Rattray heads Stateside
By TMX Archives on 4th Dec 08
KTM was left reeling last week when World MX2 Champion, Tyla Rattray, quit the factory team to sign for Pro-Circuit Kawasaki in America.The South African, who has never raced anything other than KTM since he came to Europe as a 15-year-old, had been lined up to race alongside Max Nagl in the factory MX1 squad and was being touted as a potential champion at his first attempt. But the sudden offer of an MX2 ride Stateside from Pro-Circuit boss, Mitch Payton, proved too inviting for the 23-year-old, who has spoken for years about his desire to follow close friend Ben Townley to America.
The reason for Payton's sudden interest in Rattray is evident. With Ryan Villopoto, his star man in recent years, moving up to the 450cc class with Monster Kawasaki, the most successful team in the Lites class for the past decade was looking to Christophe Pourcel and Austin Stroupe to continue the run of success into 2009. However, both riders have suffered collarbone injuries during the run-in to the AMA SX season, which begins on January 3 at Anaheim, and there is a large question mark against either of them being fully prepared for the new campaign.
KTM off-road sports chief, Pit Beirer, admitted that Rattray's departure was a blow, but tried to put the loss into context: I'd be lying if I said that Tyla's departure has not hit us. He has been a KTM rider from the very beginning of his professional career and we have gone through thick and thin together until we were finally champions last summer and I am sure he would have been one of the favourites for the MX1 title next summer.
But I have to defend Tyla's decision. Ever since he was second in the world in 2004, it has been his wish to follow his close friend Ben Townley to America, but injuries kept putting the move on hold.
He had an option in his contract to race for KTM in the USA, but it was not feasible to send a second European rider alongside Tommy Searle to race for us over there, and when he got the opportunity to race for another team, we were left in a no-win situation and had no option but to respect Tyla's wishes.
Beirer remained confident about KTM's World MX1 title chances: In Max Nagl and Jonathan Barragan we still have the two riders who scored the most points during the second half of the 2008 GP season, so, unless we have done something very wrong during the winter, we still have two riders who can battle for the title next summer.
Time will tell whether Rattray's sudden departure to America is in the best interests of his career. It is not yet clear whether he will race the West Coast Lites SX or start on the East Coast, which begins several weeks later, but even that extra month will hardly prepare the South African for the brutal world of US Supercross, where almost half the field have been injured during the course of the 17-week tour in recent seasons.
And one only has to look at the record of GP aces to confirm the danger. Christophe Pourcel is already out of action again before he has even raced, and Ben Townley is also now back on the injured list.
It will not be easy for Rattray, who has not ridden in a genuine Supercross race for several years, particularly with the pressure to win, which anyone racing for Pro-Circuit has from the moment they sit on the green bikes.