Between the Motos: Arnaud Tonus

Although you were basically out of the entire 2015 season due to health issues, you did place in the top ten in both Atlanta races and now know what it is like to actually compete in an American supercross race. In other words, you’re not going in completely blind, are you?
Yeah, for sure. Like you said, last year was completely unknown. I just didn’t know what to expect at the races. And also, as far as the guys I compete with, I didn’t know anyone. It was all completely new. This year I kind of have an idea of what I’ll face and also a little bit more riding on the supercross track, so this is all good. I’m also healthy so that’s the main part. I now need to just go there and learn pretty quickly because the plan was for last year to be a learning year and then do good this year. That didn’t happen so we’ll learn quickly and be with the top guys pretty early on.

How is your health now? In talking with you throughout the past year, it was a series of different issues that, at times, may have intersected with one another.
Well, I had Epstein-Barr last year, which is a virus, and it took me a very long time to recover from that. Even when I was back on the bike in December, it took me time to really be healthy while I was riding again. I had to recover again. During the time off I couldn’t really train like I wanted. I still had to listen to my body and say, “Hey, today I just can’t ride. I need to rest.” That was kind of the hard part of it all, but day by day, it started getting better and step by step it got better. It’s hard to say if I’m at one hundred percent because I have kind of a new body, but I’m feeling good.

Were there were periods of time in the past year where you became frustrated with the uncertainty of things?
Yeah, for sure. You come here to America to live the dream and 2015 was supposed to be the year where you’re at your top and it’s been the worst for me. It’s not easy to deal with, but I definitely learned from it. I learned myself and had to take positives out of it because it was already hard enough. If I was negative, I would have even a harder time. I tried to learn and take the best out of it.

When did you first start to feel better?
I started riding in the beginning of December and I started to feel good around the end of December and the beginning of January. That’s when I could ride two or three times a week. In the last four weeks, I’m back on an almost normal schedule, which is riding four times a week so that feels good.

And as far as riding and testing, all has gone well in the last month?
Yeah, the team has worked a lot and they always have something new to try. The bike has improved a lot this year and I was pretty impressed. They’ve done a lot of work on the suspension-side and also on the engine. Everything is a big step forward so I’m definitely happy about that. Now the rest is just about me trying to have fun on the bike and being at one hundred percent. I feel comfortable with supercross. It’s something I love and when you have passion for something, it’s pretty easy to feel good. Like I said, I had to adapt to my body for a long time so now I’m just happy to even ride again. That’s a great feeling. I’ll have to race a little bit to have that one hundred percent feeling come back.

You haven’t raced since Washougal back in late July. What are you hoping to achieve come this Saturday night? Do you just want to try and warm yourself back into it all?
Well, I never really set any goals for myself, to be honest. I just want to go there and give it everything I have and the result will be where it will be. It’s hard to say something when you haven’t raced for so long. You know top five I think will be good, but I don’t want to stop there. I don’t want to put a limit on myself. I just want to go out there and ride my dirt bike. I haven’t been racing for so long and I’ve been through a lot of different experiences that have been kind of tough, so I just want to make this one happen and after that I’ll probably be able to see things more clearly and set some goals.

A few days out from Atlanta, you must be like, “Finally! All this stuff that I’ve gone through and now I get to go race!”
Yeah, it’s a big thing for sure. When you experience all that I have, being able to race is kind of a present. So I’ll just go there and enjoy it and realize that it’s a dream come true to race for the championship here in America so I’m going to try and enjoy it.

And as far as your competition come this Saturday? Do you think about them a lot or are you just going in to do your thing and just see how it shakes out?
I’ll be lying if I don’t tell you who I’ll be racing against. I think the field is pretty packed this year on the East Coast. But, yeah, I’ll just have to focus on myself and take it moment by moment and do the best I can and not really focus on all the other guys. For sure there are a lot of guys but right now it’s just about me and that’s the only guy I have to deal with. I feel normal pressure. The team works hard to win and they want to win and we all know that, but now it’s just my part to deal with all that pressure and put it aside and do the job.