MXlarge's Geoff Meyer speaks to MX1 World Champion Antonio Cairoli about his Bercy Supercross experience.
Red Bull KTM rider Antonio Cairoli had an enjoyable weekend in Paris at last weekend’s Bercy Supercross.
Despite not making the podium on either of the three nights, the four-time World Motocross Champion had a lot of fun and is now looking forward to possibly racing a couple of AMA Supercross races in 2011.
After going 7-13-4 for three main events in Bercy, the Italian legend knows that he has some work to do around a Supercross circuit, but the improvement from Friday until Sunday showed that he can be competitive on a Supercross track.
MXlarge’s Geoff Meyer caught up with Cairoli and sent this chat through to MotoOnline.com.au direct from Europe.
World Motocross Champion Antonio Cairoli is a rookie in Supercross, but says he had a good weekend at Bercy.
Antonio, can you tell me about Friday night, because the first night in Bercy you didn’t look that comfortable?
My weekend was, Friday I was a bit worried, because the track was no safe, many ruts and I didn’t have a good feeling with a Supercross anyway, but riding with the ruts was a drama for me.
Everyone said the track would be better on the Saturday and Sunday so for Friday I just rode safe. I went seventh in the main which was okay.
The track did improve a lot for Saturday night and straight away you looked better.
Saturday I went much better we made a lot of changes to the bike, I hadn’t ridden Supercross before this race, only once in Italy for Genoa.
We made a lot testing and I felt really good on Saturday, my times were close to the top guys. I was happy, but then in the main I had a good start, but Justin took me down and I lost time getting up and I was last.
You can’t pass here, if you want to pass you have to block pass and I don’t want to do that, first I don’t have the speed to do that, but it’s also not nice to do that. So I just gave up and looking for Sunday.
You battled for a podium place on Sunday and you really looked aggressive for the first time. How did it feel for you on Sunday in Bercy?
We changed something on the engine for Sunday – it was easier to ride for me. My times were not better than Saturday, but I was riding safer and my times were more consistent.
I was almost a podium in the main event. For sure he [Coulon] was getting tired and making mistakes and I wasn’t feeling tired. I made a mistake on the whoops near the end and we were really close at the last corner.
For me it was nice, for sure I wanted to be on the podium, but that was okay for me.
Cairoli admits he needs to practice whoops, however he's keen to race a couple of AMA rounds in 2011.
I noticed on the whoops you were not cutting across the top like the other top guys. You were more or less jumping them, like three, three, three or something like that.
Yes, but I can’t ride on the top here and my speed was almost the same jumping them. I can usually ride on the top, but then the whoops have to be good and not too broken.
I was a little scared because they were broken everywhere. I have more experience now than last time I was here, for sure in 2006 I was really excited the three days, and this time I just wanted to enjoy it and not get hurt.
And a lot of guys did get hurt.
That is why the track is scary, it was better to keep it slowly and keep it safe.
Does your Bercy results give you motivation to still go to America?
For sure, Sunday I felt okay, I just need to train in the whoops. I don’t need to win in America, it’s just important to have fun and not struggle too much.
That is why I go there, not to think about winning, just having fun and enjoy myself. I have always wanted to race in America since I was a kid, but I think maybe I do two races this year only.
I will see how it goes and decide my future.
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