Tony Cairoli: His goals for USA motocross, fitness & TC222 wearing #1 – TMXnews.co.uk

On the PulpMX Show, Tony Cairoli spoke about his plans and goals for USA AMA motocross, his fitness, why he recently raced enduro and why we might get to see TC222 wearing #1.
It was an interesting interview and Tony didn’t appear too guarded. We won’t know until Fox Raceway whether he was deliberately damping down expectations in this call or if he was being completely frank (perhaps a little of both), but nonetheless, it was an insightful interview and is worth catching in full with the video below. But here’s a revealing snippet of some of what he said.
“I always wanted to race there [in the US nationals/Pro Motocross], because I think it’s a very nice series, super nice atmosphere, tracks and everything. I said ‘okay, let’s do the first races’, but I’m not of course training as I did in the past; like for some championship.
“But I’m still riding quite a lot, mostly testing for KTM and their R&D department. I think it’s a good opportunity if I can do some races, visit some friends over there – just enjoy with the family some trips.”
The interview took a brief sharp right turn as Tony brought up the MXoN, which is at RedBud later this year. You’ll recall that Italy won last year’s Nations, which means a rider from that team would be wearing the #1 plate.
“Two [AMA motocross rounds] is for sure at the moment but I have some others that may be on the plan, before the Motocross of Nations, because to race the Motocross of Nations, this was already in the plan.
“It’s quite far in the season so if I race the Nations, I would like to do some races before. Maybe it’s on the plan to do some more nationals before the end of the year. But I don’t know yet, the plan for the moment, is the first two; if I am not too slow maybe I do more *laughs*.
“I’m just back from one enduro race [and] I’m enjoying time on the bike. The intensity of the training is not what we had before; it’s just more fun now.
“Of course, to compete for wins you need intensity, if you approach the races it’s more like fun [now]. It’s nice in one way, but the other way [the downside] you are maybe not ready for the front. I don’t really look for results at the moment, I just really enjoy riding at the moment.
“I’m not expecting too much but of course, [but] I’m not just going to pull out after five laps, this is not my case. I just want to finish the races and see how it goes.”
The subject of fill-in cover for the injured Jeffrey Herlings was discussed between KTM and Cairoli. “They asked me at the end of February [to take the seat] but I didn’t have any hours on the bike yet, so it was not possible at all. If it was maybe later in the season it was maybe possible but when they asked me in February I was just… I stopped the GPs and the Paris Supercross in November and I didn’t take the bike until the end of February so it really was not possible. And I also didn’t do any kind of physical training at all.”
Speaking about some of the logistics, Tony said he would be based in California near KTM for the initial races, but if more US outdoor rounds became a possibility, he didn’t have a plan for that yet.
On results, Cairoli said: “Top five would be amazing. If I see what I am doing at the moment and the kind of riding and training stuff – I will start training a little bit now with one month to go but you cannot prepare for a season in a month. If I am top five I will be super pumped.”
Watch the PulpMX show below for more on Cairoli, including why he rode enduro recently, which is a fun story. And more thoughts on the US nationals, Eli Tomac, Tim Gajser and Tom Vialle. Scrub to around the four-hour mark.

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