As part of a revamped blog section on MotoOnline.com.au that will feature a variety of guests to come, we are proud to introduce KTM Australia general manager Jeff Leisk as the first of our contributors.

Leisk is a legend of the sport in world motocross circles, now proving just as successful on the business side of motorcycling in one of the most senior roles in Australia.

In this blog, we asked the Western Australian to have his say on the future of open class motocross in light of KTM’s 350 SX-F, what the future holds for the Austrian manufacturer in 2011 and found out just how important racing is to the brand.

KTM’S DECISION TO BUILD A 350

It was discussed to lower the Open class category from 450cc to 350cc a number of years ago and I know that at an FIM level it was very close to being approved that they would be lowering the limit to 350. In the end I don’t think it really had the support from the Japanese manufacturers and at the end of the day, they are the majority.

KTM had pretty much already started on the 350, but they basically got to a certain point – despite the fact that they know the class wouldn’t be modified – and still went on with the project.

Soon after when they started testing, they realised the bike has a lot of benefits, and obviously Stefan Everts’ feedback was critical in giving them the confidence to move ahead and go, ‘well you don’t necessarily need 450cc capacity to be competitive’.

I believe it’s been proven time and time again in motocross that power’s only a small part of the equation. It’s a concept that KTM developed, one they believe in, and we strongly believe that this size of bike will suit the needs of a lot of people.

LINKAGE/EFI ON FOUR-STROKE MX MODELS
It gives us our momentum back. When the 250 SX-F was first launched it really was a strong model, and it did outperform the Japanese bikes in terms of engine power. I don’t think we had it quite all together in terms of our suspension package, but we really were competitive. Even some of our earlier model large capacity bikes were strong, but I think the last couple of years we kind of fell away a bit in terms of development.

So this new range of bikes brings us right back to the forefront and in some instances may actually give us an advantage over some of our competitors. It’s a huge year for us, and hopefully a year for us that will see us fight back really strongly in the motocross market.

Not only do we have bikes that are really cutting edge, but I think our price points are going to meet the market as well. It’s definitely a big one for us and we are really relying on it quite heavily.

I have no doubt in my mind that [the 350 SX-F] will be [the best seller]!

THE IMPORTANCE OF RACING

KTM doesn’t sell many motorcycles that aren’t competition oriented. We’ve got our enduro range, the motocross range, a couple of trail bikes and then we move into road. Most of the products that we sell are high-end, high performance models.

What we like to do is prove to the public that these bikes do perform, they have lots of reliability and they are leaders in their respective categories. It’s one thing sticking an ad in a magazine, but you can’t go any better than going on the race track and consistently proving that your product is better than somebody else’s, so that’s what we try to do.