Features 2 Aug 2012

Industry Insight: Choice Motorsports KTM's Anthony Giles

MotoOnline.com.au gets an insight into the Choice Motorsports team and their exciting plans for the future, with owner Anthony Giles.

In just 11 years Victorian suspension company Choice Suspension has arguably has kicked serious goals in Australia, has expanded into Asia, and debuted a national-level race team this year.

But, if the rumours are to be believed, the company has even bigger fish to fry. We sat down with Choice Suspension’s Anthony Giles to see if there’s any truth to the rumours his team will run KTM’s factory MX2 team in 2013.

Choice Motorsports' Dylan Long lead the MXD class early in the season, and currently sits second overall heading into Moree. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

First up, Anthony, give us a bit of background on your company.

I started Choice Suspension in 2001 and we’ve now branched out into New Zealand and have an office in Jakarta that covers all of Asia, including Singapore, Indonesia and the Phillipines.

We’re also in the process of setting up a new workshop in Surybuya, which is the second-largest city in Indo. We first pushed into Jakarta in 2009 and we haven’t looked back since.

Motocross is extremely popular over there and the Indonesian MX championships are the second-biggest live TV broadcast in the country. It’s huge, it makes the MX Nationals here look second-rate. The riders aren’t of the caliber we have in Australia, but the presentation and professionalism is streets ahead.

You fielded an Australian motocross team for the first time this year. How’s that gone for you guys?

It’s gone better than we expected, to tell the truth. We signed Dylan Long for MXD and Jacob Wright for MX1, but Jake was hurt pre-season.

He was training in the US and hit another rider; his arm got caught between the swingarm and the disc and ripped his bicep off the bone and he lost 170mm of nerves as a result. He lost all his feeling in his little and ring fingers and was told he’d never be able to ride again.

But he’s a determined bugger and has undergone nerve rehab in the States and wants to race more than ever. We’re expecting him to be back for the next round at Moree.

As for Dylan, he’s been a real charger. He held the red plates for three rounds, and is still second in the points behind Kayne [Lamont]. The third-moto win at Appin on the weekend has proved to everyone that he’ll fight to the death for this title.

With Jake Wright coming back for Moree it’ll be a pretty busy under the Choice Suspension KTM tent then?

Oh yeah, definitely. On top of that, Toby Price came up to me after Appin and said he’s fallen in love with motocross racing again and wants to compete in the rest of the series to build his intensity levels. We’ve agreed, so we’ll have three riders under our tent for the final two rounds: Jake Wright and Toby Price in MX1 and Dylan Long in MXD.

Choice Motorsports could be taking over the MX2 duties for KTM in 2013, who will we see on that squad? Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Busy times! So what’s the plan for next year?

We’re currently in talks with Jeff Leisk and KTM to run their MX2 team for 2013. It’s not locked in concrete yet, but it was briefly announced at a KTM dealership meeting in Bali over the weekend.

KTM is looking to bring its race team back in-house, where [veteran KTM mechanic] Rob Tywerold will run the MX1 team and we’ll run the MX2 team next to them, similar to Suzuki’s and Yamaha’s set-ups right now.

Wow, that’s huge news, mate. Does that mean you’ll have to invest in a bigger truck?

Not at this stage. It’s likely we’ll run the same truck we have this year, and the KTM team may also run a rigid vehicle. We’ll possibly pit next to each other and share awning space. KTM wants to keep it fairly in-house so there won’t be a lot of outside sponsors.

We’re pretty excited about it. We want to step up our level of support and the MX2 class delivers some of the best racing in my opinion. Our goal is to develop a MX2-specific team that and I’m really looking forward to the challenge it’ll bring. Now we’ve just got to look for some riders!

I’m sure there’ll be a line of blokes putting their hands up. So what does this mean for JDR KTM team?

I can’t really comment on that, but I’d imagine they’ll still have a presence in the pits and keep a couple of their riders. They may put more focus on their US program, especially after announcing they’ve signed amateur rider Chase Bell to the team. It’ll be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Absolutely. We can’t wait to see where everyone settles once this silly season finishes. Thanks for your time, Anthony, see you at Moree.

Any time. Catch you there!

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