This weekend in his home country of France, David Vuillemin will race in the annual Bercy Supercross. DV12.com has gone home to race the GPs for Bud Racing Kawasaki after a miserable supercross and motocross season in 2008. Sure, he didn't have a good year, but you can never count out DV at Bercy; this man has seen the best come to Bercy and he has handled them at one time or another. Some say that RC broke his collarbone on purpose back in 1998 because he didn't want to face DV and the crazy French fans! We tracked David down on AIM Instant Messenger and got his thoughts about the race.
Racer X: DV, how many times have you raced Bercy and how many times have you won?
David Vuillemin:I've won twice in 125 and four times in the big class. I've won a bunch here...
How's the new bike and team?
The new bike is really good. We left it close to stock because we don't have the equipment to change anything on the injection side of things. We made a few mods that work good and I feel it's good enough to race here. the team is trying really hard to make things good!
Describe what the next few months will be like for you, with the GP season not starting until March, what's a guy to do?
I am racing a lot of supercross. I am doing Bercy, Barcelona, Geneva and Dubai. In between we have some MX testing scheduled. We are talking about going to California to train and ride in MX in January. After that I will do some international races in Europe and also go ride in the sand in Belgium. I have a busy schedule!
What do you have for Stewart? Can you reach back and give him a run?
I know I've done great here but times change... I am not 23 on a factory Yamaha with the momentum of a guy that was winning US SX main events anymore... I am not a favorite anymore but I will try my best like I always do here. James is an unbelievable rider and he is awesome to watch ride, even for me. James is unbeatable if he doesn't make a mistake or something happens.. I'd love to be on the podium after the three nights of racing, but it's going to be difficult with the amount of good guys this year...
Who else will be good?
K-dub is here, Josh Grant and some fast french guys. It's going to be a fun and difficult three-night race!
Do you have a favorite Bercy?
My first moto win against Ping in '95 was a great memory, but I also like the two years ('00-'01) when I won every moto of the six nights combined...
Are you happy with your decision to leave USA?
I am happy so far. I think I did good in the U.S. but I didn't fell like I wanted to race SX in the US anymore. It was time to turn the page and do something different. Going to Europe isn't easy and there is a lot of races too, but I still wanted to race without doing US SXs so Europe was the way to go!
What did you think about the U.S. Open? Did you get to see it?
I didn't see anything, just the results. I liked the take outs photos of Shorty/Tedesco... Looked fun! It was good to see James doing good in my former family at Yamaha. I can't wait to see JS/CR/RV at A1 if I go in CA to ride in January. It should be a fun season plus all the others guys out there.
