with ... Thomas Ramsbacher
Monday 26 September: The Suzuki Europe Team Manager Thomas Ramsbacher offers some perspective on the status of racing operations as they currently stand.
The Suzuki Europe MX2 team was a passive observer at the Grand
Prix of Italy for the final round of the FIM Motocross World
Championship with rider Valentin Teillet on the
injury-list.
The
German crew hope to soon announce some important and interesting
developments for the future of the European MX2 racing programme based
around the RM and RM-Z250 machines and Team Manager Thomas Ramsbacher
was on-hand to offer some perspective on the status of racing operations
as they currently stand.
How can you evaluate 2011?
If
you have had a season like ours then you can only look for the future!
We have to make an evaluation and see if we made any mistakes and, like
any rider, learn from it. We have to work towards being competitive
again in 2012. Valentin only rode six from 15 Grands Prix and from this
ratio you cannot expect to be at the top, but this is a matter of bad
luck for the kid and the team.
What is your vision for 2012 and beyond?
For
us the main thing - as we have always done - is look towards what we
can do for the young riders. When Teillet was injured this year we had
the chance to jump in with a rider who was 22 or 23 from another brand
but that was something we didn't want to do. Our priority was to give
the opportunity of a factory bike to some Suzuki kids to see their
possibilities and learn about how they handle that type of situation. We
took on Simone Zecchina and were surprised. He was quite unknown in
Italy but did a good job, the same as Jeremy Seewer last weekend in
Gaildorf. These kids are cool and they are in Championships on a Suzuki,
so it was positive to continue a progression and show them the level
they can reach.
How do you see the presence of the team next year? Will there be a bigger spread in different series?
From
my side I have been building up young kids since we started the team.
The most well-known is of course Ken Roczen but we also guided the likes
of Clement Desalle for four years, Xavier Boog and Arnaud Tonus. We
picked up these guys as kids and we were able to mutually progress
together. I like the idea of developing talent with the excellent
opportunities we have, especially in the link with GRP (Geboers Racing
Promotion) and Jens Johansson and his experience, I believe we can
continue doing our work and this means having a presence in the
important series we see around now; like the two-stroke championship,
the MX2 European series and then the flagship factory-backed RM-Z250 in
the MX2 Grands Prix.