Five Minutes with … Andy White
MAY 12, 2008
The Royal Distributing/Thor/Riverside KTM Canada Team captured their
second national title with Michael Willard last year at Sand Del Lee. KTM's race director, Andy White (far right), has helped bring the orange bikes to the front by hiring capable riders and a hard working support staff.
By Danny Brault
Royal Distributing/Thor/Riverside KTM Canada’s race director, Andy White, is the second candidate in our mini-series of interviews with race team managers preparing for the Monster Energy CMRC Motocross Nationals. White’s home base is Montreal, and the KTM Canada shop is located a stone’s throw from Ste-Julie, so expect them to have their bikes set up well for the fast, flowing, and rutted track.
RXC: Okay, Andy, give us a rundown on what each of the Royal Distributing/Thor/Riverside KTM Canada riders are up to?
Andy White: Well, Ryan Lockhart has been riding some local events in the Maritime area. That’s the reason we hired him, to brand the orange bike as much as possible, and he did a great job promoting us at the [Sackville] arenacross and local race he did last weekend. Now he’s in Montreal to start testing his factory bike.
Mason Phillips, he’s been practicing with John Dowd for the last two weeks down in Massachusetts. He’s getting some extra sand experience, so he’ll be ready for the Dunes.
Eric Nye has been in California testing for MDK and factory KTM. He’s developing outdoor 250 SX-F’s for the MDK/KTM team. Norcal [Jeff Northrop], same thing, he’s a got a 450 back at home and riding at the local tracks. KTM USA has been using him in [Michael] Sleeter’s spot, because Sleeter had his knee operated on halfway through the supercross season. Jeff lives so close, so it was an easy fix. Apparently, things are going smoothly, and they’ll be using him for future testing.
Tim [Tremblay], unfortunately, did his ACL in snocross over the winter and had the operation right away in Michigan. He’s spent three weeks down in Florida, riding his road bike and getting a little seat time on the 450. Now he’s back here riding the local tracks and testing with Factory Connection. I’m not going to say he’ll be 100 percent ready, but he’s going to do his best.
And the team has a new name; it’s now Royal Distributing/Thor/Riverside KTM Canada. So you’ve brought some new sponsors on board?
Royal is still our title sponsor. They’re back for their fourth year, I believe. We were sponsored by AXO for the last couple of years, but Royal’s involvement is very important to us. They came and said it’s time to wear something we sell a lot of. Parts Canada/Thor/Alpinestars was one of their first picks, and they set the guys up from head to toe with good equipment. Danny [Yagay] from Riverside is a true believer and lover of motocross and he’d still run his teams if he could. He’s one of our key dealers in Western Canada and he asked a little while ago if there was a chance they could get involved and put their name up there. They want to show everyone they’re still into motocross and they don’t only sell Yamahas, but KTM’s too.
You’ve been with KTM Canada since the fall of 2004, Andy. For a team that doesn’t boast the budget as others out there, KTM has had a lot of success, mainly with two championships from Michael Willard. What do you think are the biggest reasons for KTM’s success in Canada?
I think getting the support from KTM USA helps a lot. We’re part of the same family and it makes no sense for us to go out and develop our own race motors and all of that. They’re doing an awesome job so we piggyback on them and it makes my life a lot easier. I think we’ve also been good at choosing the right riders to ride for us. We’ve had some awesome guys, from Willard to Barnes to Nye to Tremblay. Even Marco Dubé, in the past, has done a really good job for us, putting the bike up front. I think it takes some homework to find the right riders. I’m not saying we’ve picked all the right riders, but average wise, we’ve done really well. With the people we’ve hired to be on the team—mechanics, assistants, support staff—we’ve had the good fortune of picking great people. It helps to build confidence in the team.
Other than Willard’s MX2 championships in 2005 and 2007, are there any specific races or battles that stick out in your mind with KTM?
Good question! Every event is a big event. I can barely watch the races when they’re on, just because if I start looking at a rider and concentrating on him and he goes down, I feel like that it was some bad luck from me watching [laughs]. I would say it must be with Willard battling with [Kyle] Chisolm for his first championship in Ste-Julie. It went down to the wire. Willard being a young kid with no national experience, stayed right behind Chisholm the whole moto—who knows if he was able to pass him or not—but he stayed right there and then Chisholm made a mistake, he got by him and won the championship.
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Can Phillips, Northrop, Nye, Tremblay, or Lockhart bring home another #1 plate for KTM Canada? We'll find out soon enough! |
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photo: Jason T. Griffiths |
Andy, you were a pro racer too at one time. When did you start racing pro and when was your final year?
I first turned pro in 1985. My first pro race was in the fall of `84 at ???? Quebec, and it was a nice outdoor track. I was racing against Serge Gregoire, Charles Desourdy, and Pierre Couture, and all of those guys. Not even halfway into the race, I think Gregoire and Couture lapped me in the first moto. That’s when it struck that me you needed to train in the pro classes [laughs].
So `85 was my first real year of pro. I had Yamaha support and my Yamaha manager was Lawrence Hacking. He hooked me up with bikes and parts through a dealership in Montreal called Motorsport Plus. I rode Yamahas for a long time as an amateur, but as a pro, I rode them in `85 and `86, and then I jumped onto Hondas. 1996 was the last year I rode Hondas, and then I went back to Yamahas and John Bayliss was the boss. He helped me out in `97, `98, and `99. In 2000, I was hired by Mike Brioux of Suzuki Canada to manage the Suzuki team with Dubé and Simon Homans. I ran that program for a bit and rode vet races in between.
In 2001, I was on a Honda, because I had just bought a dealership called Diablo Honda. We had a Honda team with Doug DeHaan and Marco Dubé for two years. I started racing in 1979 and to this day, I’ve raced every year and not missed one year of racing.
Wow! That’s a solid record. Do you have specific races or battles that stick out?
Always the Olympic Stadium events! I never qualified for the finals back then. In those days, they had a ton of Americans coming up, like the Guy Goopers, Jim Gibsons, and Jim Holleys. I was always a good starter, but supercross wasn’t something we practiced. It was our only event. I remember being in third spot or fourth, and I could hear the crowd going ballistic every time Ross Pederson passed a rider. I knew he was behind me and every time the crowd roared, I thought, ‘Oh, no, he’s getting closer!’ Finally, he caught and passed me, and I I’m thinking, ‘what the heck? I’m the local guy here why is everyone cheering?’ [Laughs]
Well, he’s the Rollerball! Thanks for catching up, Andy. We’ll see you in two weeks.
Thanks, Danny.
