The last leap: Arnaud Tonus’ critical time to conquer supercross with Pro Circuit
In Mikey Neale’s exceptional 2015 film ‘Fear Not’ former AMA star-turned-trainer Ryan Hughes lamented the notion that racers were akin to goggle tear-offs “when one gets dirty [injured] we just reach for another”. A year can be an extremely long time in professional competition where Hughes’ words harshly ring true. The ‘only as good as the last race’ cliché was not born from fantasy. The conveyor belt of talented individuals that show the skill, tenacity and, above all, bravery to go a chequered-flag winning speed sometimes slows, sometimes speeds-up but it never stops.
Consider Swiss talent Arnaud Tonus then for a moment. A year ago the 24 year old was on the brink of achieving a dream and taking his career to a new level in Monster Energy Pro Circuit colours and as part of arguably the most distinguished and prestigious racing team in motocross. A fantastic early showing at the Arlington Supercross with practice times and a race performance that saw him on the fringe of the podium would ultimately be all he’d show for 2015. Tonus was again ‘dirtied’. Pro Circuit did not reach for the next ‘tear-off’ in the process – and with Austin Forkner booming they could have the latest prodigy on the block – and honoured a two year agreement so the 2014 Grand Prix winner could heal from his sapping Epstein-Barr blood virus and have another shot at SX.
A drawn-out summer of frustration that stretched the limits of his patience was in store for Arnaud but it is a phase he is all-too familiar with after amazingly poor luck in recent years with wrist (twice), shoulder and leg breaks not to mention the shoulder dislocation in practice for the German Grand Prix that wiped him out of the ’14 FIM MX2 title chase.
If we assume the critical role and fulfil Hughes’ belief when it comes to riders then why should we care? Why not look to the next potential diamond that Pro Circuit Supremo Mitch Payton currently has in the system? Surely Tonus has had his chance and the timing of his sickness was just one of those immovable moments of fate?
“By following the GPs on TV I knew that Arnaud was the closest rider competing against [Jeffrey] Herlings. Jeffrey was winning a lot of races and Arnaud was leading the championship against him for a while…so we thought he could be really good,” says Payton. “He seemed to be one of the Europeans that liked to ride Supercross.”
“He can obviously scrub good and has very good corner speed and at his first supercross race last year he qualified one tenth of a second slower than Marvin [Musquin, eventual champion],” he added. “If he is healthy then we believe he can win.”
Having seen Tonus in race action, toying for photoshoots, interacting with people in the paddock and even trying to follow him on a mountain bike trail (impossible) this is a kid and a dedicated athlete who still has something to offer. A rider with the technique to make a splash in supercross where so many – who have not been American-reared in the discipline – have failed and left stadiums in an ambulance. Arnaud’s injury record could point to fragility and it is a critique he has to bear that also casts an aura of anxiety around his performances but those who have seen him in full flight know that the softly spoken and stoic Swiss can certainly move a motorcycle. Payton knows it. The overseer of twenty-nine championships does not welcome riders into his operation unless they’re hitting a particular level and potential.
For all his prospective Arnaud knows that when the East Coast 250SX series gets underway on the same weekend as his buddies in Grand Prix will launch the 2016 MXGP term in Qatar that this is his last shot at American glory. Pro Circuit might have been running slightly dry in terms of victories and titles in the last few years (although Joey Savatgy could see to that in the West Coast) but Tonus can no longer afford to be part of the problem for the Corona-based set-up and not being part of the cure.
We speak with Arnaud in the Pro Circuit shop in Corona. The lengthy line of championship-winning Kawasakis in reception could not be a starker reminder of where we are and what is at stake for a Pro athlete lucky to be at the centre of the expertise and effort that goes on behind the grey doors behind us. Can Tonus make good on his opportunity at the second time of asking…?
2015 must have been a case of ‘forget about it…’
[resignedly smiles] It was the hardest year of my life. I was away from family and everything I knew and when you are injured it is never easy. In this case I was actually ‘feeling’ OK! I never had any physical pain or anything but I was so low in energy I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t even go out for a walk. I was sleeping so many hours for pretty much four-five months. It was a struggle but I learned a lot again from it. I had to take the positives of the situation and that was so hard to do.
How did you contract the virus?
There were so many changes for me in coming to the U.S. From the way to train, the food and just doing Supercross was way-more intense; I don’t think we have anything like it [SX] in Europe. I guess it was that period that brought me lower and lower until I had the virus. Overall it is hard to say exactly how it happened, even the doctors don’t really know. So many elements can come together to affect you. I went through a first big change in my life so I’m sure it had an impact on my body. In the beginning I was feeling ‘slower’ but I thought I was just tired from all the alterations around me. There came a point where I thought ‘I must keep on riding, I cannot rest forever’ and then it only became worse. It was then they found out I had Epstein-Barr. I cooked saki and mushrooms [in the search for improvement] but just couldn’t get back up.
You were so close to the dream – your face is on t-shirts and merchandise out there in the Pro Circuit shop – and were not able to realise it. That must have been tough to take…
It was terrible! It was weird because I had a taste of it in 2014 when the dream was to become MX2 World Champion and I couldn’t make it happen because of injuries. Now the circumstances were different but the feeling was the same inside; you cannot get what you want…and you are quite close. I just had to keep going through each day. My girlfriend was such a big help and so supportive at the time. She was always positive…and I was in a bad way. I was moody all the time and not fun to be around. Life really can throw you some challenges…and I’ve had a few. I’m happy to be back on the bike and moving forward.
A big shame was losing all those opportunities to learn supercross. This year there is undoubtedly more pressure to put something on the table right away…
I think there is always that pressure. Even if you have a year ‘to learn’ you always want to do well. For sure 2016 is my second year….but I haven’t had a first! I’ll have to deal with it. I’m not really one for looking too far ahead. I focus on what I am doing, my training, my technique and where I can be better. My mind is more in that direction because I have already experienced that the events of life to come are rarely in your control. All I can do is focus on what I am capable of…and the rest we’ll see.
Looking back now that first Supercross in Arlington was pretty important because you went from ‘who is that Swiss kid?’ to ‘that Swiss kid is pretty fast’. You didn’t get a chance to show it again…
Yeah, my speed was good, even if I had broken my wrist a few months before…but at that point I was already feeling tired. I was not in shape at all. I took an eighth place but it is not the best I could do and I was obviously dealing with everything that was going on. In the end it was a good experience and I really tried to take as much as I could from those couple of races. It is a dream and it was a reality for a little bit. In Arlington I was second in timed practice so I was first in the gate for the qualification race and I was looking up at the stands and thinking ‘is this real or what?!’ It was funny. I’m looking forward to more experiences like that this year.
What about on the track? If I watch you ride now will I see a different athlete compared to January 2015? In terms of technique and confidence for supercross…
To be honest at the moment I am still rebuilding. When you break something like a wrist then you can still train and come back on the bike pretty much still in shape, except from the pain. With this [the virus] I had to start riding and almost learn about my body again. It was like a ‘new thing’. In the past I’d come back from injury thinking ‘OK, now I am going to do this, achieve that and keep improving’ this time I had to start from zero and keep seeing how I was reacting. So it is a process, and by feeling better and better I gain confidence. I’m just happy to ride and can see things a bit differently. I have a different perspective…trying to enjoy things more.
Does that perspective mean not getting moody or upset about small things or smaller setbacks?
I think that will happen anyway because you are here to win and to do a job and I am taking it very seriously. I think it is more about living the moment fully and enjoy it more because we know it won’t be forever.
Be honest: there must have been moments when you were low that you thought about coming home and being a Grand Prix rider again. Your head must have been in different places. Was that the case?
Yeah. All I could do was sit on the sofa and think, and my mind has been in a weird places. In the end I had focus on the goal of being here and trying to accomplish what I want. Otherwise I will just have this feeling of going backwards. I knew I had a two year deal so I learned as much as I could about myself in that time I was away from the bike even doing things like reading and studying ingredients in food. After the virus I became even more sensible about nutrition and that side of it. I really did not want to over-think things too much. For sure things like ‘maybe I shouldn’t have come to America…’ popped in there but I didn’t give it much importance.
Was there ever someone helping you with the recovery?
For sure there were a few guys around me that know me well and could help but the main part was understanding it by myself because how I was feeling and what I was eating was so personal. I remember talking to a doctor and him saying: “I just don’t have a solution for what you are telling me.” There were all kinds of different advice; one guy saying ‘this’ and another saying ‘that’ and in the end I realised I just had to look at myself hard and listen to what my body was saying. I tried to go more in that direction. I was eating something and then kinda waiting to see I felt tired or OK! I was trying to be aware.
I’ve seen you break your leg, your shoulder, your wrist, knock yourself out…but was this the lowest moment?
Yeah, really. If you break a bone then normally you know you will be back when the doctors says so. With this it was a mystery for me and for everyone, and from talking and looking at the other guys who have had Epstein-Barr it can be six months or two years. The ‘not knowing’ and being ‘lost’ a little bit was definitely the hardest time I have had.
So coming up to the first races you are a Pro Circuit rider, many fans in Europe will be looking to see how you will do: I find it harder to imagine any other racer in the gate wanting good results more than you. There must be a lot of frustration to expel…
Maybe…but I don’t think that is the way to be on top of your game. I don’t think you can get too over-excited otherwise it will lead to mistakes. I want to be the best that I can in this state of mind. I will want to try and put the past on the side and be as relaxed as I can, breathe and focus on the gate and the moment in which I’m living. For sure emotionally there is a lot of things going on but if you let that be your focus then you will crash on the first lap. This is also some of the work I have been doing: understanding how the mind functions. I could not train physically so the mind was something I could learn more about. Now I think I am ready.