Ken De Dycker must feel like the luckiest rider alive. After ending his association with LS Honda he was quickly snapped up by the Red Bull KTM Factory team and didn’t let the orange army down with a sixth place overall in the MX1 class. We decided to sit down and ask De Dycker about the move to Honda and also about his weekend.

Q: How did the ride with the Red Bull KTM Factory team come about?

De Dycker: I stopped with the LS Honda team and we were going to buy some bikes from a shop, but from there on KTM started talking with us and they said we could do the five Grand Prix’s, so that was really lucky for me.

Q: Obviously KTM is a European bike and you had ridden Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha before. How did the KTM feel compared to those bikes?

De Dycker: I don’t think the KTM is very different from riding a Japanese bike, so that is good. The KTM has more than enough power and we will get better and better all the time and try and be in a good position in the races I do for them. I think the KTM feels like the others bikes, the handlebars and grips are the same and it is easy to adjust to it compared to riding Honda, Suzuki or Yamaha.

Q: Would you like to stay with KTM for the whole season?

De Dycker: I hope I can stay with KTM, it would be nice and I will do my best to get some good results. It’s the biggest team in the paddock and you can see they are also getting the results.

Q: How was your winter?

De Dycker: My winter was good, until Valence I hurt my knee, but it’s okay now. I haven’t had any injuries in the winter and pretty much just doing what I always do.

Q: How did your weekend in Valkenswaard start?

De Dycker: I made a bad mistake in my qualification heat in Valkenswaard, but I came through okay, the speed was okay. Before Valkenswaard I only managed to ride the KTM twice and we had one testing session for the suspension. In the first moto I had a very good start and I was quite happy with my riding.

Q: You made some big mistakes, crashing while in a strong position. How disappointing was that?

De Dycker: It was unfortunate to crash because I might have finished higher than sixth. However, all things considered my orange launch was a good one. And in spite of the hectic times leading up to the Dutch Grand Prix I felt quite serene. I was not particularly nervous or anything. In fact it was the opposite because I felt pretty confident. Building on our result in Valkenswaard and especially with the feeling I had in the second moto that confidence is now even bigger.

Photo: Ken De Dycker - Christophe Desmet image

Read the next news: Cairoli and Herlings put KTM on the top in Valkenswaard (09 Apr 2012)

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