Our correspondent in Europe, Kevin Zarczynski, caught up with WA's Lewis Nolan for a chat.
Lewis Nolan is an exciting young Australian trials rider who is tackling the world trials championships in 2009.
Leaving his native West Australia in June, Lewis has spent the past four months living near Barcelona in Spain, where he has been boarding with leading Spanish riding coach Joan Pons. Working with Pons saw Lewis switch to Sherco motorcycles due to Joan's close connections with the Spanish factory.
Q. What has it been like for you since arriving in Europe?
Lewis: The first week I arrived, we were off to Italy for a European championship round, which was followed the next day by the Italian world round. The difference between over here and back home is the level of difficulty of the sections.
Everything is different to what I'm used to back in Perth, the sections are more demanding, and the courses have been so steep. Back home we are riding over boulders and back over the next rock, but here all the events have the sections starting on hills, and you have to set off in loose dusty ground and climb, climb and climb.
Q. How many championships have you been riding in?
Lewis: I have ridden in the European championships in Italy and Spain, the World championship in Italy, Andorra, Spain and France, and I've ridden in the Spanish national championship.
For these events I stay in the Sherco factory truck here in the event paddock, and work out the team marquee. The people and the other riders have been friendly, they say hello when they pass by, they are happy to have a rider from Australia here.
Q. What kind of support do you have for your European program?
Lewis: I have to thank all the people back home in WA who supported me to get over here through their businesses, otherwise I've had to do it all myself.
The bike I ride is a standard production Sherco Racing 290, there are no special parts, and no freebies. I have to buy whatever parts I use, like for this weekend in Spain I bought new tires which will also do me for next weekends round in France. There is no flow of used parts from the factory team.
In the competitions Joan has been minding for me and my team mate Seoung from South Korea, but this weekend I've been lucky have Seoung minding for me because he has some problem with his license.
Q. What you do aim for from your time in the World Championships?
Lewis: To go to Australia and be a better rider, and pass on what I learn over to here to others back home. I'll never make any money out of trials, only the top five in the world over here make any money from the sport.
It's hard to ride these championships, the costs to ride with licenses and insurance is big, and then the costs for the bike, you have to get proper registration and insurance when you're riding with the factory truck, it's massive. The other up and coming riders all come from wealthy families who are happy to pay for the riders to do nothing else but ride, so you have to be realistic when you compare yourself to that.
Kz.
