Preparing for 2015

While the 2014 FIM Motocross World Championship season finished just a month ago with the always popular Monster Energy Motocross of Nations, several riders are already preparing for the 2015 season.

American Ryan Villopoto and his new Monster Energy Kawasaki team-mate Tyla Rattray have been in Europe checking out the Kawasaki work-shop and putting everything into place for their assault on the MXGP championship owned by Antonio Cairoli.

Rattray did some laps around the Plomian circuit in France and while Villopoto isn’t yet able to ride due to his recovery from an injury not yet finalized, he is picking up as much information as possible in his quest for a world title in 2015.

With many riders changing teams for 2015 you can count on a lot of laps being done in the winter as names like Gautier Paulin, Max Nagl, Tommy Searle, Rui Goncalves, Romain Febvre and many more get used to their new teams and bikes. Goncalves who signed with the Ricci Racing Husqvarna team just last week is excited to be entering 2015 with a good set-up.

“I know how KTM and Husqvarna work,” Goncalves said. “They are doing the work behind the scenes, and I know the bike will be good before our team even touch it. We will do some testing in January in Italy, and I will have a bike back home in Portugal. I can’t wait for the new season to start, I am excited about it.”

Of course British rider Searle rode for KTM in his MX2 days and will enjoy the time together with his new team-mates Antonio Cairoli and Ken De Dycker. As De Dycker found out working with the Italian brings a new motivation and some extra speed.

Searle battled hard with Cairoli in the 2008 FIM MX2 World Championship, often coming together on the track in a real tough fight. Now as team-mates Searle will want to learn as much from the Italian and also want to show KTM that their faith in him was well deserved.

One of the highlights of 2015 will be the move by MX2 riders Glenn Coldenhoff and Romain Febvre to the MXGP class. Both have stepped up to the bigger class for 2015 were quickly signed by factory teams. Coldenhoff will race for the factory Suzuki team and Febvre for factory Yamaha.

“I am lucky that I have something for 2015 in MXGP,” Coldenhoff said recently. “It’s tough to get into that class with a good team and it was one of the main reasons that I decided to race for Suzuki. The chance to ride a factory Suzuki gives me a chance to be competitive. I am looking forward to that challenge.”

With an already super competitive field in MXGP the young guns will have to be ready for anything as they battle to make the top ten, although both have won a GP in the MX2 class and many insiders see them as a major part of the future of the MXGP series.