Tyla rattray biography

Monster Energy Kawasaki rider Tyla Rattray really struggled at the opening round of the FIM Motocross World Championship in Losail, Qatar. The South African came in expecting the world and walked away with just 16-17 results and nine points. Well below his expectations and that of his team.

Many looked at the 2008 MX2 world champion as a rider on borrowed time, his career nearly over. What you never should do to a fighter like Rattray is count him out, and in the second round in Thailand last weekend he turned it around and came through with 8-8 results and 26 points. A big improvement, but Rattray wants a lot more.

Q: Tyla, two weeks ago in Qatar you really didn’t look comfortable at all. What was the problem for both you and Ryan in Qatar?

Rattray: Qatar was a tough weekend for me, for the team, for Ryan, for everyone. We were not where we wanted to be; we did a lot of testing, with suspensions, we thought we had good settings going there, but the GP tracks are much different than the US tracks and where we’ve been testing in Europe. In this case we returned to the drawing board, and did some testing. Sometimes you have to deal with the circumstances, and do the best that you can.

Q: You and Ryan looked way better in Thailand. You must have been super pumped for yourself for the team and for Ryan?

Rattray: It was way better than Qatar. I mean in Qatar were where a long way off. We went back to Belgium, rode for two days and then managed to do some good testing. It wasn’t perfect for riding because of the weather. We tested a bunch of suspension stuff and we both felt better in Thailand.

Q: Can you explain the weekend in Thailand for me?

Rattray: I was happy with my weekend, I had great starts, I holeshot the first race, but Desalle and I hit, we hit in the second turn, I lost a couple of places. Second moto I was like fifth out of the gate, but I cased one of the doubles and bent my brake lever, which was bad luck.

Q: Now onto Argentina and more improvements I guess?

Rattray: It was two solid rides, not where I want to be, I feel I can get higher. We will do some more testing. My fitness was good I need to work on my speed, but it was a good weekend for our team with Ryan winning and now we go and test and just get ready for Argentina.