Former MX2 FIM Motocross World Championship leader Arnaud Tonus has an important decision over his contract situation for 2015 and it seems like the Swiss has to make his mind up quickly. The CLS Monster Energy Kawasaki rider has already attracted attention from all except one factory team in the MXGP category for next year and was faced with a firm offer from the Troy Lee Designs Honda crew for an AMA saddle this weekend in Spain.
Representatives from the Honda team were in Talavera de la Reina seeking a signature for Tonus to move across the Atlantic for 2015. “Arnaud was not expecting so much so soon and there is definitely some options to consider,” commented his agent Gerard Valat. “I do not think anything will be decided this weekend. If we had to be pushed for an answer then it will not happen here in Spain.”
Tonus is currently second in the MX2 standings and is the only other winner of a Grand Prix this year aside from world champion Jeffrey Herlings. He has to leave the 250 division this year due to his age (23 years old) but is already seen by most brands as a decent option for a 350 or 450 in MXGP.
“It is pretty cool to have that option of going to the U.S. but I just wonder if it is the right time for me,” he said exclusively on the subject. “I need to have a good think about the choices we have because I want to make sure my next move is the right one and the best for me.”
While a switch to the AMA might prove to be an exotic change of direction for the Swiss who has recovered from two years of injury problems in 2012 and 2013 to realise his potential at the highest level this season, his solid and supportive family set-up in Europe might be too much of a wrench to leave. “I used to think so much about my racing and over the past two years I learnt not to do that so much,” Tonus said. “Now I’m in the position where I have to do it again! But after all that’s happened it is a nice situation to be in.”
Tonus is a good friend of Ken Roczen and the German is surely championing his ex team-mate’s abilities to American race teams. Tonus is also a previous runner-up at the Geneva Supercross; one of Europe’s premier winter stadium events along with Bercy, Paris and Genoa. “Kenny has built a whole life out in America and seems quite settled. We are close so he lets me know what is going on all the time,” the Kawasaki man said. “It would be a big thing to go over there. A big change. I think I could adapt to supercross because I have always ridden it whereas some riders from other parts of Europe might not have the same grounding. I don’t think Ken did so much but he has such good technique that he picked it up very quickly.”
Photo by Ray Archer
