n d-ca st, a nd t here we re d iffe re n t swi nga rms , diffe re nt fra me settings , differ en t pla s tic s , diffe re nt whee ls - everything . But the 200 J KTM is th is year's s emi-fa cto ry [bike] . T he y call it S FX - you ca n bu y it over the counte r - bu t th ey're semi-factory . [T he 2 0 0 0 S FX] is no w prod uction, th e facto ry bikes be c om e semi -fa ctory, an d they it ," a nd they matched it. So I sa id , "Tha nks, Mitch for the intere st, but KTM of course ha s firs t choice." Th e y a lso s ign e d [Da vid] Ping ree, and the y had a h and-shake d ea l with [Mik e] Bro wn , a nd t he n Brown we nt around and s igned Pro Circuit. Kurt's not so ha ppy abo ut that, but I think you'll s ee next yea r a I 10-percent s ho c ker. The tu ner fro m o ur tea m , Harry [Nolte], he's c oming also, and I have a lot of faith in hi m. He ' s re ally good . I do n't ride " directly for the factory; I'm a factory rid er o n a satellite team, Cham p KTM, and he does the bikes and little things. And the other day they put the two facto ry bikes on the factory- te am [dy no], and m y bike was two horsepower up on them - a nd their bike wa s also stro ng. So Harry ' s coming , th a nk goodn ess, because he is re a lly clued-u p. He worked with Donn y Schmit when he was Wor ld Cha m pio n, Stefa n Eve rts , and now I'm his third World Cha m p io n. How a re you in S upe rc ros s ? Q w e ll , I've not done th a t m u c h S upe rc ross before. I've done a cou p le. In fact, the best ride I ever had was at the Ba rc e lona Supercross at the end of '98, when it was [Brock] Sella rds. [Casey] Lytle and [Michael] Bra nde s . Th ey have three finals, and I crashed in the one, a nd I got fourth overa ll. But in fact in o ne rnoto . I was second, and I pushed Sellards the whole way . I think when I get my timing better, I'll probably be pretty good , because in whoops I'm not good , but jumps I can do. I think m y problem is that I'm not consistent enough. One lap, [I'll go] too far , or too short. But some races, I just get a good rhythm , and then I'm a ctually pretty fast. A lot of people said , "Ah, you 're too young ; you'll get injured in Supercross." I think the younger yo u go , the better off you are . I'm going over in December, and I'm doing some of the European Supercrosses and Wo rld Supercrosses and that, so I'll at least now get some practice. And when I go in De ce m be r, I can do some tra ining with Pingree , a nd I know he's a good S uperc rosser, so hope fully I ca n le arn from him . And I th ink I'll imp ro ve as th e season goes on, but I'm not exp e cting to win. I would ju st like , one ra ce , to get on the podium. If I do th at, I'm satisfied . Wha t .about outdoors? A Q O utdoo rs , I'm goi ng to try a nd win it, of course. Injuri es and things c a n happe n , or breakdowns, bu t I'd like to win like ha lf th e motos - at le a st like ma yb e J 2 motos . That' s what I'm a im ing for. eN A cue I e n e _ S • O CTO BER 1 8, 2000 23

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