King Ratt?
By TMX Archives on 7th Jan 05
Tyla Rattray hadn't even won a national youth title when Tinus Nel spotted his potential and brought him to Europe at the tender age of 15. Tyla Rattray hadn't even won a national youth title when Tinus Nel spotted his potential and brought him to Europe at the tender age of 15. Four years later, after finishing second in the world to KTM team-mate Ben Townley, Styla's tipped to become South Africa's third world champion! In an off-road world which has gone four-stroke crazy the 19-year-old defied the odds in 2004 to claim not only the world series silver medal but also three GP victories as a lone wolf on the 125cc factory KTM. Now he goes for gold in 2005 as buddy Townley's successor on the Mattighofen four-stroke. And Tyla has already tasted success on the SX250F having made the switch just one week after clinching that silver medal at the Sun City GP. While BT debuted the 2005 bike at the Nations, Tyla was given his '04 race bike and ended the day as best individual in the SX2 class. And, as if that was not enough, Tyla was also victorious before the end of the season on the model he will campaign this summer. "I really liked that kind of power of Ben's '04 bike when I got to ride it at the Nations so I asked KTM to give me the same with the new bike. The main change, which has made it quieter and more reliable, is that they have changed to chain drive - on Ben's bike the valves were driven by gear wheels. "I got on the 2005 straight after the Nations and it didn't suit me so much at first but the KTM engineers immediately got to work and by the time I beat Ben at the final Dutch championship it felt almost like the 2004 factory bike. It was already nearly as powerful as Ben's title-winning bike but also more reliable and quieter. "It was a good way to go out of the season because I have already proved to myself that I will be strong on a four-stroke. I don't have to worry all winter about whether or not the bike will suit me." And, as a warning shot across the bows of the opposition, Tyla laid down his cards for 2005. "I will be going to the first race knowing that I am strong on a four-stroke and I am going there to win! But I also know I have to be smarter and take as many points as possible every race like Everts does. A bad race has to be a podium and a good race has to be a win. That's how I have to look at it. "Looking back on it now, I have to be happy with 2004. I had to fight hard with the two-stroke and there were times I would have liked to change to the four-stroke but for sure it would have been difficult to finish second in the series if I had ridden the four-stroke. "The 250 four-stroke has a lot more power and definitely on the hard tracks the power is much smoother than a 125 but I could not have made up for the DNFs like Ben did. He was just so strong all year and won every GP when he didn't have a problem. I think he would have been champion either on a two-stroke or a four-stroke. "My main handicap in 2004 were my starts. I don't want to blame the bike but I think it was down to me riding the two-stroke. When I got on the four-stroke at the Nations I immediately got good starts - I was way ahead of Cairoli and he's normally the holeshot king. "I think it was a good thing that Ben and me were back in the same team together, pushing each other on all the time. I think that's why I didn't step it up in 2003." The '04 season had started badly for Tyla with just 15 points at the GP opener in Zolder. "It was not a good start but I went down to Spain one week later and won. It was a pity about Zolder because I showed in the later sand rounds that they were the ones where I had a chance to beat Ben. We thought the problem was the brakes at first but it turned out to be the radiator shroud - every time I went to turn tight left the steering was fouling the plastics. We'd simply never tested on a track with such tight turns. "I went through a bad patch when we started riding on hard tracks mid-summer. We went testing on hard tracks too but as soon as I went back to testing in sand my results got better again, even on the hard tracks. That gave me back my aggression and that's what pulled me through for the last few GPs. You saw that in Sun City - that track was rock hard and I had a good race with Ben so it's not as though I can't handle the hard tracks. I will obviously test on the hard tracks when they are coming up but I want to stay practising in sand this year." Even at this stage Styla is convinced he knows who will be his closest rivals. "I'm pretty sure the main opposition will be Cairoli, also Sword on some tracks. Cairoli is smart, he never crashes and he gets out of the gate real fast. "I think Brown will be good on some tracks but he's going to get a surprise when we come to the sand tracks and he finds out how fast we are. De Reuver won one moto in Zolder and came close to winning motos when he came back but he didn't actually win another one, did he? You have to be consistent as well as fast to win the world championship." Tyla's planned SX season was stopped short in its tracks when he crashed at Genova on the last weekend of October and his left shoulder came out. "It was a freak thing to happen. It didn't pop out when I crashed but when I went to pick the bike up it just went. The handlebars were turned and, instead of picking it up first and then turning the bars, I twisted my body to pick the bike up and my shoulder just came straight out again. "It was the same one I had dislocated the week before the GP at Neeroeteren in June. I had planned to go for a check-up on my shoulder once the outdoor season was over but I felt so good before Genova that I didn't bother. I hadn't even felt a twinge for weeks and for me it felt strong enough but then Genova showed that it wasn't." Although forced to sit out Bercy, Tyla can now accept that Genova was a blessing in disguise. "I had planned to take a full month off anyway from mid-November but the operation meant me pulling that forward so in the end the only thing I have really lost was the one race at Bercy. I'm not even sure if we lost much time testing because the weather in Belgium at the start of November was pretty bad and we never had any plans to join the MX1 team at Asti where Ben got hurt. "I had already planned to fly home to SA on the Wednesday after Bercy. I had two weeks off and then planned to start training again ready to be back on the bike around the first of January and KTM sent a 250F to SA for me. I will return to Europe at the beginning of February and we will go down to Italy to start final testing." But one more short break from riding was already planned long ago. "I'm going to Anaheim I for the weekend to watch - I want to see what it's like because 2006 I want to be racing in America. "I have made my mind up. I definitely want to go to the States in 2006 and, if I'm world champion, I should be able to get a good deal. I'm also looking forward to being in the same class as Ben again. Until now I've always been a year behind Ben - both in age and development - but that year age difference won't mean so much anymore once we are out of our teens and we will both be starting our careers in the States at the same time. "I only have one more year on my KTM deal so I'm not tied to them but they helped Langston to move to the States so I'm pretty sure they'll help me too. But I think the other top teams like Troy and Pro Circuit are all looking for young riders too. "I plan to race Southwick this summer and in 2006 I will want to be going for the outdoor championship in my first season, the same as Ben. I like the US style of tracks - they are a lot like what we race in SA - and I think I can go head-to-head with Ben by the time we go there. "I will race the supercross the first year but I have to be realistic - supercross in America is a different world to the races we have over here."