Behind The Gate – The Interviews: Kevin Horgmo

The Behind The Gate documentary series covered the MXGP of France with a focus on the Team Honda Motoblouz SR Motul, as Episode Seven, “Back to Business”, was intended to celebrate the return of the series after the five-week break in the schedule since the MXGP of Trentino.  We invited the team’s riders Thibault Benistant and Kevin Horgmo to take a look around the Château de Lacapelle-Marival, close to the circuit, for a little content filming away from the Paddock itself.

Little did we know that Thibault was about to suffer a life-changing incident in the GP itself, and everybody in the Paddock would feel the punch in the guts at the news of his injuries, and the realisation that we would never see his innate style and speed on a motorcycle again.

As Thibault’s teammate, training partner, and friend, Kevin Horgmo struggled to race on after the incident, but typically did all he could for the team with a gritty ninth in race two, one of his best results of the season and a real testament to his mental strength.  This put the Norwegian into 14^th in the Championship standings, battling with Oriol Oliver of the Gabriel SS24 KTM team to be the top non-factory racer in the MXGP class.

After the team agreed that we could show some footage of Thibault in the production of Episode Seven, we spoke to Kevin before the Liqui Moly MXGP of Germany about his return from injury to race this season, the events of France, and his hopes for the season ahead.  Some of the interview made it into the episode itself, but here is the full version of the chat with the likeable man from the north.

 

BTG (Cameraman): I’ve been looking forward to this, because I’ve watched your vlogs for years, they’ve really inspired me, to be honest!

KH: Yeah, I started in 2017 because I got on the [EMX125] podium in Kegums, for the first or second race of the year, I think. Yeah, and then Lisa [Leyland] was interviewing me and I couldn't get a word out. Like, I was struggling to talk so much, so I was like, I need to get comfortable in front of the camera somehow. So then I started like making these vlogs and that. It just continued.

 

BTG: Nice one, it inspired our cameraman, and now he’s filming you, it’s come full circle! Just before we talk about the race in France, tell us what happened for you during the break, like what you had going on for yourself in the time between Trentino and France, how you made use of the time, and how are you, health-wise, getting ready for France?

KH: Yeah, so in “the break”, it wasn't much of a break for me. We still had three or four French Championships, and yeah, I started to feel really good on the bike, and we made some changes, which was very positive, but then before the last French Championship I twisted my ankle, so I had a big pain for the French Championship race there. I twisted it on Thursday and could barely walk on it, and then did the French Championship. But I got through it, and then heading into last weekend in Lacapelle Marival, I was also slightly injured there. I had quite a lot of pain when I put the foot down in the ground and stuff, but I also got through that weekend. I would say the break was positive for us as we could gather our thoughts a bit. And make some good adjustments on the bike.

 

BTG: Obviously, coming to France, you had such a good result in the Qualifying Race at Ernée, your last GP in France, last year. So, obviously, it's a different circuit and different set of conditions and that sort of thing, but are you taking that positive energy in, or are you kind of annoyed at what happened after the Qualifying Race last year? What are your thoughts in that sort of area?

KH: Yeah, mentally it's a bit hard, that last year I had such a good season going, and then I got injured at the French GP. So, it was like kind of bittersweet going back to it, but I'm so used to racing in France, it didn't really affect me that much. For sure, I'm still thinking about it, like looking back to how great the results were last year. It's a bit of a shame I'm not really there yet this year, but I'm definitely working towards it.

 

BTG: Yeah, because you were like really pushing Febvre, obviously in his Championship year, so is that like something that kind of burns the motivation when you're training, when you're practicing, doing all the grind? Is that what you're kind of aiming for? Is that in your head a lot?  

KH:  For sure, I want to come back to that level. I still feel like I'm a little bit away from that still. After my injury, obviously, I missed a lot of races last year, and it's been a process during the winter to get the shoulder back to full strength, but yeah, I know that I'm capable of it from the races last year. So definitely, it's motivating me to get back to it, but at the same time, the road is a little bit longer than I thought. I thought I would be back in the mix a bit earlier this season, but still I'm struggling a bit, and I feel like I fall into that middle ground between the factory riders and the privateer riders. And that's not where I want to be. I want to definitely mix it up with the top guys, but looking back to last year, it's possible and I know it.

 

BTG: We didn't really get a chance to talk to you last year, of course, and we've been asking a lot of riders similar questions, just to get more on the story behind you. But the number 24, where did that come from? Why do you run it, and what does it mean to you?

KH: Yeah, it doesn't really mean much to me, the 24. It was just like a cool number growing up. One of my heroes from back home, like the local hero, Nikolai Lian, he was riding 24, the fast guy that was like five years older than me. He had 24, so I also stole it, and I've been running it ever since. I really like how it looks and kind of made it into my own number. I think he never rode outside of Norway, maybe. A local legend! It's cool because we still joke about it, we are still friends to this day. So, it's cool to have this number with a little bit of a meaning, but not that much of a special one.

 

BTG: Talking about France, in the Qualifying Race, you were 12th. So, not so far from the points, how was that for you?

KH: Yeah, last weekend being 12th in the Qualifying Race, I still had a good feeling, but I know that obviously top ten is where the points are at, and that's where I want to be. But the depth in MXGP this year is very high, so I was quite happy with my riding and finishing 12th last weekend there, but yeah, working towards getting in that top ten consistently is definitely what I'm aiming for.

 

BTG: Obviously, we have to talk about the first race. Our cameraman spoke to you between the races already, and you said in an interview with Lisa, that it was so difficult to concentrate on things after seeing Thibault on the ground. Please tell us how that race felt if you can. I know it's obviously difficult, painful, but yeah, can you tell us what was it like for you going around in that race because it must have been, just, so surreal for you?

KH: Yeah, I've been mentally processing it ever since the race, to be honest. And in that moment, you know, you never want to see anyone down on the ground, but you really don't want it to be somebody close to you. And yeah, we have been teammates now for a while and also trained last year, all of the season together. So, we are quite good buddies and quite close, I would say. So, when I saw him down on the ground there, that was all I could focus on, really. Mentally, it was hard because I was focusing more on that than riding, which is not good, also, but yeah, seeing one of your close friends down there, that's not really nice, and something I really had to process also afterwards.

 

BTG:  Yeah, for sure. We had that day there at the Château, and we noticed that Thibault likes a joke and he had the idea of scaring our colleague Maxime, which we’ll put in the episode. Has that always been a thing? Has he always been a bit of a joker?

KH:  Yeah, he's been always joking, like always trying to get some sh*ts and giggles out of us, and yeah, always like trying to make the situation light-hearted a bit, and try to joke it away, yeah.

 

BTG: So, the second race, you were good enough to talk to Lisa before the race, which I thought was pretty amazing. And then, you got yourself up into the top ten, so one of your best results of the year so far. So, that must have felt good. I mean, obviously it's a small thing after what happened to Thibault, but for yourself, it must have been nice to at least get a top ten, have something positive for the team out and everyone at that time?

MG: Yeah, for sure. In the break between races, it was a bit hard to process, but at the same time, you don't manage to really take it in and really believe in it yet, because I just heard like some small things, they didn't want to tell me everything, but that he was still there in the medical unit and they had to airlift him out after the race and stuff like that. So, obviously, going into the second moto, I was still thinking a lot on it, and especially with the start crashes, also, like I felt like everything was just very chaotic that day, but yeah I'm happy in a way that I managed to get over it and tried to just focus on my race, even though it was definitely hard to do. And I felt like in the opening laps of the race it was easier, because then it's hectic, you try to just fight for your position and things like this. But then towards the back end of the moto, when you start to get tired and you start to relax a bit more, and actually then the thoughts are coming more. I felt like that last ten minutes of the race again, I couldn't focus much, and I was more or less thinking about this section every time I passed. Like, I can't believe that he went down so hard there. And yeah, it's wild how many different things you can think about during one race in the end.

 

BTG: Yeah, absolutely. For the rest of the year now, you said to us before we started filming, that Latvia is coming up, and it’s not that far from Norway? So, you're going back home to Norway, why is that, and, what is your plan for the rest of the year, basically?

KH: Yeah, I'm based in the south of France, where it's really hot now, moving forward, and the tracks are getting harder and harder. So, I felt like I needed a small change from the last couple of seasons. And together with the team, they were kind enough to allow me to take a bike back home. So, from now on, I will be able to train a bit more back home and get back to the tracks that I grew up on, which I haven't been able to ride these last couple of years.  And hopefully, that also gives me a bit of motivation and will make my training between the races a bit more fun. I can then hang out with some friends on my days off and things like this. So yeah, I’m really thankful for the team to allow me to do that, because it's also not so easy for them, to just give me a bike and parts and all this, but yeah, they also believe that it could be good for me to do.

 

BTG: Brilliant. Finally, of course a big part of this episode will be sending a message to Thibault that we’re all thinking of him and wishing him well, is there anything you’d like to say, as part of that message?

KH:  I know Thibault now from the last two years, he's a great person and really down to earth, I feel like, and a really heart-felt guy. He always wants the best for everybody around. And yeah, it's hard to go through this, but I know that he's very strong, and I hope that he can stay positive and motivated through this and know that we are all behind him in the paddock, and I think all of us want to see him have his best life. Yeah, I wish him all the best. He's such a good guy, so it's the worst thing to see him fighting through this, but I'm sure that he will come out in a good way.

 

Epilogue: The tough Norwegian has shown immense strength of character since the events of Lacapelle-Marival, scoring his first top ten overall results of the season in both Germany and Latvia, with eighth overall at Teutschenthal and ninth at Kegums.  He has moved past Oliver into 13^th in the Championship, the highest-placed rider outside of the factory teams. He has scored some of his best MXGP results in Italy, so is looking forward to Montevarchi next weekend. 

It goes without saying that everyone on the Behind The Gate team was hit hard by the news of Thibault’s injuries, and we can only thank the Honda Motoblouz SR Motul squad for allowing us to continue making the episode and show Thibault and his fun-loving character as much as we could.  I am personally massively proud of how the team pulled together to make the episode, especially Joe Haskayne, who filmed with Kevin over the weekend and edited the segment that featured Monsieur Benistant. 

Watch BTG Episode Seven, “Back to Business” also on YouTube!

Stay strong, TB9.