Chris' Stuff: Rattray on podium in AMA motocross championship debut

RATTRAY ON PODIUM IN AMA NATIONALS DEBUT
23 May 2009

The motoring press had been abuzz, the fan base on both sides of the Atlantic has been holding its collective in anticipation, the excitement was building up to fever pitch as the months of preparation came to a head, and finally the moment of truth arrived - Tyla Rattray fired up his Pro Circuit Kawasaki and started off his American racing career. The South African set the news wires ablaze when he announced that he would be pitching his tent in America and contest the AMA Nationals series after having won the MX2 world title in 2008. Whenever a top rider makes the move form the world championship - to the world series or vice versa, speculation is rife and the debates as to which series is the more competitive, rage on.

Styla is not one for such intrigues, though. He is a true racer at heart, and his focus at any given stage is to perform at his best level. To this end, he has been in full preparation for the American series kick-off almost as soon as the last notes of the world championship festivities faded away. With little top level supercross experience under his belt, he opted not to participate in the US supercross series which fills up the first few months of the racing calendar, and this afforded him a few months to acclimatize himself to his new surroundings. Early reports were that he was on the pace in the speed stakes, but until the gates dropped for the first race, the question would still remain up in the air.

The first round of the 2009 US motocross series took place at Glen Helen raceway, a short drive from Tyla's Murietta, California home base. With a knot in his stomach, but nevertheless tingling from excitement, he reported for duty. A huge crowd was already starting to pour into the gates, and perfect weather conditions set the scene for a good day's racing. Tyla was confident that his preparation had been up to scratch and that speed - and fitness wise he could probably match the opposition blow for blow, but a seven month lull in his racing since the memorable day on which he claimed the world title in Faenza, Italy, still left a tinge of worry at the back of his head.

Be that as it may, Styla is known for getting stuck into the job at hand straight away, and this time would be no exception. The qualifying session went very well, and he piloted his Pro Circuit machine to the fourth fastest time, behind Ryan Dungey and fellow former GP riders Christophe Pourcel and Tommy Searle. To add to his tension, the first race got red flagged in the first lap to clear a fallen rider off the track, which led to a mad scurry to get clean goggles, refuel the bike and refocus on the start. He blasted off the line just outside of the top 10 at the restart. He initially rode with all the fluidity of a stick man, but as the race progressed, his nerves eased and he got stuck into clicking down some scorching laps. He worked his way into fifth position and as the race wound down, homed in on Searle. In the mad last-lap dash for the line, he could not find the passing opportunity, and finished the race in fifth po sition.

In the US series, the Lites class race after the 450cc motocross class, which means that when the time rolled along for the second 250cc moto, the track was well and truly carved up and made a moon landscape look positively smooth in comparison. To add to the difficulty, a slanting late afternoon sun made visibility an iffy affair. Tyla got a much better start this time, slotting into third spot. This time he had no compunction making short shrift of Searle, but in turn had to yield to the advances of Dungey. The two speedsters did a formation flight around the track as they set off in pursuit of surprisingly quick rookie Justin Barcia. They soon passed the youngster, and a battle that had the crowd on its collective toes ensued. If the American fans did not know who Tyla Rattray was before, they certainly knew now. The South African rode hard and fair, but when a backmarker crossed his path, the he lost a precious few seconds. Tyla is nothing if not persistent however, and he closed down the four second gap that Dungey had thus gained to finish a tad over a second behind the American when the checkered flag called the spine-tingling duel to a halt.

With the tension of the first race now behind him, Tyla was all smiles and his charming self as microphones were stuck under his nose and comments elicited from him. "Coming into this race I knew I was fit and my speed was good with all the training and testing I've been doing," he said. "However, without racing for 7 months I knew it would still take me a while to get used to racing again, so I was looking at getting 2 solid finishes and a top 5 overall. I'm pretty happy to start the season off with a podium and especially my 2nd moto performance pleased me. Before he first race I was a bit nervous, I didn't ride very good and rode too tight but I'm happy with the second moto. I got a good start and it was fun to be racing up in the front with Dungey. The track was very rough and the spectators really got into it so it was just a great experience for me and a good start to the USA series."

Tyla's third overall for the day was well within the goals that he had set himself for his US debut. Lying third in the he championship standings straight off the bat will imbue him with a healthy dose of confidence going into the second round of the series at Hangtown.

RESULTS

Race 1:
Christophe Pourcel
Ryan Dungey
Trey Canard
Tommy Searle
Tyla Rattray

Race 2:
Ryan Dungey
Tyla Rattray
Justin Barcia
Tommy Searle
Austin Stroupe

Overall:
Ryan Dungey
Christophe Pourcel
Tyla Rattray

This report is available online

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