DRD was invited down to Maddix Park, Tauranga in the New Year to meet four-time World Enduro Champion Stefan Merriman. So with Bessie gagging to meet one of his idols, he and Fraser shot down with the camera and tape recorder for a chat with the Kiwi enduro legend...

Like so many of New Zealand’s world champions, Tauranga’s Stefan Merriman, enjoys far more media attention and recognition overseas than he does at home. But for us dirt bikers, Merriman is not only well known, his exploits in the World Enduro Championship are legendary. With four world titles to his name, and a string of national titles in various motorcycling disciplines here and in Australia, it seems that Stefan is a class above on any type of bike, whether it trials, road racing, moto-x or enduro. So, naturally it came as a bit of a surprise when we met Stefan, that he told us he was yet to sign a deal for 2006. After re-signing for the Corse Yamaha team became a non-event, Stefan had entered negotiations with Husqvarna, but that deal fell apart at the last minute, leaving the former world champ without a ride for this year’s WEC. We asked Stefan what his plans were for 2006 in lieu of recent events, along with a myriad of other questions, here’s what he had to say.

Do you come ‘home’ every year?
Most years but lately every alternate year, as my girlfriend’s from Melbourne, so we do one year over there and we’re over here the next.

Obviously you’ve represented Australia at international events, do you consider yourself Australian, Kiwi or a bit of both?
Well a bit of both (laughs). But I was born here, and you’re always really from where you were born. But I have spent a lot of time in Australia and I like Australia as well, it’s a good place. The Australians have helped me a lot in the Six Day (ISDE) each year. Every year the team helps me a lot doing the six-day enduro, so I continue to ride for Australia, even when it’s here. This year’s ISDE I’ll be riding for Australia, again because they’ve helped me so much. But I’m probably more a Kiwi than Australian, but my other half’s Australian so that makes it difficult.

Are you still based in Italy?
Yes at the moment, but not sure for how long, as everything is up in the air as far a ride for this year is concerned. If we don’t end up with anything in Europe for 2006, I may end up riding in Australia and New Zealand this year, I don’t know. We’ll continue trying for a ride over there, but it’s pretty tough at the moment as all the deals have already been done and there is no budget left.

So with all the top teams having signed riders for next year, how do you plan to compete in Europe this year?
We’re running around at the moment trying find sponsors to form a team with Kawasaki, as they’re the only ones who don’t have a team in the WEC already, so said to them “If you can find the sponsors, I can ride for you.”

What Kawasaki model are you hoping to ride?
250 2-stroke, KX250.

Do you prefer riding 2-stroke or 4-stroke?
I like the 2-strokes, I had a good run with the 2-strokes two years ago (winning the 250 two-stroke world championship on a Honda) and I think 2-strokes suit me better than the 4-strokes, I’m a little bit small for the 450s. I enjoy riding the 250cc 4-strokes too, but I want to stay in the E2 class.

What was the highlight of the 2005 season for you?
Probably coming back after my injury (I had my spleen taken out) and within one month after that we had the round in Spain and I managed to win that. Going out after an injury and winning again straight away surprised a lot of people, especially those who said I should be resting and shouldn’t be riding. So that was really the highlight of the season, although there weren’t any real great highlights because of injuries and not winning the world championships.

Did winning the Spanish round after your spleen-ectomy inspire you to push hard for the championship even though you were a fair bit behind in the points stakes?
Yeah, I had lost a lot of points by then, but it was still possible if could win everything. But as I carried on, I almost did win everything, but towards the end of the championship I got disqualified, which got me another DNF. It just wasn’t the year for me.

What was the worse part of the season for you?
Getting the injury. You spend a lot of time preparing for a championship and you put a lot of effort into it and it can just go out the window so easy. A click of the fingers and you’re injured and your championship’s finished. That was pretty much the worst part of the year.

How do you deal with that type of disappointment?
You’ve got to look on it as part of racing and injuries are going to happen. It doesn’t matter what kind of motorsport you’re in, it’s pretty dangerous and it’s going to happen. You’ve just got to deal with it. After a few days and once it’s set in that it’s going to be pretty impossible to win the world championship, you think ok and just get your head down. I still had the motivation to win each race after that. I get good bonuses for each day winning so I thought about winning each day.

To compete at your level, you must do a lot of training, what does your regime consist of?
Most of my training time is done on the bike. I do very little gym work, because okay the gym’s good for building strength, but is it the right thing for bike riding? Do you need to big and strong, or do you need to be small and fit? What do you actually need? You need a bit of everything and the best thing is riding on the bike. And if you’ve got really good bike skills, you don’t need to be so fit anyway as you don’t use the energy, so I just spend most of my time on the bike. I do a little bit of trails riding as well, because that I think helps. But yeah just motorbike riding.

Do you think trials riding would benefit riders from other disciplines, i.e. Moto-X, enduro and road racing?
It does. The top Moto-X riders, such as Coppins, Everts, Townley, they’ve all got trials bikes, they all do a bit of trails it does help. For your balance, for your concentration, for your throttle, clutch and brake control. It’s a very sensitive brake on a trials bike and trying to be so precise riding, just adds a little element of precision that just riding straight out Moto-X doesn’t.

What give you your motivation?
I enjoy the adrenalin of riding, there’s nothing like scaring yourself silly. I don’t like doing it any other way like skydiving, where you don’t have complete control, I like to have control of the bike. I enjoy riding a lot, sometimes you don’t want to be there, it can be a real muddy day and you think, “What am I doing here?” but you’ve just got to set yourself a challenge all the time. Money can only motivate you a certain amount, you’ve got to set yourself other goals rather than making money. Money won’t make you do some things that you do for a certain motivation. So I just keep setting myself goals, such as doing better times or catching a certain rider. You get a lot of satisfaction from achieving your goals.

Have you had any major influences in your career?
My Dad was my biggest influence in the beginning, he started me with trials riding, and he’s still trials riding now at 60-years old, which is a great sport that you can do for most of your life. He sort of helped me a lot in the beginning and has probably helped the most.

Who did you look up to as rider you were coming up through the ranks?
Depends on what sport I was doing. As I started off with trials I was really motivated by Gordie Harris, who was a world champion at that time and who was just incredible at that time, he was just so far ahead of everyone else. I started doing road racing for a while and Mick Doohan was my idol, I couldn’t believe how he rode. Then when I got into Moto-X I really admired the King brothers, so it just depended on what aspect of the sport I was into at the time.

You’ve won four world titles now do you have any other ambitions?
To win five (laughs).

Do you have any plans once your motorcycling career is over?
I haven’t made any plans at the moment as I’m at the peak of my racing career now. If the results start dropping or I start not to enjoy it so much then I’ll start to make plans as to what else I can do. Most top riders have a passion for the sport, so I’ll continue in the sport somewhere. So I’ll be riding for a few years yet and when I stop riding, maybe teaching or who knows what, but something to do with motorbikes anyway.

What’s the best advice you’ve been given?
You’ll have to give me a while to think about that one, can I get back to you on that one? (laughs)

How many bikes do you own?
None. Actually I do own a trials bike in Italy, and a PW50.

So you haven’t managed to keep any of you championship winning factory bikes?
No they keep them, which is a pity.

What was the first bike you rode and how old were you?
A peewee 50 (PW50) and I was five-years old.

And finally, any words of advice for the youngsters coming up through the sport?
Keep standing up, practice standing up as much as you can and have fun riding. I think a lot of youngsters start riding too soon and they go out of the sport. So keep mucking around and hooning around, practicing, it’s not all at the races. And if they don’t want to race, go trail riding, have fun with your mates, which is the best part of it.