Monster Energy DRT Kawasaki rider Max Anstie isn’t wasting time in his progression in 2015. Having been labeled as a kid with a lot of talent back in his junior racing, but often not really producing the result he or his fans expected, but something has changed for the now 22 year old Brit.
Sure Jeffrey Herlings the king of the MX2 class is out injured and sure the pressure for some of the front runners is starting to show, but still, the British youngster is showing things that can only make him one of the favorites for the 2016 MX2 championship.
Anstie is 46 points down on series leader Pauls Jonass with just four GP’s, eight moto’s, and 200 points available. To catch the Red Bull KTM Factory rider would seem nearly impossible, but what 2015 has taught us is to always expect the unexpected.
Having missed a Grand Prix earlier in the season due to injury and also crashing out of the second moto in the Grand Prix of Czech Republic a couple of weeks ago have cost Anstie dearly in his title race. Of course most of the leading MX2 riders have had disaster in 2015 and those mishaps by Anstie can’t be counted as back luck, but more times of learning.
Of the last nine moto’s Anstie has won six of them in face he’s won five of the last six and probably should have won six from six apart from his Loket mishap.
Going into Lommel many expected him to be a strong contender, and he showed his capabilities in the sand. Now with the sand of Mantova and Assen coming up, and very rough circuits in Mexico and Glen Helen many are expecting the British youngster to add more moto wins and GP victories to his famous motocross name. Is a championship possible? Anything is possible if you never give up, and Max Anstie wasn’t taught to give up.
We caught up Anstie and asked him about his weekend.
What have you changed, because this is what we have been expecting for a number of years?
It isn’t about what we changed, it’s just progression, growing each week. The start of the season didn’t go to plan, everyone said it didn’t go to plan, but we have everything in place now and I can go and do my work. The main thing is I feel comfortable doing it and it isn’t a big deal when I am out front, and I know it’s a weird thing to say. It is nice to be in a position to win races and do my work and focus on myself. It’s a long season and we have proven you have to just be there and be consistent and that is it.
You looked really good, like you didn’t make any mistakes, like you were on rails. Did you have any problems anywhere?
I went over a couple of berms here and there, but I felt in control, and I just controlled the race. I thought about pushing harder and win by a big distance, but then I thought about it and thought just go and do the business and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how much you win the race as long as you win it. I was a little pissed off about last week (he crashed with the GP overall in sight in Loket). I was making sure that didn’t happen again and I want to be comfortably out front.
How did it feel on Saturday, did you feel comfortable straight away?
We were up against it on Saturday, and the other guys were really fast, but we put our heads down and worked on some things. We were searching for our setting and we found them and that is the name of the game.
Two sand tracks coming up, and two soft rough tracks in Mexico and Glen Helen. It is overstating, but you have a great shot at winning those last four GPs.
At the end of the day Loket was polar opposite to Lommel, and we can go back to Loket and do two moto’s and I won’t fall off, and I will win both moto’s. It doesn’t matter where I go now I will go to a track and do my work and be up front somewhere. Everyone says sand is good for me, but my goal this year was to get on the podium at a rock hard circuit like Loket or Sweden, and I just want to get the job done no matter what type of circuit it is.
Racing in the juniors it was you Jeffrey (Herlings) and Ken (Roczen). Those guys have gone on and won big championship and you sort of struggled and it seemed to take you more time to develop. And to be honest your win today in Lommel was a little of a Jeffrey Herlings type of performance. Does it feel like that, that you have finally found your mojo?
To be honest, we have all grown in different areas. I don’t know what Ken and Jeffrey do. The last few years I don’t regret anything and I feel like I am progressing and getting stronger. I have come a long way mentally and at the end of the day when you go MXGP that is when you get serious with the big boys. Jeffrey is laid up in bed at the moment and I really feel for him, and if you watch those MX Nations videos from America Ken isn’t having the best of times at the moment. It all swings and round abouts and I have learn a lot and I feel good about that.
I know the championship is a long way away and you are 46 points down in the points, but everyone has been inconsistent and if you can pick up 12 points a round and you can keep winning anything is possible. Do you think about the championship?
It is awesome that I am in a position to go for the championship, it’s the first time in my career that I am in this position. At the end of the day though I just need to concentrate on what I am doing, keep doing the job and you can’t really think about it. We will see after the second moto in Glen Helen what happens and that is all we can do.
