Jonny Walker: It’s all coming together now
By TMX Archives on 22nd Mar 17
Well, thats a wrap, the 2017 SuperEnduro World Championship is over.
It's been a strange sort of season for me indoors with a lot of highs and lows but above all progression.
On paper I finished it third overall – which in my mind is far from perfect – but also I won the Akrapovic SuperPole too.
With a short, four-round series, this year was going to be intense.
In some ways I kinda wish we had a couple more rounds to go as it's really only now that I feel like I'm riding how I should be.
When I look at myself from Poland and compare it to how I was riding on Saturday night in France, I'm night and day apart. In a sense it's not quite comparable.
Entering the opening round I thought I felt ready but in reality I was not. In hindsight I now believe that my injury sustained in last year's SuperEnduro series took more out of me than I realised.
When you sit on the sidelines for so long you lose a lot.
Not really one big chunk of speed or ability but little pieces of things like confidence, race craft etc, and when those get added up then it amounts to a lot.
Often we're only playing with fractions of a second here and there indoors and if you haven't got it all together, especially when going against guys like Colton Haaker and Alfredo Gomez, then it plays on you.
At Poland I thought I was ready but maybe I played it too safe.
I hadn't changed up my programme over the previous series. I stayed on the 250f even though everyone else was on a bigger bike.
And while my speed was decent, the lesser power killed my starts and held me back in traffic.
Some of the obstacles others were doing with less effort required more commitment on my part.
Stepping up to the 350f for the final two rounds was the best decision I made – although slightly late.
Changing machinery midseason was a big commitment, it's a fairly brave step in a different direction than you originally planned to go but I know now it was the right move.
With little or no actual testing – I did ride every single day for two months – my game changed.
The little pieces of the puzzle I mentioned earlier came together.
Knowing you can holeshot made a big difference and when I did do that in Spain and France I won.
While I finished as runner-up in Spain, I also tied on points with Gomez for the win in France.
He got the nod for the top step but I know it was mine for the taking too.
Now that I'm riding at my best again I'm bummed that the season is done, I'm ready to go a few more rounds, but I guess that will have to wait until November when we get to do it all over again.
And this time I'll be rolling out on the 350f for round one!
Jonny
