On Track Off Road No. 194

FEATURE
is important because you get through
a lot. Dunlop and Pirelli already have
so many teams that getting onboard
and product from those guys is very
difficult. I had a good relationship with
the guys at Michelin this year and, in
my opinion, they are trying super-hard
to bring back a top-quality motocross
tyre and are putting a serious effort
into producing handmade tyres and
compounds. There is a lot of testing
going on. Being involved with someone
that doesn’t only just throw product at
you but actually wants to come to the
races, give support and make a better
product is great, so I decided to go with
those guys. Another thing that ‘makes’
your race bike – and it is superficial –
are the stickers. It’s quite a big thing
for me because sponsors that want
to get involved will have their space
and logo on the bike. You go through
a lot of stickers in a season! I’ve had
a good thing with Enjoy over the years
and they were ready to back me 100%.
When the stickers go on then you re-
ally see your race bike coming together.
They’ll never make you go faster but
there is a feel-good factor and it was
one of the things I wanted to cross off
my list quite quickly. Presentation is a
part of it. After that the ECU and the
work with John was something I abso-
lutely needed.
Mapping is a huge part of
motocross these days…
…but, without going into too much
detail, I think we were that far-off with
some of the basics during 2019 that
the mapping did not help! So for the
Motocross of Nations we needed to
start from zero and build it up again;
compression ratios, valve timing and
all of those things needed to be sorted