2009 will see 28 year old Steve Ramon begin his fourth season with the Teka Suzuki WMX1 team and in the past three years the former 125 title winner has impressively finished 3rd, 1st and 2nd in the FIM MX1 World championship.
Here the tall Belgian, renowned for his natural ability and skill to find lines, talks about his preparation and approach to his sixth campaign in the premier class and another year with the fuel-injected RM-Z450; now entering its second generation after a very positive impact in 2008.
Q: Steve, how was the off-season period for you?
Steve Ramon: “Pretty good. I had a break after the last Grand Prix and did a few beach races, which was a lot of fun and then I must have had two-to-three weeks of holiday before starting physical training again at the beginning of December. I went to Portugal for two weeks with my trainer and we did a lot of cycling and running; I worked really hard and did not even see a motorbike! The plan was to start riding at the beginning of January but it was too difficult with the poor weather conditions and I think a lot of people had similar problems, especially in Northern Europe. So, I feel good at the moment but it is useful that we have quite a few pre-season races because I can catch up on a bit of lost track time.”
Q: So you are just missing that little bit of confidence on the bike?
Steve Ramon: “Yes, it is just about trying to work my way up to a good level. We also made a couple of small changes to the bike, so we are both building up our performance. We still have to do some testing before the first Grand Prix and the 2009 bikes arrive this week; so for sure there is more to come.”
Q: How is your feeling about 2008? The championship was very close and came down to the final Grand Prix. Do you feel there are positive things to take from last year?
Steve Ramon: “Well, I was second, which is not a bad result but I wanted to be World Champion again and it was close. I did the best I could and that’s life. I was disappointed but I also recognised that it was a difficult year for me with my physical problems. I don’t want to look back any more. There was a chance to be World Champion again but it did not work out.”
Q: In a way does this help in a little with some motivation for regaining the title in 2009?
Steve Ramon: “Yes and no. I know the problems I had to deal with last year and I lost a lot of points, so during the winter I was very motivated to work hard to fix the situation and now, when we come around to starting the World Championship again, I hope I will be back to normal. 2009 is a different year and I want to stay in shape and give the best account of myself as I can.”
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