No doubt, HRC rider Tim Gajser just can’t make a mistake at the moment. His brilliance in 2019 makes for a championship season, and even with defending champion Jeffrey Herlings out of the championship and nine-time World champion Antonio Cairoli out, you can’t take anything away from the soon to be three-time World champion from Slovenia.
His performance is Lommel was smooth as silk, and around the toughest motocross circuit in the World, the Honda rider rode smart and controlled his own destiny. Now onto Imola in Italy, hardpack, and what is expected a sort of home GP for the series leader.
One thing is for sure, the celebrations will be long and hard, and the always smiling Gajser will no doubt show his fans, those ever so rich Slovenians, that travel to all the Grand Prix’s, that his victories on the circuit are just the start of this amazing talent’s career.
What makes Gajser a great competitor isn’t just his on-track deeds, but his attitude to people. Always happy to do an interview, sit with his fans, or have a laugh with his team members, you can see the 22-year-old is having fun, and no doubt, winning is the best way to enjoy life, and that has pretty much been the 2019 season for Gajser, a year of having fun and scoring points.
Tim also spoke about his desire to race in America at the Monster Energy Cup, a race that saw him crash out a few years ago, but now older and wiser, expect him to run with the leading American supercross riders. But first, a championship to win, and the MXoN in Assen.
Second Grand Prix in the year you didn’t really expect to win, and you do. Going 2-2 and winning is a bit of a surprise. How does it feel?
I mean yes, exactly, and again a sand track. In Kegums when I went, I think 1-6 for overall and here two times second. I felt good today, riding was nice, I didn’t rush I didn’t push too much, because it was easy to make a mistake. Wit,h the good starts I just tried to get a good pace and make a gap to the others. In the second race, Anstie was fast and I left him to pass me and we had a nice gap to the third one. It felt really nice and it was unexpected to win here in Lommel. I was always struggling to come here, and I was thinking about this race. In the winter we trained really hard in the sand and it is paying off for sure.
Saturday you also looked very strong.
All-day I was feeling good on the bike, I just struggled to get a clean lap in timed practice. I couldn’t put all the sectors together as there were many riders on the track, but the qualifying race went well. I was in fourth place around the first bend and ended up passing all four guys on the first lap, so I was very happy how that went. I wanted to find some flow and some good lines, and everything is just easier when you are out front. Overall, I’m happy with how it went and I know that starts will be important and I hoped we could take two solid starts and ride well on Sunday.
How did you prepare?
Gajser: I drove straight from Loket to Belgium with the rest of the team so I could do some sand testing in preparation for this weekend. It has been a fun couple of days just getting everything ready because we know it will be a lot different than Loket. Normally I’ve been riding a lot in sand tracks in Croatia this year because I knew that I needed to improve this aspect of my riding. I am trying not to think too much about the championship and just to focus on each race as it happens and that is what I will do this weekend. It will be two difficult races and I know I will need to be at 100% to perform well.
It seems that your confidence is so high, that it is really hard to ride badly and let’s be honest, most of it is in the head or not?
I think its all in the head, for sure when you are having a good season. But even in my best year, when I was winning a lot, I was coming here to Lommel, to the deep sand and I was struggling. This year was different, and I was enjoying it.
The championship is more or less already won. I mean you could not race again this year and you would be really unlucky not to win it. Can you already dream about being the champion?
Yes, definitely. I mean we are really close and if everything goes to plan, then we win it in Italy next round. I couldn’t wish for a better place. The team is from Italy, we are close to the Slovenian border and we expect many, many fans from my country, so it is going to be a great GP?
So, we can expect a really big party?
Yes, for sure.
How do you like to party?
Sure, but I don’t like to party too much, but I like to dance I like to sing. I don’t drink alcohol at all. But I can party with it.
Are you racing the des Nations?
Yes, we are going to ride the Nations. We have the Nations in Assen, so deep sand track, but we have a really good team. Our MX2 guy Jan Pancar, he is doing really good and we didn’t expect him to be there in the top 20 or 18, collecting the points. At the Nations, it isn’t easy to get a good result, so I am happy to have a good team.
Monster Energy Cup, I understand you are going to do that. How are you feeling about that, excited?
Yes, very excited, I can’t wait.
Last time you crashed, but you seemed to have good speed.
Yes, but this time we have a bigger break between Nations and the Monster Cup, like three weeks, so I am going there two weeks before the Monster Cup and do a lot of testing on the supercross track and we will be ready this time.
