A word with Max
By Team TMX on 26th Aug 15
Monster Energy DRT Kawasakis Max Anstie is very much the leading player in MX2 after three wins from the last four Grands Prix.
The-22-year old is frustratingly on the fringe of interrupting the duel between teenagers Pauls Jonass and Tim Gajser in a run at the world championship with a 38-point difference to the duo with 150 to play for in the three rounds remaining.
It's all possible...so we checked in with Max in the paddock in Mantova to ask about his thoughts and feelings.
TMX: Is this run of form something you could have predicted? If Herlings were around then normally would it have been harder to achieve?
Max Anstie: To be honest there have been so many good riders who can win motos it feels like MXGP! It is difficult to win a race and I don't ‘expect' to do it. I'm not like, ‘Yeah, I'm going to go out and win them all'. I'm here to focus and if I get on the box then that's great. I wanted to consistently get on the podium and now it seems I'm doing that but at the front, which is really cool. It is late in the season and there are people out injured but I seem to have found my groove with the bike and the team has worked really well.
We are happy with our set-up and I can focus on the race without worrying about trying and testing little bits.I have my base and obviously there are always improvements to be made but at the races now I am growing and learning.
TMX: For the people who have followed you or your name since you were 15 or 16, it seems that now you are posting the results you were always capable of. It's been an adventure to this point hasn't it?
MA: It has been an adventure! Definitely! I don't feel any different or like I am doing something ‘special', I am just going out and doing my work. I feel very comfortable and stable in my surroundings. Every race seems to bring up something new for me, whether I'm crashing or we have a problem or I have to control a situation and I'm learning with that.
I think one of the biggest accomplishments for me was winning motos in Germany and Czech. It was a big thing, especially at Loket because there were no jumps and it was hard-pack, horrible and slippery. It was one of those tracks at the beginning of the season where I thought ‘I don't really want to go there'.
And now I feel I can be up front in whatever condition or surface because we have the settings to do that. We'll just have to see what Assen presents...
TMX: When you look at that gap in the championship now do you look back to the crash at Qatar and the mistake in Argentina with the gate and think ‘ah, b******s...'
MA: Ha! Yeah, I remember sitting there in Qatar afterwards when I knew I wasn't going to Thailand saying, ‘Well, that's it! All done, no point'. Whatever happens I feel have learnt a lot and it has been a year in which I have progressed a lot. It is preparing me for next year and whatever race or whatever thing I come up against.
You watch other riders, especially on the 450s, and it seems that people were having these dogfights early on in the year and you come to realise that every point, every race, every moto, every single pass – even if you are fighting for 15th – counts and there is no point in getting your head down about one incident. The season is so long and it is all swings and roundabouts.
TMX: Lastly – to put you on the spot – you have a title-winning package now and the rumours have almost got to the point where they have died-out about you changing teams and brands (Anstie is allegedly set for a works Husqvarna saddle). How do you feel about moving again? I know you probably cannot comment too much...
MA: Am I going to change? I really appreciate the work we have done and we've really made some big steps in the right direction.
I felt like the team and myself have had a brilliant couple of years, the best of my career. I am happy and proud of what we have done and where we have come from. Moving forward to next year I want to continue on my path of growing and being solid and consistent. Where that takes me I cannot say. I have a job to do this year and that's my main focus.
TMX: Can you understand that people might look at you and think ‘Well, why move?'
MA: Yeah...I suppose so. I haven't thought too much about it yet to be honest. You can ask my manager!
