profile - Northern exposure
By TMX Archives on 13th May 05
Determined to follow in the footsteps of Australian aces Shane Watts and Stefan Merriman, 20-year-old Jake Stapleton is the latest rider from Down Under to venture onto the world enduro stage. Determined to follow in the footsteps of Australian aces Shane Watts and Stefan Merriman, 20-year-old Jake Stapleton is the latest rider from Down Under to venture onto the world enduro stage. Armed with a semi-factory TM deal, the reigning 125cc Aussie champion is 100 per cent focused on making his dream of becoming a professional racer a reality.dbr: You got your first taste of WEC competition last year - what was it that made you want to come back for more this season?JS: "I've always wanted to race in the World Enduro Championship and racing there last year made me want to do it even more. I wanted to try and do the full championship last year but it wasn't possible, that's why I just rode in Spain and Portugal and then the last two rounds after the six days."I've wanted to come to Europe and race in the world championship for about three years now. In Oz enduro isn't such a big deal. Even if you're winning there you can't make a living from it. Basically you have to go somewhere else if you want to do that and I do. I really enjoyed the competition, the awesome courses and the great special tests, that's why I wanted to race in Europe again."dbr: When you competed in your first world round in Spain last year what were the big eye-openers for you there?JS: "I think it was probably two things - the speed of the riders and the tracks, they were both a bit of a shock to the system. I didn't know what to expect really, I'd been training on a lot of motocross tracks because that's what I'd heard it would be like but the amount of rocks in the events were pretty surprising. Other than that there were lots of little things that were just different to what I'm used to in Australia."dbr: In order to be better prepared for this year's Junior World Cup what areas of your game have you been working on ahead of your first full WEC season?JS: "There were a load of things that I realised I needed to be better at. The trials stuff, the rocks and especially the extreme tests - I needed to work at all of those things. I'm still trying to get the mud thing happening because I know that I need to be stronger than I am when conditions get wet if I'm to win in Europe. I think I learned more in the four world championship races in Europe last year than I did in the eight years that I'd been riding bikes before that."For full interview don't miss the June issue of dbr - on sale now!Words and photos by Jonty Edmunds