INTERVIEW - Max Anstie part one
November 28, 2007
British motocross is certainly on a high at the moment not only do we have Tommy Searle and Steven Clarke but we also have our very own redhead wonder in Max Anstie who is setting the world on fire on his KTM 85 in Europe and the USA.
We caught up with Max just after his first compeititve ride in the USA at the Mini O’s in Florida.
MOTO: Firstly congrats on the Mini O races, do feel with a bit more bike time you could improve to a winning position?
MA: Thanks, yeh for sure I mean this was my first time even riding on a proper out door track, my first race was Bercy (which went well) a week before which was in France then we flew out to Los Angeles - we had two days at home in Temecula in California then got on a plane again but this time to Gainesville, Florida, so you can imagine how we felt - pretty jet lagged. By the end of the week we were all so tired and felt we could just fall asleep on the start gate. All in all it was a good week, it was nice for my first race over here and being a bit rushed into it as it took us four years to master Holland but over here I am close all ready. (One of the main differences from the European races is that the races are over a week in the USA not just a weekend). We now have four months until March when my next big race is Lake Whitney in Texas so we will be doing a lot of training and testing to get ready. The KTM team over here is great and I mean it, they do everything - I seriously don't think that there is any better team to be on.
MOTO: That’s a lot of air miles for sure dude - Is there a big difference between racing on the KTM and the Kawasaki?
MA: Well Kawasaki was good to me, it made me learn a lot riding them, if you look at the statistics Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto etc all used to ride Kawasaki and some still do. I can’t thank them enough for what they've done in Europe and they have got me to where I am now.
Steve Guttridge and Lionel Vianne were awesome and have made it possible to reach my dream in the U.S. and I’m really pleased that I have been taken on board with Kurt Nichol in the KTM junior factory team and have made my dream a reality.
Who would have thought back in the GP days that Kurt Nichol, Jamie Dobb and Jimmy Button (managers) and my dad would be working together?
MOTO: Well those three riders didn’t turn out to bad - You’ve been in the USA now for a few weeks, are you missing home?
MA: Yeh, it’s just me and my Dad here and my Mum and little brother are at home, but its Christmas soon and they will fly out to see us. Talking about people who are coming out, we have a bunch of riders of all ages from all over Europe to come and train at the Anstie Academy boot camp. A lot of the guys are racing major races such as the European Championship and Tommy Searle will be over doing some training for the world championships. The main difference between here and home is the scenery, its just dessert here with mountain lions, rattle snakes and black widow spiders. Home is home and I cant wait until February when we will come home and run a half term MX School in Holland - then in August we will come back for the FIM Junior World round in Heerda Holland, its going to be the shoot out between Jeffery Herlings (DUTCH), Eli Tomac (USA) and me - you got to come and watch!
Catch part deux of Max’s interview tomorrow on MOTO, where he talks about Tetley tea bags and Santa Claus.
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