Searle behind the wheel of the Factory 350SX-F in Italy
New Red Bull KTM rider Tommy Searle has been in Italy for the past two weeks, working closely with Claudio De Carli and the team based in Rome for the first time. To get his first taste of the Factory 350SX-F that he will ride in 2015 for his third season in the MXGP.
The former vice world champion (Searle already rode in the Red Bull KTM colors in 2007-08) signed a contract to sit alongside MXGP world champion Antonio Cairoli on the title-winning 350SX-F machine, while Ken De Dijcker will be the rider on the 450SX-F. He is therefore leaving Kawasaki, where he has been employed since 2011.
Searle has been the most successful English Grand Prix rider since he first came to prominence as a teenager at the 2006 FIM World Championship. Has already done some laps on the various circuits that De Carli has near the Italian capital. “It's very relaxed,” he said. “Tony hasn't been riding yet (Cairoli had promo commitments during the EICMA show in Milan) so I can get used to the 350, so I'm riding his bike and just have to change the handlebars and position a bit while waiting for the engine for next season is coming and we expect it this week.
“So I will take it into account,” said the 25-year-old. “There are some things that are a little different like the weight and center of gravity of the bike, but we won't worry about it now until we have the '16 model. The power is astonishing. Tony was always good at the start, but now I can see why he was always able to get away from the start.”
The De Carli/Cairoli combination has been on KTM motorcycles since 2010, a year after Searle was still part of the Austrian Factory set-up. Searle then tried his luck in the AMA a year later, but due to injuries he eventually returned to the Grand Prix's in 2011. But with the Italian set-up now it is quite different than what the Brit was initially used to in his previous KTM period. “It's very different now… but Pit will help me in his own way,” he says. “At the moment it feels like a bit of family”
“Claudio (De Carli) is really overall. He is therefore involved in the preparation and watering of the circuits and pays a lot of attention to the material. He always has good ideas and makes some changes that I sometimes think would work, but in the end it is an improvement. So far I'm really happy with how everything is going.”
Text: Adam Wheeler – OTOR Magazine
Photo: KTM
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