Five Minutes with … Florian Burguet
SEPTEMBER 27, 2007

Maxime Pepin took the win at the KTM Racer Prestige event (now called KTM Mini-Stars) at the Montreal Supercross last year.

By Danny Brault
Photos by Allison Kennedy

Thanks to KTM Canada, and their marketing cooridinator, Florian Burguet, 15 Canadian rug-rats will receive a once in a lifetime opportunity. The KTM Mini-Stars race will provide 15 identically prepared 2008 KTM 50 SX Junior bikes for 15 kids, along with brand new gear, for the kids to race in front of 50,000 fans at the Montreal Supercross this Saturday. Along with the bike and gear, the kids will meet top pros and walk the track with Factory KTM racers Michael Willard and Tim Tremblay. We caught up with Florian yesterday to discuss this new program.


RXC: Florian, you have a lot of work ahead of you for Montreal this weekend with the KTM Mini-Stars race.
Florian Burguet: I sure do!

So give us some info on the Mini-Stars, I believe it began at last year’s Montreal SX?
Yes. Actually, last year it was called the KTM Racer Prestige. To make a short story, the whole program was created in the U.S. by the vice president of KTM to promote the kids and make them realize their dream of being a factory rider for a day. It’s called The KTM Junior SX Challenge. Pierre Corbeil used to run a Yamaha junior race a while back, but he wasn’t happy with the whole deal and he removed it from the race program. It took me a little while to change his mind; he liked the program and said to go ahead and try it last year. It was handled by KTM Canada, not KTM USA.

I see that the Mini-Stars also uses different sponsors than the U.S. program. So it’s a separate entity from KTM USA?
Yes. That’s our program. I’ve handled everything from A to Z. The main thing is, we have different sponsors. The biggest sponsors are Bell Helmets, Pirelli tires, and Elka Suspension. They are providing us with product and financial backing. Then we have Ogio, who is providing product, KTM Hard Equipment for riding gear, PG Graphics for all the stickers, and Scott Goggles. We have 15 2008 KTM 50 SX Junior and they are just going to be used at the supercross and then they will be sold.

So they’ll be given to dealers?
Yes, actually most of the parents will want to buy the kids bikes. We have a couple sold already.

That’s understandable; if my kid won and needed a new bike anyways, I would probably pick it up for him.
Exactly. It’s a unique experience. Those bikes are brand new bikes, plus we have two spares. We make a few changes, we have different chain guides, different jetting, stickers—we are making sure the bikes are perfectly prepared.

For 15 lucky Canadian kids this weekend, they will get the chance to experience the full factory treatment in front of 50,00 screaming fans.

I can remember the first supercross I went to, and seeing all of those kids ripping around the SX track made me jealous! I wish they had that when I was younger.
We are very proud of the Mini-Stars program. It is the only Canadian junior race at a supercross. We have kids from all over the country coming, three kids coming from Alberta, one kid from Nova Scotia, five from Ontario and five from Quebec, I think. And we have a top secret gift to give to all of the kids, along with gifts from other sponsors.

Who is going to lead the kids around the track, now that Marco Dube is hurt?
We have a solution: Michael Willard and Tim Tremblay. They will walk them around the track.

So will the KTM Mini-Stars race be back in `08?
Yes. We’ve signed a three-year deal with Pierre Corbeil. He likes the program and he wants to support the program. Also, all of our sponsors will potential be on board for the next two years as well.

Can any kid sign up for the KTM Mini-Stars?
You must be between 7 and 8 years old; you must have above average grades in school; you need one year of racing experience; and you need to be a certain height and weight—if you fit this criteria you are in the pool. At the end, we have maybe 200 entries and pick out 15 tickets.

I like hearing that the kids need to be doing well in school. Well, I better let you get back to organizing things for the Mini-Stars. See you in Montreal, Florian!
Thanks, Danny.