Motocross: Long tooled up for top team challenge

Motocross of Nations.

Hawke's Bay mechanic Jeremy Long got the warning before signing on with Belgian rider Ken De Dycker.

"A few people told me Ken was a bit temperamental. But I've found him to be really easy going ... it must be my Kiwi touch.

"I give him stick and he gives me stick," Long said from his Belgium base.

The cheek the pair give each other is obviously productive. De Dycker, 29, is enjoying one of the best of his 13 years as a motocross rider. He is placed second overall on the FIM MX1 GP circuit and finished third in the world championships, a repeat of his 2008 finish. De Dycker, with Long in charge of the tools, won the Belgium championships for the second straight year.

Long, 26, from Hastings, is in his sixth year working on the international stage and with his fourth team Red Bull KTM. De Dycker will be hoping their combination continues to fire at the Motocross of Nations, "the Olympics of Motocross", in Germany this weekend. De Dycker will be racing for Team Belgium, who finished second in the 46-team event last year. The home trio finished second, third and fourth respectively in the world championships.

"We're aiming to win it this year ... all of the boys love the German track," Long said.

He said each of the three riders have their own mechanics but work as a team at the Motocross of Nations.

The riders race in six races and points from their best five count towards their overall tally.

The father of a 10-month-old son, Lewis, Long spends the Kiwi summer in Belgium and our winter in Rome.

The GP circuit involves 18 weekends' racing from March until September. Long said: "While Ken and I have a good working relationship, we also spend time together away from the track doing stuff like jetskiing. His father Patrick also joins in.

"All of this adds to a positive team atmosphere and builds a good team culture."

The former Hawke's Bay motocross rider will have an extra incentive to help De Dycker deliver the goods this weekend as his brother, Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby team wider training group member and superstock driver Jason, has travelled to Germany to experience the event. Last year their dad, long-serving Hawkeyes superstock driver Murray and mum Fiona, went to Belgium for the Motocross of Nations.

Murray scored one of the event's fence banners, which has a prominent place on one of the walls in his Ansin and Monteith workshop in Hastings.

"We were blown away by the magnitude of the event as well as the technology the teams use. Also the clean workshops all the crews work in ... you could eat your sandwiches off the workshop floors," Murray said.

Long will be working at his fourth Motocross of Nations and De Dycker racing at his fourth. In 2007 and 2008 the latter helped Belgium finish third behind the United States and France.

Long is contracted to the Red Bull KTM team until November. He has yet to finalise his plans for next year.

"This job is very much a year by year one. Wherever the job takes me, I go.

"After my first year overseas in 2008, I thought I was on my way home then something came up ... that's the nature of this business."

He will be back in the Bay for the Christmas and New Year holidays, to watch his father race in the New Zealand Superstock Championships at Meeanee from January 2-4. At the top of his things to do list while home is a skid in the old man's new superstock.

Considering the success Long has had with two wheels, it's a fair bet his feedback on Murray's new toy will be welcomed.