You have a little bit of a Honda affiliation at home?
Yeah, I ride the winter season, which is from September to January. I ride the beach race season for Honda France. They just gave me a bike to actually stay in shape during the summer. So, I just have one bike at home.

So, you didn’t want to ride a Yamaha here?
No, I think it’s a little bit of a respect thing. It’s weird to just go for two races on a Yamaha. So, I finally found a Honda here, but then I didn’t get to start for Southwick. They said it was full and they didn’t need me. They kept pushing me to say, “Come to Millville!” So, I did Millville, then we hit Washougal. I was supposed to go home after, but I liked it so much. I had two DNF’s in Washougal because I hit [Roger] De Coster. So, I didn’t want to go home. I stayed for Unadilla. I drove a little bit in the middle, but my shoulder was just not good enough at Unadilla. I went home at that point, which is not ideal. I didn’t take any points. Millville, I finished I think 21st, but I had that timing issue, so I was just out of the points. The heat was quite brutal there. Washougal, I didn’t finish both motos. Unadilla I was in 22nd but then my shoulder gave up.

You qualified at Unadilla, but after a few laps you were done?
Yeah. So, I finished the first moto and crashed in the first lap. I finished in like 30th. Speed-wise was not bad, but I just had too much issues. No points, which I wanted bad points, so I should have come back.

So, what this means is we’re going to have to get you back here next year, or something like that?
My plan already is I want to do RedBud and Southwick next year. The cool thing is I’ve met a lot of people now who have pretty much bikes ready for me to go. So, I can just take my bus, my fuel tank, my sticker case, everything. Should be good.

You ended up being in Maryland? This is where you were hanging out?
Yeah. This is actually my home America race. We stayed at Laurel which is 20 minutes from Baltimore. This guy is living there. We are staying at his house. This is our home here in America.

Dutch guy shipped his van, and this is where he ended up?
Yeah. The Dutch guy shipped his van. He got me in contact with all the people here. We actually found that 150 in the local house we were riding. So, that’s pretty cool.

So, you didn’t really have a practice bike. You were riding a Honda 150.
Yeah. I had a practice bike between Millville and Washougal. So, we did the PIR. That guy wanted his bike back, so I understand I was putting only hours on it. I gave it back. So, I had a bike lined up for Unadilla, but I had to pick it up at the Moto Mission race, which was like 20 minutes from it. The only hope that we had was a 150, and I used to ride it when I was young. I’m way too big for a 150, but I had a lot of fun. I thought my shoulder was good on that bike because it’s not pulling that hard.

When you rode the 150 before Unadilla, you felt good.
Yeah. I felt good, but then I did a few laps on my mate’s bike, which is a Yamaha, and I can feel already after two laps, like, it’s going to be hard at Unadilla, but I’m going to try it.

This would have been your home race. So, were you tempted at all, or after Unadilla you knew it’s not going to work?
No. To be honest, I’m not a p**** but I was pretty much crying after the second moto. I was thinking about pulling off, and I never did that before. Then the last fifteen minutes it was just a disaster. You have these big step-downs after the finish line and landing in the braking bumps and it just went to my shoulder. It was not ideal.

How did the De Coster crash even happen?
I think I know because I analyzed the crash a lot. So, I DNF’d the first moto due to an electrical issue. I was standing next to [Ryan] Dungey. Just for a joke, I said to my mechanic, “He better get out of the gate good, because I’m going to out-start him.” For some reason, I had a super good start, but then just the guys from the outside came to the inside. They pretty much closed me between the Lucas Oil banner and a rider, and I think I must his hit his arm or something with my front lever. From the moment I hit the brakes, I just went down. No braking at all.

So, he hit your front brake lever?
I think so.

And you went flying?
Yeah, I went flying. So, without the bike, I hit Roger. I was pretty much fourth gear pinned, and the moment I was braking, I fell. So, I was pretty much not braking at all. It was a big crash. I thought it was a big pile-up, because there were a lot of people around me, but everyone cared about if Roger was okay. So, that was pretty crazy.

Did you find that out after the race, or when you were getting up did you realize, there’s a guy here who’s not one of the racers?
Not one of the racers, but I found out it was Roger when I was in the medical unit. So, I saw him, and I briefly asked, “Did I hit you?” But I was coughing up blood myself, so I was in a lot of pain at that moment. So, I didn’t know if I had to say sorry, or what the deal was. So, we made up yesterday here in your show. He was really nice to me. He even asked how I was doing. He was asking the same things like you, like how do you end up here?

He’s still Belgian. You’re practically neighbors.
In American style, we are pretty much neighbors. Actually, I spoke Dutch with him because I didn’t even know he was still fluently speaking Dutch. It’s fun.

Tell me about this beach racing scene? Is that a series? How many races? How does it all work?
So, in France, it’s a proper series. I think a little bit you can compare it with the GNCC. All the races are two and a half hours, minimum. The last one, which is Le Touquet, is the biggest one. It’s three hours. So, we start with 1,250 riders all on one line. We are limited to 12-liter fuel tanks, so this is about I think four gallons or three gallons. We have to pit three times. It’s just an endurance race. It’s on the beach. It’s really sandy.

Rough as hell, I would think.
Rough as hell.

How long is a lap? How many minutes?
It’s different. The first race is around three kilometers, which is like two miles. The last race is 15 kilometers, and we have one of 18 kilometers, which is around ten miles, I think. It’s a really long lap.

But the shorter ones, how long is a lap? Four minutes?
A short one is four to five minutes.

So, how many laps do you do?
In Le Touquet the lap is 15 minutes. We start with 11 minutes, and then in the end of the race it's 15 minutes. It gets that much rougher, and you’ve got the lappers. So, the first lap we go like 120 miles down the beach. We turn and we go pretty much 90 miles an hour. But the second lap, there’s 1,250 riders. Pretty much the biggest goons who just bought a motorcycle, it feels like, from the dealership. And we are pretty much slaloming. So, we are not taking the fastest line. We are taking the fastest line between the riders. You should see my GoPro video. It’s pretty cool.

That’s awesome. Where can they see this? Where are you putting, just on your social?
I have it on my YouTube. I actually made some vlogs about this trip, but I also have a famous Le Touquet video on it. It’s from a couple years back when I was still on Husky, but it’s nice to see. It’s chaos.