22 | JANUARY 2018 http://www.adbmag.com.auSOIL SAMPLE HOT OFF THE PRESS
What happened to the contract
you had to race 2018 in
America?
The deal wasn’t viable in the end.
When I weighed up my options,
I’ve got a successful team and
program here at CDR with all the
tools to give me the success that
I’ve had. It was a long shot going
[to the U.S.] There’s a lot to get
set up and everything needs to be
spot on so, in the end, it was the
wisest decision to stay here.
What happened at the
Motocross of Nations?
I did a bit of testing before I went
and changed my set up, and I
haven’t changed my set up in two
years. I thought I was going down
the right path but I really wasn’t,
I really struggled with it. By the
time I realised, it was too little, too
late and I had to deal with what
I had. Also, I was kind of over-
committed and under-prepared,
I was trying to do supercross
and motocross and that was the
downfall. I was still on my ’17
model, I kinda had it planned that
I needed to change my set up a
little bit for the bigger track after
my American experience, but it
definitely didn’t work. In the end,
the set up that I was riding on
all motocross season would’ve
worked perfectly.
In terms of the AMA Pro
Motocross round you did at High
Point, you performed well. Did
you expect to do that well on a
largely stock bike?
Actually, the bike was exactly
what I had here in Australia, it
was a good bike. But yeah, I did. I
thought I would be at the front. It
wasn’t an outstanding ride, it was
just that I rode quite normal.
What was it like making the
transition from the smaller
Australian tracks to the bigger
American-style track?
I adapted to it quite easily and
felt like maybe the bigger tracks
really suit me. The track was easy
to adapt to, the weather was quite
hard coming off three months of
cold weather here [in Australia]
and going straight into that
summer, it was like 33 degrees
and really humid. I really suffered
with that, but the transition to thetrack was easy for me.
You’ve said that you’re still
keen to do some riding over in
America next year. Have you
got any concrete plans as to
where and when?
Not really. I would like to go in that
June race again if the opportunity
comes up, and possibly do three
of them and make the trip really
worthwhile. There’s also a few at
the end of our motocross season,
but probably a guest ride would
be easier than taking all my own
equipment.After your race at High Point,
there was some talk about
offers from U.S. teams, are the
offers from the U.S. kind of like
winning the Lotto in terms of
money and support on offer?
I didn’t really have that many
offers because I didn’t really
venture that far past Yamaha. But,
no. Not the offers that I’ve seen
anyway.
As a top Aussie rider looking to
go over to America and make
it big, and not forgetting that
you ended up getting Reedy’s
famous number at the MXoN,
were people starting to talk
that maybe that was a sign of
things to come?
[Chuckles] No, I’ve never thought
of it like that, just luck of the draw
I guess.
What’s it like racing now that
you have a child? Has it changed
in any way?
Not at all. The program is the
same. Whenever I head out to the
practice track my daughter comes
with me. The only thing is, it’s got
to be super organised when we
travel, but we’re quite lucky that
she’s a little angel and everything
has been quite easy. But no,
the goal is still to win races and
championships.
On that note, you’ve signed
with Craig Dack at CDR Yamaha
again, were there any other
offers from Australian teams?
Nah. It was either CDR or America.
Was the contract for next year
a better one than you had for
this year?
I can’t answer that.FIVE MINUTES ON
THE FERRIS WHEEL
exclusiveADB
InterviewJACK TIZZARD TALKS TO TWO-TIME AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS
CHAMPION DEAN FERRIS ABOUT HIGH POINT, THE MXON AND
HIS PLANS FOR 2018
I DIDN’T REALLY HAVE THAT MANY
OFFERS BECAUSE I DIDN’T REALLY
VENTURE THAT FAR PAST YAMAHA