5 minutes with Cheyne Boyd

For 29-year-old Victorian-born rider, Cheyne Boyd, racing is everything. Since beginning his racing career in 2001, he’s represented Australia in the MXoN twice, been runner-up in both the MX Nationals and the Australian supercross series and won a host of individual rounds in the last 10 years. After an impressive fourth at the opening round of the Super X series in Melbourne, Boyd had a crash during qualifying at Wollongong and reports said he sustained heavy bruising to his shoulder, elbow and leg. We had a chat with him to find out more.

Transmoto: You had a crash during qualifying, tell us about it.

Cheyne Boyd: In racing things can go from good to bad in a matter of moments. For me, Mackenzie and I came together down the straight off the start and locked bars. We were both being aggressive trying to get to the first corner and I think we did more bad than good as far as getting out front was concerned, but that’s racing. On the first lap, I was mid-pack and came up to another rider and squared him up in a berm. I was trying to go down the inside of him but he cut from the outside to the inside and I basically landed on him. I went down hard and landed on my elbow, which smashed my shoulder and squashed my leg. I was in a fair bit of pain and couldn’t finish that heat race and I went to the Suzuki Racesafe guys to get it looked at. It didn’t feel that good but I know I have what it takes to win a championship and I wanted to go out and do the Last Chance Qualifying to salvage some points. I was in a fair bit of pain but I could still ride and I qualified for the main.

And how did you go in the main?

It started raining and they changed it to one 15-lap race, which suited me better because I was in a lot of pain and my body wasn’t really up for it. But like I said, I want to win and I needed those points. My mentality is, “If I’m having a bad night I want to minimise the impact”. Considering I had the last gate pick, I had a good start and I think if I was healthy I could have come out of the first corner better but, surprisingly, I ended up in fifth. It was so frustrating to have Marmont pass me, then Mackenzie, then Bopping and whoever else, but that was the best I could do. Every time I landed off a jump I could feel the pain shoot through my leg and shoulder. I couldn’t even hold on properly.

So do you know the extent of the damage?

It’s funny you called me right now because I just left the doctors and it turns out I broke my Fibula. So I have a broken leg. You’re the first person I’ve actually told, I haven’t even told my team. So that’s me done for the series. It’s a straight-through break and it means I’ll be off the bike for six-weeks. The doctor says that I shouldn’t need surgery though.

Did you change anything after Round 1?

Round 1 didn’t go too bad considering the conditions. I knew I didn’t have to change much for Round 2. Leading into the series I felt I did all the hard work and everything was on song to do well. I know my fitness and conditioning was fine and my bike has been awesome so I didn’t change anything.

Moving past this, what’s next?

It’s extremely frustrating that I put in all this work and it ended like this but I’m glad I gave it all I had on the night. My biggest concern now is opportunities for next year. I haven’t signed with anyone yet and I went through the same thing last year. It seems I get left off everyone’s list and there is people I’m beating consistently that get a ride yet I don’t. I think it’s an age and money thing. I’m 29 and I’ve been fortunate enough to be paid well over the past few years and personally I’m not going to do it for $30,000. I’ve put too much into my racing to be paid peanuts. It’s a frustrating time at the moment. I have been talking with some teams and, now I’m injured, my main focus is to get a deal for 2012. I’ll have a chat with Honda and see if we can work something out, but it just depends whether I fit into their plans. If not, I’ll go looking elsewhere.

Thanks for the chat, Cheyne. Best of luck recovering.

Thanks.