Searle: “I feel happy on a motorcycle again for years”
The Red Bull KTM MXGP team is busy testing and training at Claudio De Carli's base in Malagrotta, near Rome. In particular, the new addition to the factory team, Tommy Searle, is testing hard with the 2016 350SX-F that he will pilot in his third season in the MXGP class.
The 25-year-old Briton has already ridden Tony Cairoli's winning GP bike in November while the team was developing the bike for the new GP campaign that starts at the end of February. But now that Searle has his own 350SX-F, the former MX2 Vice World Champion is apparently at full speed.
“I jumped on Tony's bike at the beginning and the set-up wasn't right for me and I couldn't ride the bike without changing the set-up a bit,” he says. “The new engine is a 'night and day' difference than the first experience. It is therefore adapted to my driving style and that is a lot better. Overall I would say the handling is better, but also it had been a few years since I had ridden a KTM so I can't compare to one or the other.
“I feel happy on a motorcycle again for years,” he says. “I enjoy it every morning when I get up to go riding. I feel good about it and am really looking forward to it. With Cairoli's bike I needed a lap or two to get the right feeling, but now I know this is mine and it immediately feels good.”
Searle is one of four 350cc riders in 2015 along with teammate Cairoli who is likely to start his fifth term on this bike, Jose Butron riding for the Marchetti Racing team and Dean Ferris who will crew the equivalent FC350 Husqvarna for the Jacky Martens Negaan team . After two seasons with decent results, only a lack of podium places in the MXGP, Searle is ready for a new challenge. “I'm certainly not going to complain that I'm on a 350 (compared to the 450s) anyway, I now have a little less power on my bike,” he says. “I can now see how it might get a bit harder on some slippery and hard circuits, but where can you still see a blue line on the circuit? OK, maybe in Loket the 450 is better on the road, but honestly I'm happy with what I have now.
With Ken De Dijcker next to him, he is also part of a three-man team, which is the first time since he left the Grand Prix's in 2009 to ride in the AMA. Searle has already spent many rounds and hours with Cairoli, who had a busy promotional schedule (Tony Cairoli The Movie) in October and November. “I have ridden with him every day. He's a really nice guy and generally likes the simple things. He knows what he wants and only focuses on that.”
Searle is the most successful British GP rider of the past ten years. He has now traveled to Italy three times and knows that this is the ideal opportunity to revive his career and the status of 2012 when he was the main challenger to teammate Jeffrey Herlings in the MX2 class. He is revising his training regime with Kirk Gibbons, the fitness and sports specialist based in the Midlands, England. He works with the local university and helped Searle get to the best shape he's ever been in last winter. But this was abruptly cut short by a broken wrist during the second GP of the season in Thailand. The decision to continue working with Gibbons is therefore an important step towards 2015. “University was good but not for what I do,” he explains. “It's not that specialized in what I needed. Now if I had been an Olympic athlete I could have stayed there full time and that would have been ideal. So I only work with Kirk now because he knows me and understands the sport too. He is a very positive person and I think with what I learned from university and Kirk's guidance it is the right mix for me.”
Like most GP riders, Searle is also looking forward to Sardinia, where the first stage of the Italian championship will be held in Riola Sardo at the end of January. It will be his first European race on KTM since 2008.
Text: Adam Wheeler – OTOR magazine
Photo: Instagram/Twitter Tommy Searle
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