Tim Gajser is standing in the darkness. Fox’s ‘Celebration of Speed’ event in their modern and typically Californian office in Irvine (all open plan, bright, airy, cubic and creative) has neglected some stage lights for Jeff Emig and Ricky Carmichael as they intro the impressive roster of the brand’s athletes who have succeeded in 2016. Gajser is the last to be welcomed to the platform and after the duo, with their banter and friendly jibes, have spoken with Ryan Dungey, Livia Lancelot and been sent a video message by the holidaying Ken Roczen. It is a mark of Gajser’s humility that he handles the attention and the spotlight (or lack of one) with grace and a giddying sense of ‘what am I doing here?’ He accepts a cake for his twentieth birthday and there is an audible sense of disbelief from Carmichael that the Slovenian has trailblazed to so much at such a young age. Fox’s proceedings prior to the season-closing Monster Energy Grand Prix of USA comes with their usual high level of presentation and thought (lighting issues aside). A Pro-Am mini-bike track is noisily gathering attention outside, food comes courtesy of fresh tacos, a live band gets ready to jam and cocktails named after the riders are being served (Gajser’s mix being vodka, lemonade and ‘Honda’ Strawberry).
Gajser, as ever flanked by his father Bogomir and older brother Nejc, is shaking hands and doing the rounds. He became the first back-to-back FIM World Champion in different classes since Greg Albertyn in ’92-93 only four days beforehand and is the youngest MXGP title winner since the invention of the four-stroke formula. Tim may seem a little wide-eyed with what is bound to be just a slice of victory spoils, but the grin and the giggle are in place. As is the maturity that helped him decimate the MXGP class in 2016 and deal with a raft of rivals far older and more experienced. Gajser ripped through the premier category from the get-go with a 1-1 in Qatar. He went on to win almost 50% of the thirty-six motos and gathered sixteen podium results from eighteen rounds (winning seven overalls, with eight Pole Positions). There was nothing lucky, circumstantial or questionable about his synergy with the CRF450RW and how he whipped, turned-down, gunned and guided that motorcycle to a run of dominance.
“We knew that Tim was really fast on a 450 and that he was strong. We saw him winning two motos easily last year in the German Championship…but to win a title with such consistency all season we honestly did not expect that,” opines Team Manager and Owner Giacomo Gariboldi a few days later in the paddock at Glen Helen.
“I didn’t really see a change in him,” the Italian adds. “I think his riding style became a little less aggressive and he is thinking more during a race as well as cutting down the risks he used to take with a 250…but otherwise he is still the Tim we met and know from 2014.”
“Tim is the full package,” comments HRC General Manager Roger Harvey; the man responsible for signing Gajser to a multi-year factory deal during 2015 that will keep ‘243’ in ‘red’ for the next three seasons and maybe in 2020 also. “Obviously he is very young and being that age you probably expected something different from him; you saw how he had to ‘get up’ a few times on the 250 last year. He is an unbelievable thinker. He works things out and doesn’t really change his strategy. He is very much what I term as old school ‘go out and win it’. I can relate to him because he is so much like the guys I used to race: hard as nails, never gives up and just keeps pushing and pushing. It’s like he is from another era.”
Gajser’s story is quite well known and in the wake of notching the 2015 MX2 FIM World Championship after Jeffrey Herlings checked-out with a dislocated hip. ‘Tiga’ comes as part of a family package with Nejc serving as his right-hand man and Bogo the ever-present trainer and mentor; frequently seen barking at his son in the start gate. The rapid-fire Slovenian dialogue coming like some kind of mantra at Tim’s back as he preps the ground. Off the bike and Gajser’s yellow cap is always steadfastly in place and although he claimed Honda’s first No.1 plate since 2000 in the blue ribbon division of the sport he will not budge from the ‘243’ that has become a badge of honour and symbol for the brother he never knew and was killed motocrossing before Tim was born.
European 65, 85, 125 and World 125 Championships hoisted Gajser as a junior that nobody could ignore. He was part of KTM’s programme until a forgettable first Grand Prix year in 2013 where several mechanical problems caused the family to become disillusioned with the Orange. Michele Rinaldi jetted to Slovenia to try and bring Gasjer to Yamaha but the clan opted for Gariboldi’s Honda set-up instead for 2014 and that’s when he claimed his first Grand Prix podium and also grabbed fifth in the MX2 series at his first full attempt…while still at school and studying economics. The writing was back on the wall. Since a maiden Grand Prix win at Arco di Trento in 2015, MXGP circuits have become distinctly more yellow and boisterous with an enlarging Slovenian contingent following their new hero. In a country with just a population of 2.5 million people Gajser’s (now double) world championship status seems to have captured national attention.
The rider from Ptju has stirred MXGP to the core, even prompting new thinking on the youth and intensity needed to win at the very tip of the motocross pyramid [see our other feature this month]. After Romain Febvre’s breakthrough rookie success at the age of 23 in 2015 Gajser then developed a whole new level of riding and performance. We wanted some insight from those working with him as to the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’. “He is analytical and he can work things out race to race and even lap to lap and you don’t see that in many riders,” offers Harvey. “Let’s go back two years to Argentina. Race one: a disaster. Terrible. I spoke to him after and asked what was going on and he shook his head and said ‘no…I need to go back and reset’. That was him thinking about what he did in that first race and making sure it didn’t happen in the second and the result was that he was right up there. Generally he is ‘on it’ and he’s very aware of his surroundings and what is going on in the race. Add to that he is a hard and physical character.”
“He is riding the Honda how it should be ridden,” he adds. “He is quite smooth and that’s the DNA of Honda. It is smooth and rideable and quick enough to win Grands Prix, as we’ve seen. He is using a 450 how it should be ridden.”
“It is very difficult for a rider to keep the focus over eighteen GPs,” says Gariboldi. “There are so many motos. Everybody has been up-and-down this season. Tim had a few difficult GPs – like Assen and Lommel – where he did not reach the podium but I think you have to expect this from a nineteen year old kid. I think he felt the pressure at the end of the season whereas up to halfway he just went out to play and enjoy. I believe when he saw the lead go up and almost reach 100 points then he was thinking seriously about winning the championship and the pressure came but nobody was putting that on him, we weren’t even talking about the title.”
Backpedalling from the Fox glitterati we sat down to talk with Tim two weeks previously at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands at Assen. It was Gajser’s first ‘match point’ and he could have entered the record books across the Dutch sand. It was not meant to be, partly due to some of the pressure that Gariboldi intimated. An off-track excursion in the second moto provided the only blip on an extraordinary scorecard when he broke the Honda’s throttle cable and DNF-ed.
The day before we encountered a seemingly relaxed Honda man at his family’s camper in the Assen paddock. Folding out two collapsible chairs we chatted for the better part of thirty minutes and through a discourse that was remarkable similar to a first feature interview in 2014; Gajser really hadn’t changed that much. Still smiley, thoughtful and easy to laugh…even if the subject matter was now much more serious and wide reaching than all the talk of ‘potential’ two summers ago. Again it was easy to forget just how far and how quickly he has sailed…
Are you aware of the story you’ve made this year?
I never watched the statistics or paid too much attention to the history but I know the big names like Albertyn, Everts and Tony. It was about keeping the pressure away but I knew that would be difficult the more the season went on. I really tried to keep calm and to ride only like I know.
Do you feel that the season has passed in the blink of an eye?
Actually this year feels like it has gone so quickly. I still remember Qatar really well and the first race that we won and now we are here at the beginning of September. I cannot believe how fast life goes when you are enjoying it. I guess it is unbelievable what we have done in my first year in MXGP but I’m glad we did it.
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