Recently, Australian SuperMoto champion and FX series racer, Angus Reekie, took some time out to answer a few questions for us. Here they are:
SMMA: Where are you from?
AR: I’m born and raised in a town called Bowral in the southern highlands, about 2hrs south of Sydney.
SMMA: When did you first get into racing/riding? What did you start of in?
AR: I got my first motorbike when I was 2-3 years old. It was a Honda Pee Wee 50. I then got an XR80, and I had been nagging the old boy to let me race for years. He finally took me to Goulburn Speedway to have a go. We did that for a few meetings and won some races.
SMMA: Who are you currently riding for at the moment?
AR: I’m riding for KTM Australia, I’ve always been on KTM motorcycles since I was 13, and it was always a dream to be supported by KTM. The product is strong, I have a lot of confidence in their products and the people are great. I think that’s alot of why we’ve been so successful.
SMMA: So as a pro, life must be full of room service and factory bikes. Any true in that?
AR: Hahaha. Well I know people think we have factory bikes but we don’t. KTM offers improvement products on top of what you buy off the showroom floor, and anyone from the public is able to get the stuff through KTM powerparts. All we do is try to improve the basics of the bikes to feel more comfortable. But we drive to the races, pay for fuel, tyres, entry fees, accommodation and all that sort of thing and we get alot of support from KTM with the expensive stuff, so we’re lucky.
SMMA: What sort of training do you do? How much track time do you do per week?
AR: I try to do as much mountain bike riding and cycling as I can, unfortunately there isn’t enough supermoto tracks to practice and race at and we try to fit in an eastern creek ride day every now and again on the road bike but it’s hard with work.
SMMA: You must have ridden some nice bikes. How about a quick rundown?
AR: I have riden some good rides but there mostly ktms hahaha. We always had fast KTM 125 and 250 two strokes, and we still have our 2006 SMR560S that were awesome to back in! Since then the bikes just keep getting better and better and now were on the KTM RC8R.
SMMA: What are some of the personal bikes you own/use?
AR: I got in big shit with the police when I was 17, involving myself in a high speed pursuit and I haven’t ridden on the road since then. hahaha. I guess that’s where my SuperMoto career started from! I’ll stick to the track for now.
SMMA: Do you work on your own bikes, or hand them to others to work on?
AR: My dad does all of the spanner work, he’s very cluey and always has the best presented bikes. He will give me jobs to do on the bikes, but he is fussy, which is a good thing.
SMMA: How do you find it racing in the wet?
AR: To be honest I hate riding in the wet, if I have to I will but I don’t like it. I guess my style of riding helps me a lot and it’s all about being smooth in the wet.
SMMA: Are you one of these guys that follows the same “pre-race routine”?
AR: Na I’m not I just take it as it comes, when it’s race day you just switch off and constantly think of what you have to do to win or improve yourself.
SMMA: Who are some of your greatest influences?
AR: My old man, Lance Armstrong, Troy ‘ballistic’ Bayliss, Ricky Carmichael.
SMMA: What do you think can be done to improve the SuperMoto scene in Australia?
AR: We the supermoto community need to get behind and support Steve coppock and the NSW supermoto club and try to build supermoto back up to where it was here in Australia. We need continuing support from Motorcycling Australia, IEG and Terry O’Neils FX series; to put the events on and try to attract more people to SuperMoto. I am 100% behind the NSW Supermoto Club and Aussie SuperMoto.
SMMA: I’m sure you have a few sponsors and people you’d like to thank. Go.
AR: Huge thank you to my dad,
KTM Australia,
the boys from KTM, Jeff Leisk, Rob T, Wayne skipper, Jonny D, Danny Apro,
Barkbusters,
Bendix Brakes.
SMMA: What are your plans for next year and beyond?
AR: The plans for 2012 are to support Aussie supermoto and try to achieve another supermoto championship. We are racing the KTM RC8R 1190 in the Formula Extreme superbike class as well, so I’m really looking forward to that, and hopefully, we can get some good results for KTM.
SMMA: Anything you want to add?
Yes! Supermoto is a fantastic sport to watch and even more fun to ride, so come on guys and girls, get out and have a crack to help the sport grow.
Peace. AR30
A list of Angus’ accolades include:
Multiple MacArthur District Motorcycle Club motocross champion.
Multiple Wollongong Motorcycle club motocross champion.
Multiple Oakdale Motorcycle club motocross champion.
2x senior c grade NSW motocross champion
A couple of NSW amcross titles
Multiple Queensland SuperMoto champion
7 times Australian SuperMoto champion
2010 Formula Extreme F3 Naked Bike champion (SuperMoto)
2011 Formula Extreme F1 Pro Thunder champion
You can also follow Angus on Twitter and “Like” him on Facebook.
You can view more shots of the Phillip Island round on our Facebook page.
