Aiden Wagner Interview with Ride Rage Radio – Transcribed
RRR: Aiden, have you come back down to Earth yet after hearing that you’ve been granted a Wild Card by Motorcycling Australia for this Motorcycle Grand Prix 2014 edition? It’s only about six or seven weeks away, you’ve got to be pretty excited.
Aiden: Yeah, I’m definitely very excited. When I got the news that I got accepted by MA and FIM to do the Wild Card event, not exactly sure which team I’ll be riding for yet, nothing is set in stone, so I can’t make a statement on that as of yet, but just keen to hear from them and see what comes of it.
RRR: I imagine that there are three massive hurdles that you’ve got to get over to get out there on the grid at the Australian Grand Prix. The first of them obviously is to get the Wild Card, the second of them is to find a team that’s willing to supply you with a bike and hopefully a competitive one and the third one would be coming up with the huge amount of funding that is required. I imagine that you’ve got a whole lot of sponsors that have really got behind you to make this become a reality.
Aiden: Yeah, exactly mate, there are a few hurdles to getting there and actually I’ve just finished doing a deal with Alpinestars and Bell Helmets, they’re going to help me out with my gear for the event, which is really awesome and I’m really thankful for that. Now it’s just a matter of getting some other big sponsorship to help cover the costs, and like you said, you want to get on a team that’s reliable and going to give you the best equipment you can get.
RRR: You’re certainly a 600 CC expert, one of the best in Australia at the moment. I was actually talking to Bracksy today and I said that you’re going to fit in really well with all of the nutcases in the Moto GP category, because they’re very adapted sliding the bikes in sideways and you and Aaron Morris have got to be two of the best exponents of it in Australia.
Aiden: Exactly. I’m really keen to start banging bars with him. It’s a very fierce field and they’re all nuts, so it’s going to be definitely different. But sliding bikes is something I love to do so hopefully I can fit in amongst them and hopefully just going to try and get the best results I can with all the European riders.
RRR: You’ve had some great results so far this year in a lot of different events and at Phillip Island, you’ve done a few laps around there.
Aiden: Yeah, definitely. On the Tuesday that’s coming actually I’m going down with Oz WildCard racing team to do some testing on the Moto2 tyres, just so I can get a feel and what to expect with the rubbers that we’ll be using, so a huge thanks to Stewart Winton from SW Racing and Oz WildCard Racing for giving me the opportunity of taking the bike down and just doing some setup. Even though it’s not a Moto2 bike, but all help counts.
RRR: And one of the things when we saw you on the Oz WildCard Racing Team earlier on this year, the first thing that I thought was, ‘Oh, hopefully that’s the ticket to a wild card in the World Supersport round of the World Superbikes at the beginning of the next year.’ This has come so much out of the blue for us, was it out of the blue for you or was that always part of the plan to try and get the Moto GP and World Superbike wild cards?
Aiden: Yeah, well when I was in the midst of jumping aboard with Oz WildCard Racing Team, I also asked a few questions out there with Mark Bracks, I was lucky enough to take out the Supersport Support Race at the Moto GP last year and I sort of made it known that Moto2 was where I wanted to head with it all, but I didn’t really think anything of it and Bracksy actually got back to me and said he might have gotten me a deal for the wildcard and it’s all just been rolling from there, but still I’m definitely looking forward to running in the World Supersport Class with Oz WildCard Racing Team, we’ve been doing some good bike set-up and really testing as much as we can every weekend on the bikes, so putting in the hard yards and hopefully we can get a good result there as well.
RRR: And Aiden, this bike, the one that you’ve been riding in the ASC, you’ve only ridden a couple of rounds, it’s not the normal bike you started the year off, totally different suspension, was it Mupo Suspension you’re using now instead of the other brand you were using? But it’s a great adaption to that new machine.
Aiden: Yeah, the Mupo Suspension is working really well. You know, one of the things that’s helped me a lot is just the edge grip feel that we’re getting with the Mupo Suspension and SW Racing is working really well with my riding style, and just Stewart’s expertise has helped me go a long way and it’s opened up a lot of doors for me, so we’re just going to keep pushing forward and see what we can do. I’m really looking forward to the two big events coming up.
RRR: You’ve mentioned Stewart and the importance of the relationship that you’ve got now Aiden with him, is there any chance that whatever bike you get that Stewart will be able to come along with you and essentially act as your crew chief for the weekend and essentially relay the information that you give him and try and dial in the suspension of the whatever bike from whatever team it is that you end up getting a ride with?
Aiden: That’s exactly right, and that’s my plan. I started to bond quite a good relationship with Stewart and we’re starting to figure out how we both work around the bike, so it would be great to have him there in the pits with me, just to give me a bit of support, mentally as well, with bike setup and what’s going on. Stewart has been in the Moto 2 category before, so he knows what’s going on in the field, so it would just be good to have him there as a back-up.
RRR: Certainly going to be fantastic to see you in action at the Moto GP, as you said it’s only about five or six weeks away, can’t wait for that, can’t wait to see in you in action on the weekend at the penultimate round of the Swann Australasian FX Superbike Championship also. Wakefield Park, it’s going to be great to catch up with you there and look forward to see your smiling face in the pits on Friday, but once again Aiden congratulations.
Aiden: Awesome stuff, guys, thank you very much!
