http://www.fullnoise.com.au Matt Ryan could still be classed as a newbie in the Pro ranks on the Australian Motocross scene. Although Mat has been around the sport for some time now his senior years have produced more than a fair share of injuries and time spent off the bike, but between the injuries we have seen glimpses of the speed and determination the rider from Kyabram in Victoria possesses . It is rare, when fit and healthy, to see Mat to far from the pointy end of the Lites class at both Supercross and Motocross . Not only is Mat a great rider, but one of the friendliest guys to approach off the bike, I usually have a chat to Mat at every race I see him at, and no matter what is happening on the track, including sitting in the medics tent he is always smiling and willing to have a quick word. I thought it was about to time to have a more formal chat with Mat to chat about the year to date and how it was to be on an all new team riding an all new bike as he spent the year on the Husqvarna TC250. And yep Matt is currently on the sidelines recovering from a Supercross training mishap a few weeks ago! Fullnoise: How have you been Matt? Matt: Yeah pretty good, the elbow is starting to come good it has started to feel good over the last couple of days. Fullnoise: For those out there that don’t know you are sidelined with an injury at the moment, how did you manage to injure yourself? Matt: I was up at Ford Dale’s riding, I had a crash going through the whoops and did a number on myself, I hurt my SC joint in my chest, along with my elbow and gave my whole upper body a good hiding. It will be another two weeks until I’m back on the bike I am hoping. It is a usual 6 week job, well 12 weeks until it is fully healed but at six weeks I can start riding again. So I am looking at getting back on the bike in the next two weeks. Fullnoise: Will this cause you to miss the start of the SuperX season, or will you be ready to go at round 1? Matt: Well I have come back from injuries early before and it has never payed off, so we have decided to wait a little bit and wait and do the last two rounds. If I am ready we will do a couple before that, but with the New Zealand rounds right in the middle, we will probably just wait until the last two and have a real good crack at them. Fullnoise: This year we have seen you mounted on the Husqvarna TC250, It is a bike that has not really been seen in Motocross racing a lot in Australia, How has the season been aboard the new 250F? Matt: We started off a long way from where we should have been. It was a new bike and I changed teams two weeks out from the start of the season. I started off a long way from where I wanted to be, but we finished off the year where we wanted to be with a 6th place at Coolum, It was good, I had some injuries during the season but it was a good year. Fullnoise: You mentioned the change of team at the start of the season, I knew you were going to be aboard the Husky under the Craig Anderson Racing banner, but then I arrived at round one and the 250 Husky looked to be running separate from the new team that had formed, what was the reasoning behind the change of arrangements. Matt: The change mainly came down to making sure we got the most out of the new 250, the Husky 250F was a brand new bike for 2010 and Paul Feeney wanted to make sure everything was right when we went racing. Ando had a good set up going, but it was a new team and the focus there was on making sure the 450 was right to go for the start of the season. Riding out of the Husky truck gave us more time to focus on developing the new 250. Fullnoise: how was the new bike, it certainly looks the goods sitting there in the pits, and you did have some good individual races during the season and as you mentioned above a good result in the sand of Coolum at the final round. Matt: Yeah it is a bike that looks good on and off the track, it did take a bit of getting used to, I had to change my riding style at first and we were getting some good power out of them. Actually heading into Horsham I thought the bike was a little bit down on power, but when I raced my race bike, it changed my mind, I really wasn’t disadvantaged at all. Even on the wet Sand of Coolum at the end of the season I was able to get up the front at the start of the races. Fullnoise: The switch to Husqvarna would be a big change for you; you have been a long time Yamaha rider, and also moving to a team where there would have been a lot of bike development involved as you were the main rider on the team. Matt: Yeah I am learning so much with them, I had been on Yamaha’s forever and we knew what you had to do with them; you put a pipe and ignition on it and take your suspension to someone you trust and you go race. The bike has been around for a long time, and there is so much feedback and development that has been done in Australia and around the world with that bike. While the Husky is an all new bike and not just in Australia, it is just started to be developed around the world and there is not as much feedback you can get on the bike. Next year the bike will also have fuel injection, we were actually hoping to have a pre production 2011 bike to run at SuperX, we might still have the new fuel injected model at the last two rounds. Fullnoise: Cool so there is still more changes to come for the new bike? Matt: Yeah the MX bikes get fuel injection, the TE model’s the Enduro versions have already have it, Seistola (Matti Seistola ), the Husqvarna factory rider, who came over to race the last couple of rounds of the Nationals over here has been riding the fuel injected enduro model over in Europe in the enduro series and said it was a great thing. It is actually really good being on this bike in the first year, a lot of the things we asked to be changed and some of the mods we have made to the bike to go racing this year are being introduced onto the production model for 2011. Fullnoise: It must have been pretty cool being on a team that when you wanted to try something with the bike they would find a way to try it, and that info then I guess gets passed back to the factory. Matt: Yeah the stuff like where we decided to cut the frame to help stop the Pegs getting hung up in ruts, we tried that successfully this year and it now is looks like in 2011 they will be coming out from the factory like that. My Mechanic Brett and also myself we were always thinking of things that could help, he was always keen to get his own stuff made for the bike, he used to work for a V8 supercar team and he is just a whiz at coming up with ideas and making things, it was good to have him on my side. This year really has been a completely different change for me, at Serco I was a team rider, I didn’t have a say in the development of the bike or anything like that, with my role in the team this year I could pretty much have whatever I wanted as long as I knew exactly what it was I wanted, if I wanted to go in a certain direction with the bike the team were willing to try it, the team was really easy and great to work with. Fullnoise: That all sounds great, and what about for 2011 for both yourself and the team, will you be back there again next year? Matt: At this point for me there is nothing in writing yet, but definitely in talks with them at the moment and it is looking that way for 2011. Paul Feeney and the team is looking to expand pretty big next year, so things are looking good for the team and the brand, looks like there should be both the 250 and the 450 out there racing under the Husky truck next year. Fullnoise: Thanks for the Chat Matt; hopefully we will see you out at a few rounds of SuperX Matt: Cool as.
