You’ve worked with riders before but how was it dealing with them at different levels? The experience of Kevin and Ben to the rookie status of Bas and Arminas for example. Each Suzuki rider had his own story and level. It must have been a nice lesson in management…Has that been a big curve of education this year then? After all, you were manager of a whole operation and staff and not just a few riders…So what was the hardest part? 19It is a bit up-and-down and I am so happy I have Kelly by my side supporting me. She helps with the business and also my father is important to have there. You must have good people around you that you can trust.”You evaluated 2016 before the final Grand Prix at Glen Helen several weeks ago but it really has been a mixed bag this year. Some fantastic moments and some low points…even on the same weekend sometimes!“That’s true. On the MXGP side it has been a tough year for everybody in the team because we were hoping for results. We had such a great winter with Kevin, and the injuries started early for Ben. We hoped Kevin would bring in the podiums. We didn’t expect him to win Grand Prix after Grand Prix and I was realistic about his position in this championship; that this year was at a really high level. Kevin is a really talented rider and it was frustrating even for me personally to see him struggle like he has. I know how good he is and I’ve seen it during the week. He got the injury [fractured wrist] and then suddenly he came back and scored that victory at Lommel, which was such a big highlight of the year for the whole team. Unfortunately, the comeback Ben tried to make just didn’t work out and we tried very hard and I feel sorry that it didn’t come good. Both parties tried their best. MX2 was so good with a lot of podiums and Jeremy made a lot of progress to be second in the championship. He is set very well for next year and to try and get that title and I think he has a great chance. MX2 – and Bas making some good improvements – helped keep the balance this year. At the end of the summer we were able to sign Hunter [Lawrence] and Zachary [Pichon] and for me – and Suzuki - it is a nice feature to have these kids onboard for the future.”“Yeah I was lucky to have worked with a lot of riders and parents before taking on the job here but it was indeed a lot of different stories and characters, and of course everybody was different. It was about trying to find the best way to make things work for a rider. I feel like I failed a bit on Kevin’s side not to make things better because I had very high hopes in the winter and before we started that I could bring a change in the system for him. To bring him to those potential results. It didn’t work.”“It was a big thing. To be honest that side of it is not the hardest for me. I am a very positive-minded guy and we had some tough GPs – races where we didn’t even have a rider on the track in MXGP – but I still stayed positive and working towards that three-year goal. So some days were hard, and a lesson, but they didn’t keep me down for long.”“Like I said we are restructuring the team a little bit and we’re stopping with some people and to let someone go is a very tough thing to do. I don’t like to disappoint people. I hate it. I like to see people happy…even though I know it cannot be like that every day. We are running a business and company as well as a team, and we need to bring results for Suzuki and we need to sell more bikes in the future to keep the funding and support from the factory to still have this team in a couple of years.
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