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FEATURE<br />
Whatever he does afterwards<br />
in the sport he’ll do a great<br />
job. He sees the big picture<br />
and knows how important that<br />
is. He understands that at the<br />
end of the day – and this is<br />
something I push onto all my<br />
staff – is that it is our responsibility<br />
to increase sales and<br />
market our product. If we are<br />
not helping the brand to sell<br />
more Husqvarnas then we<br />
are not doing our job. That’s<br />
the reason we have a second<br />
Semi and the reason we display<br />
the bikes and we do what<br />
we do. It’s the same responsibility<br />
to all our sponsors and I<br />
think my business background<br />
helps me to grasp that background<br />
and the importance of<br />
raising money every year to<br />
go racing and stick to a budget.<br />
The best thing I can have<br />
is a sponsor who at the end of<br />
the year says to me ‘I got ten<br />
times more than what I expected<br />
or what I paid for’. I’ve<br />
done very well on that side<br />
but I would say with 80% of<br />
riders it is about getting them<br />
to understand that is it just<br />
as important about what you<br />
do off the track in supporting<br />
the OEM and the sponsors<br />
as what you do on the track.<br />
Dean Wilson could finish 10th<br />
every week but his value in<br />
promoting the brand and what<br />
he does off the track is important.<br />
The constant process of analysing<br />
a rider and where he is<br />
in his career and where he’s<br />
going: can that sometimes<br />
be difficult because of the<br />
connection you have? You’ve<br />
had a mix of younger riders<br />
and much more experienced.<br />
Coming back to what I asked<br />
earlier, it must be tricky to<br />
evaluate that and make tough<br />
decisions…<br />
It is. When I made all the<br />
decisions, for the majority of<br />
my career, it was very easy<br />
for me to say ‘that’s the guy<br />
I want’. What, still-to-thisday,<br />
gives me satisfaction<br />
is being able to see the guy<br />
that nobody else can see.<br />
What is that particular guy<br />
missing? He has the ability,<br />
he has the talent: so what<br />
is lacking? Whether it was<br />
Davy [Millsaps], who’d everybody<br />
had given-up on, or<br />
Christophe or Zach or Marty<br />
[Davalos] or even Jason there<br />
is a story behind every one of<br />
them that at a certain point<br />
in their careers when I found<br />
them they’d been written-off<br />
or been told to move on and<br />
find something or someone<br />
else. With the young guys it<br />
is very difficult and tough for<br />
me to communicate to my<br />
peers here at Husqvarna that<br />
we have to stick with a guy<br />
for the long-term. I’m a ‘numbers’<br />
person. I have spreadsheets<br />
that are 10-15 years<br />
old and go right through a<br />
rider’s Pro career. Over 82.6%<br />
of them have their best Pro<br />
years after coming in as a<br />
rookie by their third-fourth<br />
season. What I have Iearnt
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