Kelso talks FIM CEV 2021, wildcards and Moto3 in 2022
With Mark Bracks
Anyone that knows Joel Kelso would realise that all he has ever wanted to do is get to MotoGP.
With a stellar year of racing behind him, that culminated with fourth in the FIM CEV Moto 3 Junior World Championship, 18-year-old Joel Kelso recently touched-down back home in Australia, but before he heads home to Darwin to see his family and friends, he did a detour to take part in the final round of the Victorian Road Racing Championships at Broadford last weekend.
Joel escaped from quarantine on the eve of the final round and headed to Broadford to keep his eye in on a Supersport 300 machine and ‘have some fun with his mates’ – as Jack Miller had done the week before at Tailem Bend.
While he was there one of his sponsors, regular ASBK competitor, Nathan Spiteri offered him a ride on his BMW Alliance S 1000 RR M Superbike. It was the first time that Joel had ever ridden a Superbike and he managed to post a 57-second lap in the process.
Bracksy thought it was a great opportunity to sit down and have a chat, about what has happened in the past couple of years and the bright future awaiting Kelso in the Moto3 World Championship in 2022. He has certainly grown up and this became evident during our conversation.
Joel Kelso Interview
Mark Bracks: First up, congratulations on a stellar year, two wins and just going back to Valencia, that’s one of the most impressive rides I’ve seen from anybody, including Brad Binder, and Acosta, etc. The whole weekend was pretty terrible as far as weather conditions, but you came through strong in the end.
Joel Kelso: “Thank you, the weekend was actually quite good, the Thursday was dry and we were already very fast there from the week before. Already done lap record speed and then the rain hit for Friday and Saturday. Obviously we had some mishaps with a mechanical issue, that we didn’t figure out until Saturday night after qualifying, which put us in the worst qualifying that I’ve ever done in my career.”
Bracks: Gearbox?
Kelso: “I can’t say what the issue was, but mechanical, and yeah that put us in the worst position I’ve ever started in. But I still had good confidence for the race, and obviously I was so upset. So I did what I normally do when I get a bad result for qualifying, put the headphones in and didn’t talk to anyone from Saturday afternoon to Sunday race day, five-minutes before the race.”
Bracks: That’s what you do?
Kelso: “Yea I get really upset, so I focus on what I’ve got to do. And being upset helps you ride better. Race 1 just kicked off from there, everything flew by, I remember just going across the line on the second lap and realising I’m in P15, and realising I have a shot for the win here. Then I just kept passing people. Two or three people in the one corner. I wasn’t really focused on lap time or pushing it, just on passing people. So next person in front, next person in front and as soon as I got to the front I didn’t really know what to do, I got a bit of a shock that first lap. I thought what do I do now, I’m in first, we still had 10 laps to go. We got to first so fast, so I just kept doing my lap times, I wasn’t really pushing or anything, I was just cruising around having fun once I got to first, and then obviously I saw I had a gap and just kept it at that and took it easy for myself for the rest of the race.
“It really looked a lot harder than what it was, race two was a lot harder of a race that’s for sure. Starting from last I went to P6, because of the separation there was a massive gap between the second group of the race to the first group – a group of eight I think. In the second group I got to the front of that, but there was six-seconds to the first group. I thought ok this is my time, I kept pushing away, and I caught the front group all alone and destroyed my tyre, ripped up the rear tyre. I didn’t go for the harder tyre, I went for the soft, destroyed it, got to the front, got to the group and I just couldn’t pass anyone. Couldn’t exit the corner well enough to out brake someone so yea it wasn’t possible to do better in that race, I did what I could, I still passed two people in that group the last corner of the last lap. But it wasn’t possible to go more than P6.”
Bracks: Were you reading lap boards when that was happening? Could you see that happening?
Kelso: “Yep.”
Bracks: What’s that done to your riding confidence, has it changed it?
Kelso: “Ever since Portugal where I took my first race win. We were fast all season, before the wildcard, no matter what people say. People say I was just fast after the wildcard, but really if you look at lap times I qualified P4 in the first race and qualified in P3 the second race. I crashed out of all three races, but all while in podium positions – except the first race.”
Bracks: You have to crash to find your limits…
Kelso: “Exactly, really I took confidence from the Portugal race. Once I won my first race in FIM CEV, it was easy from then. Then it just became like another race and I knew I was the best rider out there so I just had to go out there and perform on the day. I didn’t do that good in Aragon finishing, but really we did do a good race, if you watch the race, we had a long lap penalty which is a five-second gap there – I lost five-seconds there but then I caught it, after only five laps. At Aragon you can gain so much by slip-streaming, so at Aragon we did an amazing race, obviously not on paper because we finished seventh.
“But if you watch the races all season I was fast, just really I rode a smart season, as in Aragon I could have thrown it down the road after the penalty, but we took seventh position. In Barcelona we knew I would struggle there, I just don’t enjoy the place and I always really struggle, ever since I went there the first time. We still took seventh and eighth position there which I wasn’t happy with it. But it was the best that I could do at that track, I can’t do more. From there we finished off the season with three wins, so…”
Bracks: So where do you rate your year? Extremely happy, happy or over the moon? Cause I know you’re hard on yourself…
Kelso: “If luck was on our side we could have fought for the championship, that was the unfortunate part, got taken out in one of them when I was in P2, and then the other one I had a wheel come out on me when I was in P3, so that would have put us in the championship just there. So anyways, I’m over the moon for the season because of the outcome, and the important people in the racing scene have seen what I’m capable of and they didn’t just look at the championship results which is fourth. They looked at every single race.”
Bracks: That’s what you’re supposed to do.
Kelso: “A lot of people don’t….”
Bracks: Especially on social media.
Kelso: “Exactly social media hides a lot of it, probably partly my fault – I should be more vocal on social media to share what I’ve achieved but I’d prefer to let the results do the talking, rather than talk myself up. I’m super happy with the season it couldn’t have gone better in the sense of organising my future. Because we have next season’s ride, I’m really happy with the team, we got the wildcards with them, really lucky to get the wildcards as well, so it’s been an eventful season that’s for sure. A lot of riding, a lot of knowledge earnt from this season, that we’ll take into next season which will help.
“One big confidence boost was finishing P2 in combined practice in Valencia, as a wild card. I think that doesn’t show the half of it, finishing P2 in the world of FP and it wasn’t wet, it was dry. So that was really one thing that I marked off, showing I have the speed and that I’m ready for next year. Also winning from last shows that I’m ready to step up, but really for me I take more pride out of taking second in combined practice.”
Bracks: I remember Casey Stoner saying one weekend that he got more of a buzz out of that one qualifying lap than he did winning races. Doing that fastest ever that you’ve done, putting it all on the line, is the same as what you’re saying here. Then you look at the time sheets and say that’s not too bad after all. Now what about the last two years for you, normally you’ve had the support crew with you, whether it be Jake or someone else, you’ve grown up a lot in the last two or three years I guess, you’ve been living by yourself, and having to fend for yourself as a 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old…
Kelso: “I’ve been living by myself for two years, the first year Jake came over. It’s been difficult but then honestly, Jake and I speak every day almost, more than me and my Mum speak, so Jake has been there supporting me the whole way still. He helps behind the scenes, I wouldn’t be able to live without him, it seems like I’m really mature and can live by myself, but without someone like Jake’s support behind the scenes…”
Bracks: Just mental support?
Kelso: “Nah, just organising things, it’s a bit of everything, I can only organise so much. Even just organising my licence, my visa, which gets me racing, I can’t do that sort of thing, I’m not capable, so the important things. But obviously got to take credit where credit is due, I mean I’m super happy I’ve learnt so much over these couple of years to learn to live by myself and keep mentally strong. It’s always great when you’re doing well, your mental state is perfect but the times when you’re not doing well and you’re living by yourself, is not an easy state.”
Bracks: Your brain wake you up at 4am with all the concerns.
Kelso: “Exactly, there’s so many things behind the scenes that make it more difficult, that I kept behind closed doors. I’m super hard on myself over the last couple of years, but also there’s been so much support really. I’ve just definitely had to be alone a lot of the time.”
Bracks: What about racing mates who’ve turned into mates?
Kelso: “That’s the other thing. I’ve got heaps of mates over there now in Europe, my own little friendships so it’s been good to finally make some friends and now I finally feel like I’ve got a little bit of a home group for me there. At first I felt a little bit lost, but now I have friends to catch up for a beer with, or whatever. So 100 per cent I’ve got some good friends over there now.”
Bracks: If you’re into surfing you can always get some surfing there too.
Kelso: “Exactly, it’s a nice place where I’m living.”
Bracks: What about your language prowess?
Kelso: “Tell you what, it’s not as good as Remy Gardner, I can’t speak fluent Spanish.”
Bracks: Well he grew up in Catalonia, so he’s learnt Catalan as well. But he says that a lot of that is thanks to his girlfriend, who grounded him and gave him a bit more direction, and he’s grown up as we’ve seen at the World Championship.
Kelso: “I’ve been getting the support from everyone, I didn’t really need to speak too much Spanish because my trainer speaks English, things like that, they all speak English so it’s been a lot easier. I can speak a little of Spanish and Italian, but just enough to get around and live really.”
Bracks: When did you decide you needed a manager?
Kelso: “A lot of things behind closed doors are the reason why I had to get a manager, things I can’t talk about…”
Bracks: Is that about legalities of living and traveling?
Kelso: “No it’s down to finances and things like that. I can’t really say a lot about it. It just came down to finances and for me to ride in 2021 and 2020 I needed to have someone to manage me, which I’m extremely happy about to sign with and have their support, but this is the reason why I signed, I needed to race in the 2020 season and 2021 season.”
Bracks: So you’ve got an option for 2023? To continue, or are you just taking it one year at a time.
Kelso: “With the team? No I’ve got a one year contract, I opted for a one year contract, I didn’t want a two year contract, keeps the pressure on me with a one year contract and there’s many big fish out there and big teams out there I want to join. So we’ll just see how the results take us in 2022 and choose a team correctly from there.”
Bracks: What made you come here (Broadford) to race, obviously you’ve got to keep your eye in, but anything could happen at a race track, so did it take you much talking into yourself to come have a steer on a little 300 in the Vic titles? [While the interview was happening, a serious accident on-track occurred claiming the life of competitor, bringing home the realities and risks of racing.]
Kelso: “No not really, I need to be on the bike, and wanted to come back and race with my Australian mates. I’m not taking it serious this weekend, just catching up with mates and that’s what I miss about racing, I miss coming to the track and hopefully having a laugh.”
Bracks: I think that’s what stood out last weekend, everyone in the paddock felt the same. It was just good to get back as a group and as Jack said, it’s good to be back having fun with my mates.
Kelso: “As Jack would know from working in the World Championship and even I’m in the World Championship now I guess, it’s not the environment that’s a fun place, it’s more of a job. Obviously we enjoy riding but it’s not like what it used to be where you get into the box and talk a heap of crap with your mates, so I miss it. I’m sure Jack misses that side of things and that’s what I’m missing, that’s why I’ve come back here this weekend. I had fun on a superbike yesterday, that was bloody unreal, yea so Nathan Spiteri helped me out and he said to me, on Thursday when I got out of quarantine, ‘You’re not coming to ride a superbike tomorrow?’ And I said if you want me to, so I grabbed my leathers and came and rode the superbike for the day, and then Jake offered me the Pro GP 300 for the rest of the weekend – that just won races in ASBK recently, so I thought why not, lets make a nice weekend of it, have some fun at the Vic titles and enjoy it.”
Bracks: Jack’s got a bit of a name for having an Aussie embassy over there, have you had much to do with him in going to Andorra, over your time there?
Kelso: “I haven’t had much time to catch up with Jack, we caught up a little over the weekends in the paddock, he normally comes over and has a quick little chat, we’re just mates over there and I guess there’s not many of us in the paddock so we all try and be friendly. Jack and Remy are good guys, say ‘how ya going’ when we’re at the track and ‘how’s everything coping’, and that’s about it. I’m sure if we had more time we’d catch up for a beer, but we just are a little bit limited at the track.”
Bracks: Getting into the reality of it sinking in, a year ago you didn’t know, you had the plan but it was all still on the plates, getting to the Moto3, and now it’s a reality, after a lot of hard work and bargaining, have you been standing in the mirror saying I finally made it, it’s finally happened?
Kelso: “It’s been so fast, I didn’t sign a contract till late January, I signed a contract and jumped on a plane the next week, I didn’t have a ride, I didn’t have the finances, I worked as hard as I possibly could to get as much sponsorship as I could, and we just made it across the line this year, so yea I was really lucky to obviously get the support from the people I did to make it happen.
“Like I said it happened so fast that now we’re at the end of the season, I don’t even realise we’re at the end of the season, everything has gone so fast. With that five week break in the middle, or six week, there was a chance to sit back and say this has been a pretty good season, and that was at the midway point. We had just the two race wins at that stage, and a lot has happened since then but it has gone so fast. Before I came back I was on the track three weekends in a row, so that just goes flying by, you only have two days in between to rest and get to the next track really. So I haven’t had time. I obviously haven’t been back to Darwin yet to see mum and I haven’t seen her in 10 months.
Bracks: You two are pretty thick on that.
Kelso: “Exactly, I’m keen to get back and will probably only see her for four or five days, and just keen to get back to Darwin and see the rest of the family and my sister. I hope I can get back there for the start of January and then head off mid-January back to Europe.”
Bracks: Just finally, doing the wildcards, how much did that speed up your learning curve? Because you’re doing the FIM CEV that’s very high competition, but then you’re still going to that next level.
Kelso: “Honestly I learnt a bit from the wild cards, I don’t think I learnt everything that people think though. I think it just gave me the confidence, the pressure is so much more there and since I got over that pressure, when I went back to FIM CEV it felt like a smaller championship. Before that I didn’t know anything different than the Junior championships – that’s the biggest class I’ve ever ridden in. So when I stepped into World Championship it took a lot of that pressure away, I could just ride and have fun in the Junior championship. I’m hoping to do that in the Moto3 next year and make it a little bit more calm for myself and have less pressure as I obviously ride better. I learnt so much already from in Moto3 but it’s more the pressure. I learnt a little bit differently a way to work which I took back to the CEV and relayed to my team, and set up the bike a little bit better, but overall it was just the pressure…”
Bracks: So are you working over there or training?
Kelso: “Full training, six days a week.”
Bracks: Push bikes and gym work, but what about dirt bikes and things?
Kelso: “We ride motorbikes three or four times a week, motocross and flat track, mainly road bikes, we do a little bit of flat track…”
Bracks: Just finally have you changed much yourself now in your attitude, with the World Championship and CEV this year? You were always a bit of a fun kid and a joker, obviously you’ve grown up though. Have you had to rethink your philosophy and way of thinking?
Kelso: “I like to think I haven’t changed too much, I think the only difference is I’ve learnt at the race track and around the media there is a different side of me, than with my mates and that’s just because that’s what you have to do in this job. I think if people got to know me, like my mates, they wouldn’t think I’m any different, and the media side of things I’m just more… thinking more about what I say obviously but I like to crack a joke here and there still. You just have to limit yourself and that’s what I’ve learnt from watching what I’m going to say and that’s about it.
“Out of the racing scene I don’t think I’ve changed, and in the race scene I definitely haven’t and hope I never end up that person that changes when I arrive at a World Championship, letting the money and fame getting to my head. I don’t want that to happen and if it does I hope someone tells me, because obviously I don’t know what it’s like but it must happen in yourself and you just don’t even notice it. I hope I never get like that and I’ve got enough people around me that will kick me back into line, so I think that’s not going to be a problem for me. I’m just enjoying myself.”
Bracks: Years ago, I asked you if you were going to be the next Casey Stoner and you said you were going to be the new Joel Kelso…
Kelso: “Exactly, I’ve never wanted to be someone else, just to make my own persona really about myself and that’s what the goal is for me anyway, at the moment and I think I’m on the right track.”
Bracks: I wish you well, I know you’ve got the talent.
Kelso: “Cheers mate.”
