Five Minutes with … Liam O’Farrell
MAY 29, 2008

Orange Motorsports KTM's Liam O'Farrell

photo: Danny Brault

By Danny Brault

The Canadian series continues to grow, not just with big outside sponsors like Monster Energy and new teams like Leading Edge Kawasaki, but we’re attracting riders from all over the globe. The latest international addition to the series is South Africa’s Liam O’Farrell. The 21-year-old decided to come over to Canada after watching fellow countryman, Kerim Fitzgerald, do well in MX2 last year. O’Farrell left a lot of people scratching their heads in Ste-Julie, wondering who #210 on a KTM 450 SX-F was in Ste-Julie. Well, we wanted to find out more too, so we struck up a conversation with O’Farrell at the Racer X Canada/Roost Clothing Ride Day yesterday.

RXC: Liam O’Farrell, what brings you to Canada?
Liam O’Farrell: Last year, in South Africa, I won the MX1 and MX2 championships and I wanted to try something new.

What drew you to our country?
A friend knew someone who was living here, Selwyn Momberg, and he gave me a place to stay. He phoned Andy White from KTM and Andy seemed interested and gave me a deal with a bike for the year.

You’re the second South African to compete in our series in the last two years, with Kerim Fitzgerald being the first. Do you know him well?
Kerim and I have been racing against each other since we were five. We’ve had a strong rivalry going and he won the MX2 championship in 2006 and then came here. When he came back, I beat him at one of the races and thought it would be good to come here.

What’s your take on Canadian motocross so far?
It’s big—much bigger than South Africa! The people are nice, the sponsors are better, and I’m enjoying it a lot here.

O'Farrell went 8-10 for ninth overall in Ste-Julie

photo: James Lissimore

You finished ninth overall in MX1 at your first national in Ste-Julie last weekend. How do you think things went?
I was happy to get a top-10. I wasn’t sure on the pace of the other riders and I don’t know the tracks. Top-10 is very good for me; it’s more than I expected. I was running top six with five minutes to go and that was a big boost for me.

That’s definitely a great result, and you mentioned that was the first “real” moto you’ve done this year.
Yeah, we only ride 20-minutes plus one lap in South Africa, so I faded with five minutes to go [laughs].

What’s your plan for the rest of the summer? Are you going out West?
Yeah, I’m hoping to go out West. I’m trying to get flights out there but it’s quite expensive. We’ll see what happens.

How old are you, Liam?
21.

Canadian nationals are broadcast all over the world, so did you have some knowledge of the series before landing here?
We didn’t get the channel, but I’ve seen some of the races; I watched the 2005 series and knew JSR was fast. I’ve been watching tapes that friends have.

Did you expect the Canadian guys to be as fast as they are? Slower?
I didn’t expect it to be that fast. I didn’t think I would be top-10; I thought I would have to step it up [laughs].

Who’s helping you out this year?
Siert [Wieringa] from Orange Motorsports, AXO, Factory Connection, X-Brand Goggles, Pirelli, Renthal, and M2R.

From Greg Albertyn to Grant Langston to Tyla Rattray to yourself and Kerim, South Africa has produced some good motocross talent. Why do you think that is?
I’m not too sure. We work hard and learn. Langston and the guys come from nothing but just learn. We work hard.