MOTOAMERICA SUPERBIKE CHAMPION TONI ELIAS
P128
INTERVIEW
Reversal of Fortune
You would think that securing
a world championship—even if
Moto2 is considered a support
class—would pave the way to
the top, or at least make it a lot
easier. But unfortunately, that
was not the case for Elias. As top
rides get harder and harder to
come by, it's a tough market out
there for racers especially at the
world championship level.
Probably the only thing harder
to find is patience when the
results aren't coming. So after a
string of rough seasons, the for-
mer world champ found himself
in a situation no racer wants to
face in their career—Elias was
written off and his career as a
racer was in serious jeopardy.
"It's amazing because we had
a very bad situation, where my
family—my parents and my sister
and myself—all four of us fighting
and working in the same boat,
taking jobs like crazy, didn't mat-
ter the job, but working, just to
bring some money home. Well,
that situation was really bad,
right? And also, that negativity
doesn't help things go in a better
way; even worse. Then I de-
cided—stop. And start to change
directions."
All that was left to do at that
point was sit at home waiting for
"After many days
[without a ride] and
deciding to retire
and then to end
up MotoAmerica
Champion—I never
expect that."
It didn't take long
for Elias to get his
groove back. He won
the first three races
in the U.S. superbike
championship and
has scored 16 wins
in two seasons.
