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A LONDON HOTEL, PHOTOSHOOTS, A CASUAL MEETING, AN MP3 RECORDER<br />
AND A FEW QUESTIONS: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU THROW A MOTOCROSS-<br />
OBSESSED FOUR-TIMES WORLDSBK WORLD CHAMPION TOGETHER WITH<br />
BRITAIN’S YOUNG, IMPRESSIONABLE AND BRIGHTEST MXGP TALENT?<br />
By Adam Wheeler, Portraits & MXGP pics by<br />
Ray Archer, WorldSBK by MCH Photo<br />
T JONATHAN<br />
Whether for their<br />
series, their manufacturer<br />
or their<br />
country, Jonathan Rea and<br />
Ben Watson are elite athletes<br />
in motorsport. <strong>On</strong><br />
meeting each other in<br />
the towering confines of<br />
the Shangri La hotel in<br />
London’s Shard building<br />
there was a healthy<br />
degree of mutual curiosity.<br />
Subjects of their<br />
preparation, their bike<br />
set-up, personal fears,<br />
career hopes, admiration<br />
meant the insight<br />
and stories were soon<br />
rolling forth thanks to a<br />
couple of guiding questions<br />
on the way.<br />
Here’s what was said…<br />
Jonathan, you are pretty good<br />
on a motocross bike but how<br />
- and in what ways – do you<br />
think Ben is that much faster<br />
or better?<br />
JR: I think you never stop<br />
learning in motocross because<br />
no track is the same. Even the<br />
same circuit changes day-today.<br />
You learn all the time and<br />
if you don’t ride so much then<br />
that rate of learning become<br />
less and, technically, when<br />
the track changes then guys<br />
like me who haven’t raced<br />
motocross for years and years<br />
lose speed. I have ridden with<br />
very fast motocrossers on a<br />
track that is not that technical<br />
and not been too far away<br />
from them but as soon as<br />
it roughens up and you are<br />
second-guessing whether to<br />
hook-up a gear to go through<br />
a set of really deep ruts then<br />
these guys will have that decision<br />
as second-nature. In road<br />
racing you have an innate ‘a<br />
set of instructions’ but if it<br />
is not second-nature to you<br />
and you don’t have that confidence<br />
then you won’t have the<br />
speed.<br />
BW: So why do you get on<br />
a motocross bike? Is it just<br />
for fun or to genuinely learn<br />
something?<br />
JR: A bit of fun but I find that<br />
it is really good brain-training<br />
for me. You’ll have to make<br />
nanosecond decisions on the<br />
track as your bike is bucking<br />
and weaving left and right.<br />
So it is mental, and about<br />
concentration. It is physical<br />
of course, but road racing is
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