Exclusive: Luke Arbon Interview

Transmoto’s Jeremy Hammer speaks with SD3 Husqvarna rider, Luke Arbon, ahead of the fourth round of the 2015 MX Nationals, taking place at Murray Bridge on May 17.

Jeremy: Well, let’s get straight into it. Your results obviously haven’t been where you’d like them so far this season. What’s been going on?
Luke: Yeah, my off-season was a bit up and down. I just didn’t get that much time on the bike, and I think that was a little excuse for the first round, but I went back and did lots of riding before Appin, I felt pretty good. I struggled a bit with Qualifying in the mud, but I had a decent start and then crashed in the first turn in the first moto, so that was hard to come back from. I got back to eleventh from dead last I think, and then in the second moto I crashed again on the first lap, and had to come back from near last again. I felt like I rode a lot better on the bike, but I still wasn’t one hundred percent where I wanted to be. The results kind of sucked from the crashes. The third round I just struggled with bike set-up, with the downhills and stuff. The first moto I felt okay in the first few laps, then had a silly little crash, and hit my head a little bit, so I kind of just rode around for the rest of the race. I thought something was wrong with my bike, so I ended up pulling in, and that race was pretty much a write-off. The last one we made some changes to the bike, I rode okay, but still didn’t have the intensity and stuff there. I’ve come back home now and been working on some things, I’ve changed my bike set-up a little bit and it feels really good coming into Murray Bridge, so hopefully I can turn it around like I did last year.

You mentioned you made some changes. What type of changes did you make after the up and down races you’ve had so far?

It was just me, a little bit of my suspension and stuff. The motor has been really strong. Just the suspension, I’ve been trying to get my head around the factory stuff, we’ve been running that. We did a lot of lot testing with it, I thought we had it good, but when I get to the race and push a little bit, I struggled to push that extra step where I needed to be to get those good results. I’ve still been working hard on that and getting the suspension where I want it, where I feel like I can push the bike. I think we’re getting there, so I think the results should start coming.

How have you been finding the change from a two-stroke to a four-stroke this year?

I love the four-stroke! It’s definitely better to ride. The two-stroke obviously had more power, but I think my bike has heaps of power anyway. I’ve just been struggling with my momentum and corner speed, keeping the bike going, where as the two-stroke last year, you could kind of get away with it – the power would make up for it out of the turns. You could mess up a turn and make up for it down the straight, or out of the turn. With the four-stroke you have to minimise the mistakes in the turns, and keep the flow on. I’ve just been working on that, practicing, I’m sure it will click soon.

At Horsham you posted the fastest lap in moto two, however, since then, you’ve been a couple of seconds off the pace from the Yamaha boys who have been dominating. Have you still got what it takes to mix it up with them?

Yeah for sure, they’re riding great, and I’m not riding great (laughs). You know that couple of seconds, I think it’s just little bits here and there. I think in each corner I keep losing that tiny bit of time, and that adds up to seconds by the end of the laps. I don’t think it’s a massive change I need to do, I just need to tidy up my corners and stuff like that, I think once I do that it will all gel together and I’ll be back up battling with them.

Murray Bridge this weekend, it’s your home state round of the series, and last year it was the turning point for you. Do you think you can turn around your season again this weekend? 

Yeah, for sure. I’ve had a solid couple of weeks of testing, and we’ve made some decent changes with the bike. We’re back to a bit more loamier tracks, a bit sandier and softer soil. I’ve always felt comfortable on that, so yeah, definitely looking at turning it around. It’s the fourth round, so I really need to start doing something and actually be at the pointy end of the field, where I need to be.

Are you happy to be heading into the softer tracks of Murray Bridge then Coolum at round five?

Yeah for sure, I’ve been riding sand tracks at home for the last couple of weeks. I really enjoy the sand, just the way it berms up, gets big bumps and stuff like that. I think I just enjoy it a bit more and have a bit more confidence in my bike in the soft stuff, but yeah, definitely looking forward to it.

Thanks for your time, and good luck for the weekend, mate. 

No worries, bro. Thank you.