Noel Zanocz continues to impress in the EMX250 championship, notching up another podium performance despite a mix of challenges across the weekend. The Hungarian talent showed grit and speed in both dry and muddy conditions, and while he’s still chasing that elusive moto or overall win, his consistency is placing him firmly among the class frontrunners. We caught up with Noel to discuss his weekend in detail, the jump from 125cc to the 250cc class, his winter riding program on a 450cc, and his aspirations for MX2 in the near future.
GateDrop: Noel, another podium in the EMX250 class. Can you just talk me through your weekend? I think yesterday you were riding quite good, but I think you maybe had a bike problem, no brake or something. And then today, completely different conditions, but you rode pretty good.
Zanocz: Yeah, yesterday I got a pretty good start. I started first or second, I led on the first lap and then we got the red flag. I was so bummed about it, because it’s not every day I get a good start. The second start was again good, I started third. I was challenging for the second place, but yeah, then I had some brake issues. I jumped out of the track, I came back to fourth, and then without a rear brake I still managed to ride pretty fast and got the fifth place. But yeah, it was a good day. I felt like that can be my day.
And yeah, today it was a rainy day and the track was quite muddy, so the start would be important. I started around eighth or tenth or something, and then I found my way to third in the end of the first lap, and then I passed Doensen. I made a mistake in the waves, then Greutmann passed me, I got third, and I tried to follow him, but I didn’t take too much risk on the track, because it was quite sketchy, the waves, and there I lose a lot all the laps. But yeah, it was a positive weekend. The goal is to be on the box every weekend but I do miss winning. It would be nice to get to a win, finally, in moto or overall. But yes, now the thing is that we work on the starts, they are getting better and better. It also makes my job much more easy, like this. So yeah, now the next step is to try to get a little more speed on the time practices, and I think in the moto I can do. So yeah, that’s the goal.
GateDrop: Another muddy day today, like you touched on. It’s getting pretty normal for you guys now. It feels like it rains every week. Does it feel normal, because you ride mud so much, or is it still kind of a lottery out there?
Zanocz: Well, if you get a good start, I wouldn’t say that it’s a lottery. A good start can help a lot. But if you are a rider who’s big and have confidence in the mud, you can still come back easier than in a, let’s say, a normal hard pace race. I never practice a lot in the mud, because you know, for the parts and stuff, it’s expensive but I always love to ride in it. And yeah, I have no problem with it. For the bikes, it’s not the easiest. Also for the mechanics, they have to rebuild all the things on the bike. A big shout out to them for the work.
GateDrop: Obviously last year you had a dream season, winning two championships. This year you made them step up to EMX250. Just how have you found jumping up? Has it been okay? Tough? How would you describe it? I think the results have been good. You’ve made it look pretty easy…
Zanocz: Last year I wouldn’t say that it was a dream season. There were so many difficult things during the season, but yeah, the results were good. And to be the first world and European champion for my country was a dream come true. But yeah, this year I feel much better with the team and we are just much more organized and everything is much more easy with them. Last year the only thing was good, my mechanic, he did everything for me. He slept with my bike in the last race, so they can do nothing with it. But yeah, this year is good. I normally, after last season, I felt 100% sure that I’m going to be up there because I trained as hard as I could and just, you know, do my things, what I did before, to reach the best I can every weekend. And so far it’s good. I had some bad weekends, let’s say. Arco was a bad one and yeah, I missed those points. But yeah, we started to figure out some things and we are moving in a good way, so I’m happy.
GateDrop: The past few years you were living in Italy with Fantic. This year I know Jacky’s based in Belgium. Do you spend much time in Belgium? I have noticed you’ve been back in Hungary quite a bit as well. Does he give you the freedom to kind of do what you want?
Zanocz: Yeah, I’m free. So after last year, I lived the first part of the season in Italy, then I moved home. And then, you know, in the summer, just like everyone, I was in Belgium to practice there. So this year, in the winter, I trained in Italy. We had a training camp with the team. And also before and after I stayed there, because I have quite a good connection there, the people like me. So, I trained there on good tracks with good people. The rest, now, you know, between the GP’s, you travel from one GP to another, you stop on one track, you practice. This is how it works now but in the summer, I’m sure I’m going to stay in Belgium with the team. I can ride with them, I can improve my riding skills with them, because yeah, they are really nice. They try to help me with everything, with the food and on the riding, the speed.
GateDrop: In the winter, it looked like you were riding a 450 pretty much the full winter. You even raced in the International Italian Championships. What was the idea behind that? How did you feel in the 450? And then when did you actually get on the 250 before the start of the season?
Zanocz: Yeah, I rode a lot with the 450cc, because at the end of the season I had nothing. So, we had to buy first a 450cc to start the season. Then I agreed with Jacky, and then he gave me the bikes. I started to practice with the 450cc, because I felt like I’m a big guy. For practice-wise, in the winter, when everything is full of sh*t with the 250cc, you can do a good winter preparation with the bigger bike. I like to ride a lot in the winter, four or five times a week. I think the way you can improve if you’re on the bike, and you don’t need to go always wide open, but just focus on the riding skills and your technique, and you can improve in these things all the time. With the racing, I decided to race the International Italian with the 450cc, because I felt like I needed some pre-season races.
With Hawkstone International, I didn’t feel like I wanted to ride, because I didn’t know the track. And in Italy, I practiced a lot, I know everything and I think it was good results. Like in Mantova, time-practice, I got pretty good lap, I was behind Lucas Coenen and in front of Ruben Fernandez. Let’s say it was too good (laughs). Then there in the first moto, I felt too good, let’s say. I tried to ride too fast, and I passed big names like I would not imagine that I can do. And then I had a huge one and then my confidence go down.
With the 250cc, I rode in January with the team, some testing and I had also a 250cc practice bike. After two or three weeks of that I went back to the 450cc again just to have the feeling. Because with the 250cc, you need to move much more fast. And with the 450cc, you need to survive, let’s say. But I enjoy to ride on the 450cc more so when we will have the summer break, I’m sure I’m going to ride with the 450cc a lot.
GateDrop: Just on Janis Reisulis, obviously he’s got more experience than you on the 250cc. What’s it like racing him? Are you able to learn things from him when you get in behind him?
Zanocz: He’s a fast guy and he’s riding good. My goal is to win and to win, I will do all my best. I will not do anything crazy. But yeah, he’s riding good. He has speed, he showed it in France. He was faster than Benistant, I believe. He was the fastest on the track with the 250cc bike. I feel like I come closer, closer and closer over the weekends. So yeah, I do my best, he does his best. We will see what the season brings.
GateDrop: Do you plan to do any MX2 GP’s this year? Obviously, you’ve got 13 rounds of EMX250, so you’re pretty busy, but maybe Lommel could be a good opportunity. And then in terms of the future, are you thinking about that at the moment? Would you prefer to be MX2 next year? Or are you just thinking about this season first?
Zanocz: Yeah, we have to decide. But I feel like if I can finish on the box in the overall championship, I’m going to move up. I don’t want to stay here to win if I have a strong season. If I can do this year, it would be nice. But the thing is, many people who stayed here, they just stop going up a level. My goal is to be as good as possible. So, I want to move as quickly as possible. And for this year, yeah, I would love to ride some MX2 GP’s. We will see what the future brings. But yeah, it would be really nice to ride MX2, especially Lommel.
