Brett conducted this interview with Luke Burkhart last weekend, March 13, at the opening round of the NSW Motocross Championships at Appin.  Luke is another Kiwi out to steal the glory from the Aussies at the Maxxis Australian Motocross Championships this year to continue the trend that saw New Zealanders lift both the Australian Pro Lites and Pro Open crowns in 2004.

Luke Burkhart – Interview

Brett: Luke your showing them the way in the ProLites class here today. How’s it feeling out there ?

Luke: Great….It’s good being the only Kiwi here today, I’ll be happier when I get another good result in the last race. I’m really pleased with my results here today considering I’m racing against guys that are a lot more familiar with this circuit than I am. I was still learning the track in race 1….(finished 2nd )…..and then in second race I got the holeshot and settled in and won it by a good margin, so yeah it’s looking good. I’m just trying to get ready for the Nationals at Wonthaggi.

Brett: How do you find the hard pack here at Appin ?

Luke: "It’s pretty good…..people moan about this track, eh…. but I think it’s alright. Compared with some of the other Aussie tracks I’ve ridden I think it’s good. It’s a real challenge….it gets really rough and dry and that separates everybody up good. I’d say hard pack tracks are the one’s I find the most difficult, so I was expecting to have a bit of trouble with it here in Oz, but so far so good. I’ve raced in Europe a couple of times on the hard stuff so I’m getting more accustomed to it all the time.

Brett: It’s rough & slippery out there and your looking real smooth. What’s the key ?

Luke: Yeah….you know they watered the track before the 2nd race so one thing I was doing was trying to run higher gears and just trying to be smooth. I didn't actually feel like I was going that hard. But I think everyone was just pushing a bit over the limit and were getting a lot of wheelspin…..and that was the difference, I was just a gear higher exiting most of the turns, kept it smooth and took fluent lines…..it seemed to be working.

Brett: What your goals for 2005 ?

Luke: Pass on that one…..I’d like to say I want to go there and be in contention for race wins.. That’s what I know I can go there and do….run at the front. For me I just want to be consistent over those first few rounds and be in that top group. I’m not going there to win……but I’m not going there to lose either…especially to the guys I know I should beat or I want to beat. I’ve just got one of those attitudes where I know I have a good bike and a good team behind me so when I’m riding as hard as I can, that’s all I can do…. and if I come in 2nd on the day, that’s fine. I’m not really a guy that is well known here and people won’t really expect me to be up there right away.

Brett: You're about to be well known.

Luke: (Laughing) ….I suppose you can’t hide it for too long if you start winning stuff, but eh that’s all part of it. I love racing in Oz, I know most of the riders so yeah looking forward to it. It’s a really good atmosphere in Australia.

Brett: Daryl (Hurley) says your staying with Jay Foreman up in Newcastle for the moment.

Luke: Yeah…my dad was over here for the week leading up to this race while we prepped up the suspension and got the bike sorted. So he flew back home for the week and is coming back for Wonthaggi. I chose to stay to try and get used to the heat more than anything. That’s the one thing that’s so much different from home…..I’ve just got to try to adapt. Plus I want to get more time on my bike over here. The suspension on my bikes here is such high quality, it takes a bit of getting used to. Actually it’s that good that it will make my bikes back home feel pretty ordinary.

Brett: So you're loving the new Suzuki?

Luke: I do. The bike I’m riding today is actually stock standard and only has a Pro-Circuit pipe exhaust on it …..it feels real good and I pulled a holeshot on it in the last race. There’s a few sections out there that are really testing the bike and the Suzuki seems to be holding it’s own against those KTM 4-strokes. I’m really looking forward to bringing the race bike out at Wonthaggi next weekend.