Slovenian Tim Gajser says his 2019 MXGP World Championship title success is still sinking in after an extended downtime before heading into this weekend’s Turkish GP.
The Honda HRC rider has been overwhelmed with media attention from his home country Slovenia, making for a busy month in August after claiming the title at the Swedish GP, round 16 of 18 in the world series.
“Since Sweden we’ve had quite a busy couple of weeks because of all the Slovenian media who want to speak to me after winning the MXGP World championship,” said Gajser.
“We had a cool parade too in Maribor with a lot of fans which was nice. A lot of fans have spoken to me and reached out to me and it is just amazing to be champion again, and I think it is finally sinking in that I have achieved the title.
“It’s all been crazy with Sweden the week after winning in Imola so now that I had a little bit of time to think, it has become real. However I was also able to train quite hard though so I’m feeling ready and I can’t wait to go to Turkey. I really liked the track last year as it was quite technical with some nice jumps, especially after a weekend off from racing.
“There are two races to go in the MXGPs and then the Motocross of Nations (MXoN) and then I’ll do Monster Cup so in total there are four races and I’m feeling really motivated to do well in each of them. A big thanks to my fans and now I hope to go out and have fun in these last four events.”
The MXGP series will wrap up in Shanghai, China, in just over a week’s time.
After that it’s the MXoN at Assen and for that Team Slovenia will comprise Gajser (MXGP), Peter Irt (Open Class) and Jan Pancar (MX2).
Meanwhile, Gajser’s Honda HRC CRF450RW was kitted with pistons produced by Vertex Pistons and this he claimed was one of the reasons why he was able to wrap up the world title three rounds early. He is pictured above holding one of these pistons.
For their part, Vertex Pistons said it was proud to have supplied Gajser with the pistons.
According to the company, “these excellent pistons are refined by the constant work of Vertex Pistons technicians, not only alongside the riders of the Motocross World Championship, but also of the Enduro, Supermotard and Moto3. Among the prestigious teams that collaborate with Vertex Pistons, we highlight Yamaha Monster Energy MXGP, Kawasaki KRT, Yamaha Wilvo, Yamaha Kemea, Beta Motor, TM Racing and Sic58.”
Photo by Massimo Zanzani
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