On The Pegs December 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 12 | Page 140

On The Pegs
140
more seasons be-fore you finally had to come to terms with the fact that
you were now on the slide – how difficult was that to deal with after so
many years at the top?
Looking back now it’s just the reality of the situation, but at the time it was
painful as I often thought I was making the numbers up even though I could al-
most always finish top six or eight. Even though you love what you are doing the
feeling is not the same and you hang on for a while and then the time comes to
call it a day at the top level. The call from Montesa that my con-tract was not go-
ing to be renewed was never a good sign, but that’s life. I returned to Beta where
it all began and really wanted to show Montesa and myself that I could still mix
with the best, but my rivals seemed to get younger and I was definitely getting
older!
Do you now look back fondly on your last World Championship round
win in France in 2006?
To be honest I’ve never really given it much thought, I remember the race well
as during sec-tion inspection the day before the Trial, it was bone dry and almost
like an indoor - so not really my favourite of going, but during the night it never
stopped raining. As the sections were changed it became perfect for me and I
won victory number ninety-nine. I have been asked many times - would it have
been nice to get one hundred victories, but if it had happened I would have only
wanted to get one hundred and one. I’ll never be completely satisfied with my
career statistics, which is a shame, but I’m sure that hunger and drive has played
a part in the amount of success that I have had over a long time.
In 2010 you suffered an ankle injury at the SSDT, this was to prove the be-
ginning of the end of competing at the FIM Trial World Championship with
you calling time on being part of the series after your home round in 2011
– did having the injury make this decision any easier?
That injury is one of the most stupid things I ever did in an event, as I tried to
jump a gap that I should have easily ridden through as everybody else did, but
instead I ruined my ankle and had to retire from the SSDT and to make it worse I
was leading up until that point. Afterwards as the World championship contin-
ued I was really struggling with my ankle and during the round in Spain I had a
massive crash and as I lay on the floor in pain my Dad said “That’s it your done”
to which I said I would be fine in a minute to carry on. But he really meant my