GIVI Magazine - Maggio 2017

GM: In the past, you had the opportunity to race in different categories, like SuperBike and even Moto2 but for whatever reason it never really turned out to be the right fit. Was it the different bike, a different paddock, maybe not the best feeling with the Team? You are the Emperor of the World Su- perSport 600 class, the rider with most Championships, race wins, pole po- sition and fast laps. Was it meant to be right from the start? KS: I have to tell you, my dream has always been to become World Super- Sport Champion. That was true right from the start, the 600 was the class we had in Turkey and that is what everybody used to dream about. We didn’t dream about MotoGP or anything like that because it was too far away from our reality. We didn’t have the bikes, we didn’t have the teams, it was so far removed that we never even thought about it. Now the kids that I work with can dream about SuperBike and MotoGP, I’m preparing them to be SuperBike or MotoGP riders. For them it’s real, for me, back in the day, it was simply too much. I had my chance in SuperBike but that year was really difficult for me be- cause I lost my brother in a motorcycle racing accident and all my family wanted me to retire and stop racing. In 2011 I also lost my biggest power: I lost my father who was the most important person in my life. He was the only one, I had nomanager, I had no people aroundme but just my father who always supported and helped me throughout my career. So every year I’ve tried a different class it was very difficult for me. And I was always missing the SuperSport class. It was not about a bigger or smaller displacement, I just missed my SuperSport, that is what I’ve been racing all my career, that’s what I love and I always ended up missing it. In 2012 and 2013 Kawasaki offered me a full factory ride in SuperBike. They told me to test the bike and if it felt right I could race for them. But every time I tested the bike it didn’t feel right, I didn’t enjoy it. After half an hour, I would stop and ask my SuperSport back. I believe in life people need to do what they love not what they “have to do”. Riders think they “have to” move up to SuperBike, or they “have to” go to MotoGP but it doesn’t have to be like that: enjoy what you have, enjoy what you love and you’ll be happy. If you ask me “Hey Kenan what would you like better: 2nd, 3rd or maybe top 5 five in MotoGP or World SuperSport champ?” I will always choose that, Su- perSport World Champion. When I was racing in SuperBike I always had my SuperSport on my mind. Even in Moto2, that is also a 600cc, I wasn’t happy. Because to be able to win in Moto2 you need to have the perfect package and I didn’t have it. If you are coming from Turkey you cannot have the per- fect package. If you’re from Italy, Spain, Germany, maybe France yes you can have the perfect package, but not from Turkey. GM: How is that? Why not? KS: It’s the sponsors. Big time sponsors with all the links and power in the pits to get the top materials. Those sponsors are available to riders and Teams from Italy, Spain, Germany or maybe France. But they are not available to a rider from Turkey or a second-tier team. GM: Not even to you, a multi-time World Champion? KS: No, neither me nor the Team I was racing for. It was a good one but they were not competing for the top 5. Even now they are still navigating around the 10th or 15th spot in the standings, very good but not enough. With a better team and a better package maybe I could have done more, but not in that situation. That is when Kawasaki called me to come back to the World SuperSport ca- tegory. Top Team and best bike, it took me 5 seconds to accept. After that I won 3 titles in a row. GM: How do you keep your motivation? It seems like every time you jump on the bike, you get back on track and win, unless something weird happens like the guy who crashed in front of you in Aragon. How do you keep that desire alive? KS: Like I said I love what I do and I enjoy it very much. And I was always very ambitious. I always worked super hard to reach my goals. Some guys do it with talent alone, others do it working really hard. I am a very hard worker, always been. Talent of coursemust be there but only hard work takes you to the next level. There have been very difficult moments in my life and in my career but I managed them, I handled them. Last race [Aragon] was bad too, but I’m here today and it’s a new day and a different story. I hurt my hand before the season but I’m here racing anyway, I worked hard during the week, yesterday and today I had the fastest times and if we can win tomorrow [he did, by more than 6 seconds] it will be good for the Team, it will be good for me and it will give us great moti- vation. Championship? I don’t want to talk about it because it’s too early and I have already missed three races. Now my goal is to win as many races as possible and then, at the end of the season, if the chance is there, I’ll try to win the Championship. But right now I’m only thinking about the single races. GM: How did you hurt your hand exactly, was it really a Super- moto accident? KS: Yes, I crashed while training in the Winter on my Supermo- to bike. The problem was that it was really cold and it’s easier to break some bones in the cold wether. So I broke my hand and I had already five surgeries on it: it didn’t heal completely yet and I know I’ll be in pain for the next 5 or 6 months but it doesn’t really bother me and I’m riding at 100%. 10  Givi Interview