Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory MX2 rider Kay de Wolf might be just 16 years old, but the young Dutchman has often clocked quicker lap times at Valkenswaard than many top GP riders.
He was recently quicker there in the deep sand GP track than his two senior team-mates, Thomas Kjer Olsen and Jed Beaton.
Second in the 85cc Junior Motocross World Championship in Australia in 2018 has been the highlight so far, but there is much more that de Wolf wants to achieve.
Known as the Red Hurricane, you get the feeling de Wolf might be around for some time on the GP scene and his move to the MX2 class in 2021 is one that many people are excited about. Team manager Rasmus Jorgensen isn’t too worried though and feels the youngster can come to terms with the move from EMX250 to MX2.
“Well,” Jorgensen said. “Many people didn’t agree moving him to the EMX250 when he was just 15, so a rookie in EMX and he won a race and did super well. You have to compare him to the guys he grew up with, like Liam (Everts), and those guys.
“I think he did a huge step on the 250 and he was third until the last round until he broke his nose and he finished fourth in the EMX and if you look at guys like Prado, from their EMX career, he did better or the same at the same age. In that point he did super well, but with Kay, he has the skill and is super talented, but now it is the mental side to prepare for the next challenge, which is a huge step into MX2.
“Getting him to man up a bit, but the potential is there. He needs to work hard, and it is nice to be in the position he is in, being Jed’s team-mate and he can make the mistakes he will make, but we need to minimize those mistakes of course.”
As for his background in the sport, de Wolf doesn’t come from a motocross family and despite living right in the middle of motocross circuits like Valkenswaard and another favourite training track for GP riders, Eersel, his family know very little about the sport. They are a riding family, but not a racing family.
“My Dad got a quad to just go around the house,” de Wolf said. “We have a bit of land in the city, and he rode from home to the city and at one stage he had to buy a new one. There was also a little Suzuki at the shop, and he asked me if I wanted that one and I said I really wanted it. Then I rode Pee Wee and that sort of thing. We live one kilometre from the track in Eersel, but he never went to the track, and my Dad doesn’t know anyone from the past, even now he only knows Jeffrey (Herlings) and Tony (Cairoli) and those guys, but not a lot more. When you say somebody outside the top ten, he doesn’t know anyone. But that is good, because they don’t know about the sport and has not ridden motocross, so that is okay.”
So, while the history of the sport isn’t important for the de Wolf family, their support of Kay is clear as his mother joins him at most training sessions and both his father and mother are 100% behind their teenage son, as he works his way through the classes, and hopefully can one day be mentioned in the same sentence as his countrymen Herlings and Glenn Coldenhoff.
Photo courtesy Bavo Swijgers
Words by Geoff Meyer
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