If you watched any of the last three rounds of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship, you might be thinking, “Who is this Jorgen Talviku running in the top 20?” Hailing from Estonia, the 19-year-old was competing in the European Championship (EMX) and select MXGP’s when he landed a ride at SC Sporthomes Husqvarna. With his new team Talviku will be competing in the British Championship and the last four rounds of the nationals here in the States. We caught up with Talviku to see how he is liking it over here.
Racer X: Good job. Last weekend, not so good. The weekend before, good. What did you think overall? You had some good races.
Jorgen Talviku: Of course. It was one of my dreams to come over here to race. The world is different over here. I really enjoyed the racing. It was more like gaining experience for us. I’m really thankful for Munn Racing and our SC Sporthomes Husqvarna team for bringing us over. I had a really great time. First round was quite good. I needed to come through the B qualifying, but I scored points. 17-17, 17th overall. Last weekend was really hard for me because I was struggling with the heat. I think that was the most difficult part for me here. This weekend, I finished on a high note, let’s say. Top 15 overall. So, I’m really happy about the experience.
You race EMX with [Guillem] Farres [who is racing for Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing at the moment], from what I understand? You guys are battling it out?
Yeah, exactly. I started racing with the EMX 250. I have done now three GPs also. It’s nice to bring European riders over here.
Was the toughest thing the weather to get used to?
Definitely. And also, the qualifying sessions. You don’t have time to learn the track, really. It’s just those Americans are really fast.
It’s like two laps, green flag.
Exactly. On the second lap, they already jump everything. They know everything. I’m going up the hill and thinking, is the corner to the right or left?
Honestly, every foreign guy that comes over says the same thing. They’re like, I don't know where the track goes. Oftentimes the first practice session is where you get your gate pick.
Exactly. That’s nice here actually, that in the second moto, you can choose the gate pick from the first moto result. That was really nice. All the schedule and stuff like that, and even how they prepare the tracks over here, it’s something completely different.
What is Juss Laansoo doing these days?
He’s selling Honda bikes in Estonia and doing suspension with WP, one-click suspension. I think he was last time over here as Estonian. We had also actually Erki Karho here for some rounds, some years ago. It was nice. You can’t say no to this experience. It’s so cool to be here.
Juss was good outdoors. He had some really good races. Supercross, not so good.
Yeah, it takes time. It’s not so easy to come over here. I can approve that.
