Interview: Catching Up With Mitch Evans

Australian rider, Mitch Evans, might have had a bunch of little injuries and crashes during his 2019 FIM World Motocross campaign, but still, the 114 Honda team rider has impressed enough people with a handful of very consistent rides in the MX2 championship. A crash in the last round in Germany (Round 12) saw him pull out of the second race, but he is fit and ready to go to Indonesia and get back on track. A pretty safe seventh place in the series points, some 22-points ahead of eight place rider, Adam Sterry, and more than 40-points ahead of ninth-placed rider, Bas Vaessen, meaning the Queenslander is making a nice debut year in World Motocross. MXLarge recently caught up with the 20-year-old to fond out how things are going moving into Indonesia. Here is that interview…

MXLarge: You had a big crash in Germany, how is your back?
Evans: I had scans done last week in Belgium on my lower back and have come back all clear! Thankfully no serious injuries, just beat up and bruised.

The week prior to Germany was Latvia, what can you tell us about that weekend?
Latvia wasn’t a good day. I was happy with moto one from my outside gate pick. I got up to about ninth and struggled to get a flow on and stayed there the whole race. From that outside gate pick, I was happy with that one. Moto two I didn’t get a good start, was around 14^th and I felt a little bit off. I wasn’t comfortable with the track and had a crash and after the crash, my mentality was just don’t have another big crash. After my concussion on Saturday, it was expected.

How did that accident happen in Latvia?
I high sided onto the start straight, hit the bank and it high-sided me and I did a backflip and landed on my shoulder and head. The shoulder wasn’t a problem, but I was making slow decisions from that crash. I am glad I didn’t hurt myself more. We will take some time off and recover.

You have had a lot of knocks this year, bits and pieces everywhere. How frustrating has that been, because I remember you telling me you wanted consistent top five results?
It is, it is frustrating, but at the same time, it is a learning year and all the knocks are coming from bad starts. Every time I go to the track, I am learning the track, and it is tough when you pick up a small injury and then need to race the next weekend. I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can learn as much as I can also.

I can imagine you looked at the Kegums track and figured it would be a good one for you?
I was looking forward to going to Latvia, because it looked like it got rough, with a few lines and good passing options. I think Sunday they did a good job with things they fixed, they kept most of the sections rough and the dangerous parts where they needed to fix, like the rollers and the ramps of the jumps, they did a good job there. Down the straight and into the corners rough, so plenty of places to pass, and it showed who had a good physical base for sure.

Are you looking forward to going to Indonesia?
Honestly, I don’t know the tracks in Indonesia, and I didn’t watch those rounds last year. I understand the first one is different to last year. It will be cool and different, and I have never been there. Close to home, so I planned to go home in-between the races. I heard some people got sick last year and I will go home, see my family for a bit and catch up with some friends. I am looking forward to the heat a lot. Being in Europe for the winter and the cold I had to get used to the heat again, but Russia and Latvia were hot, and it didn’t affect me that much, so I look forward to that.

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