Christophe Pourcel re-established some supercross credentials at Lille ahead of his first attempt at the 450SX class and five years after he was a double 250SX East Coast Champion. Now firmly settled alongside Jason Anderson at Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Racing CP377 has the set-up and the people around him to again dazzle with a riding style that is frequently sumptuous to watch and often uncatchable. The 27 year old has rarely been predictable and will remain so in 2016 for his longest racing season. We quizzed him on his Lille experience and what his campaign in the U.S. might have in store…
On Saturday you were a little quiet. Sunday you bagged Superpole and then the Main Event win: quite a turnaround…
Yeah, on Saturday we changed a lot stuff for the Main and went on some European settings for the suspension, going soft for the ruts and I struggled because my shock was too low and my forks kinda stiff…then I got arm-pump. I was kinda sad because my goal was to battle Cooper [Webb] and [Weston] Peick. Pretty late on Saturday we decided to go back to the stiff U.S. set-up and they did a good job on the track. It was so rutted and its not our job to take risks here. It is great that they [the manufacturers] support us here but they also say to us “if you don’t win…it is not a big deal! Don’t get hurt!” The dirt was getting softer and softer. It might be the humidity in the stadium. I spoke with the organiser and maybe they should put some concrete [elements] into the dirt like we do in the U.S. sometimes to make it harder.
You seem to have a love-hate relationship with this event. You either do very well or end up needing treatment…
It is good that Husky support me to come here and I think they were on the edge about it but the guys from Austria and the U.S. came here to watch. All the people, fans and media that we only really see once a year; it is amazing to see. My goal is to try and do this every year if we can and I have been doing so since 2012 and it is pretty amazing that the organisation trusts me.
Your thoughts on a seventeen round supercross calendar coming up…?
It will be my first supercross season in five years – a long time. But I think the longer tracks in the U.S. suit me better and flow better. On these small tracks…you need to get a good start! It was five years since I took my championship and it will take me a couple of rounds to get used to the tracks and guys [in the class]. I know for the first five races there will be a lot of fast guys that will push a lot but the championship is seventeen [races] and that’s a long way. We need to take it easy. Our bike is amazing and Jason, my teammate, is very good. We help each other and I think we have a good team to improve through the season.
People question if you can make the distance…
It’s funny because everybody says: “you’re so good at supercross”. I don’t think so! The best thing about me is that I make almost no mistakes. I can do almost a perfect lap and that takes a lot of energy because I focus so much. I can always do that fast lap though and save it right until the end. I think supercross is a lot easier on my body – after my crash [Pourcel was temporarily paralysed in 2007] – than motocross. My fitness is getting better every year for motocross but it is so hot in the summer. Supercross is only twenty laps, maybe seventeen minutes. Motocross is almost two hours of massive bumps – for me motocross is tough.
