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/128639
Three-tim e f 25cc World Motocross Champion Alessio Chiodi IF@ mfuID@ro llll@ ~IID Il'TI1JlJrID®CdJ IIfrmllllOOIID Thl@~ &ID TIfiw® IIDy TImID1JlJIl]Vo ttnnfi~ OO~ WID Thlfi~ llmn; IIDOOI1iJil® wasn't m y prior goal. Like I sa id, m y origi nal goal wa s to move to the Stat es a nd race the Sup e rcross series, but unfortu nate ly, in America I have n't found the cond itio ns to ma ke my dream become true . I de finitely haven' t c hanged [m y] m ind - it's not that I'm s till raci ng in Europe bec au se I wan te d that. It's all a bo ut my inj ury , and actua lly it's the conse quenc e of tha t. S o yo u gave a gen uine effort to line up an Ame r ican r ide for 2001 befo re choosing Europe ag ain? Yes , for s ure . Before looking at Eu ro pe a n offers a nd goi ng on w it h Eu ro p ean cont a c ts, I searched for a soluti on in Am er ica with real motiva tio n t o m ak e it happ en . With t he h elp of Bob ' [Moo re ] a nd [ma na gement co m pa ny ] OMS , we 'v e investigated any p o ss ib le o pt ion to find th e ve ry best so luti on fo r me . But , like I said , we hav en 't rea ched any satisfactory co nclusio n. La st year, th e story was com p le te ly diffe rent bec ause I was coming from a go od performance in the first U.S . Super c rosses and the third wor ld title in a row , at my best shap e and speed . I understand that a fte r such a serious injury, like th e one I suffered, they a re not confide nt , or the y are a little worried , but I repeat, my intenti on was to race in Am erica . For e xa m ple, I could have made an agre ement with KTM to move to th e St at es next ye a r; it was just that th e tim ing wa s a lways wron g be cause I first wan ted to go to th e S tates wit h them and th ey wa nted m e as raj rider in Eu rope. So I told th em I was not interest ed in re ma ining in Eu rope . After that I kept work ing on th e America n solut io n, a n d I saw th ing s we re n 't real ly g oi ng well , s o I re a lize d I was s ta yi n g in Europe with the be st option , Free Time . KTM ca me by aga in, offering m e to go to the Stat e s [substitutin g Mik e Br own , wh o fi n al ly d ec ide d for SplitFire/P ro Circu it Ka wasa ki], but it was too late; I cou ld ha ve ac ce p ted b e caus e I d id n' t have an y sign ed contra ct ye t, but m y wo rd has a value , and I didn 't want to betra y s o m eo ne who was inv e sting t im e a nd mon e y in a big project wit h me for '0 1. You know, I th ink KTM was the o nly company to ' rea lly offer me a good deal for '0 1 in Am e rica . We didn 't even sp e ak about m oney , but I th ink I could ha ve received a good offer from them. YOU told us a few weeks ago that you could be a t t he first AMAlEA Sports Supercrosses in January. Is that still true? First of all, I still have to ta ke a litt le care of my wrist bec a use I want it to be 10 0 percent for next ye a r, so I ha ve to see what ha ppens in the next wee ks . Howe ve r, I woul d rea lly like to sta y in Americ a for a m onth, like I did in '99, a nd to ra ce the first five Su percrosses on the 125cc class. I'm th inking abou t it ve ry m uch bec au se I want to do it, and I do n't like too mu ch wha t happene d this season with ver y few appearanc es a nd th e n not hing . It would be ve ry im po rtant to race in Am e ric a in January to get bac k 100 -percent confidence. Be c au se to ge t a few good results over there wou ld be m uch bette r for m y confidence th an just win n ing some Na t ion a l ra ce s in Italy befor e th e be ginning of the GPs . I cou ld m a ke the firs t five races, and [la ug hs] afte r I wo n a coup le of the m , I co uld come ba c k for th e finis h of th e We st ern Re gional Se ries . The intentio n is to race Sup e rc ro ss in J a nuar y; we ' ll se e if we ' ll be able to do it. Why did you opt not t o re t urn to Husqvarna? Q A STO RY AN D PHOTOS BY M AR IO M AR IN I W o rk. Th at's Ale ss io "Chi cco" Chiodi's obs ess ion at t he mo me nt. Afte r a yea r lost t o inj uries inc u r re d in a n o ff -seaso n Supe r c r o s s a t th e Bologna , Italy , Moto r S how in De c e m be r of 19 99 , Chi odi (nails in Ita lia n ) is im pa tie nt to atta in 10 0 pe rcent preparedness for th e 2001 seaso n. Fr esh off t hree- s traig ht world title s , Chio di wa s prepared to ta ke on the best in Am e rica , but his iIItimed injur ies ruined that plan. Spending the bulk of this yea r wat ching the races from th e fence ca used Chiodi more stress th an when he was battlin g for a title, a nd it was a long, frustrating year. His profes s iona l American c ampaign wa s lim ited to jus t a s in gl e o utd oo r ra ce (the Glen Hel en ope ner in S an Berna rdin o , Californ ia ), a n ov e rly o pt imistic e a rly retu rn in which pa in prevented the Italia n from riding well. When Chiodi fina lly did return to dec ent form , he con tested the final GPs of the 125cc Wor ld Cham p ion sh ip (aga in weari ng th e num ber-one plate he owned for three -straight ye ars since '9 7 ), initially not even finis hing August's 40-m inut e motos , but eventua lly g arne ring a fou rth -pl a c e fin is h a t th e final , muddy German GP, then follow ing up with two over all wins at Ita lia n Nat ional Champions hip rounds . With the re c ove ry proc ess now practica lly over, Chio di's comebac k plans ar e fa lling into pla ce. As Cycle News reported a few weeks a go , he will not be ra cing in Am erica next ye a r (at least not full- 24 . N OVEMBER 1 5 ; 2000· cue I e n e T hough the rational choice for 2001 was to retum to Europe, Chlodl wants t o race select AMA Su pe rcross rounds and then retum t o the Stat e s full-time as soon a s possib l e. time) , but will instead ride the 125cc GP circu it, trad ing in his familiar Husqvarna for a Free Time Yama ha . We me t the "b ig little Ita lia n" at the en d of Octo be r to disc uss direc tly with the source (in his native Italian ) th e cha nges in his career. lns t ea d of finally challenging yo urself in America, you will re t urn ' t o Eu rope in 200 1. What happened to your America n dr ea m? T h e dre am t o co me an d race in America is something real - it' s not over. But if I'm not ra c ing in USA in '0 1, it' s just because of my injury from December '99 . You know, after my long time out, in Am erica they were a little worried that I wo uldn't be tota lly recovered , a nd the y p ro ba bly weren't confiden t in my co ndition and speed. That's why , I be lieve , I ha ven 't rece ived good offers - very low, actua lly. I had teams tha t wa nte d me, but they offered very little m on e y. Over he re in Euro pe - a nd not only in Ita ly [like Husq va rna , Free Time is an Italia n te am] - the s ituation was to ta lly different , with satisfactory offers . You know , I a lso ha ve to look at the financial pa rt of the de a l, so when I can count on a good team, with good bike s and satisfa ctory e conomica l treatment, I ca n say I foun d what I was looking for, even tho ugh it Q A ... s Q A Q A Q A [T h in k S for a m om en t ] In a few words, I rec e ived bett er offers fro m other tea ms . DO you thin k Hu sqvarna wou ld st ill h a ve wa nted yo u in America? I th ink m a yb e [Erald o ] Ferracci [owner of the Am er ican Fast by Ferracc i Husqva rna] would,