Behind The Gate – The Interviews: Steve Dixon & Kay Karssemakers

The Behind The Gate documentary series, which is produced after every GP and aired immediately on MXGP-TV.com, continued with Episode Five, “Dogfight”, which focused on the MXGP of Sardegna.  As well as following the MRT Racing Team Beta squad, whose interviews we have posted here, we also focussed on the Dixon Racing Team Kawasaki outfit, who run a solitary MX2 rider in the form of Dutch speedster Kay Karssemakers, who turns 22 years old in June and is starting to run consistently higher than he has in the past. 

We interviewed both the team manager Steve Dixon and Kay himself at the MXGP of Trentino, after Kay scored a career-best seventh in a Qualifying Race at Riola Sardo, he then delivered his best ever overall GP result with 8-7 finishes on Sunday for seventh overall.  His best ever race finish still stands from 2022, when he took a sixth in race two of the MXGP of Indonesia, a race with a seriously depleted entry list due to a heap of injuries that year, but for sure Kay is currently enjoying his best GP season to date after several difficult team situations affected his 2025 season.  He left Sardegna with a tenth place Championship position, and the wind well and truly in his sails.

As always, these interviews have to be edited to fit within a 26-minute programme, but here is the full transcript of what both Steve and Kay said to the Behind The Gate cameras.

 

Steve Dixon

BTG: Hi Steve, thanks for joining us again in the studio.  Your operation seems to be a little stripped back this year, with a single MX2 rider in the World Championships as well as a rider [Taylor Hammal] in the UK on a 450.  How are you looking at things from your position?

SD: Yeah, I mean, this year has sort of been a bit of a rebuilding year because the last few years we've had a few injuries, with Jack Chambers and Bobby Bruce, for example. You know, with Bobby we were hoping that he would come through, win the EMX and then carry on for another year with MX2, but obviously that didn't go right. We like to try to support the British riders, we're one of the only British teams. It didn't happen, that's the nature of the sport.

We had an option of Kay last year, so we took that. We did all the fly-away races and we took an instant liking to his attitude, and the way he could ride, and the potential. He'd had a few years of bad luck with teams, so yeah, the fit was right. So, when we came into this year... Yeah, it was a bit hard. The budgets are always going up, and we didn't get a main sponsor. We cut back, put our money into practicing with George, who is our mechanic in Belgium. He's been with us 20 years and did the practicing with Kay, and made sure the winter was good with him. I started being a mechanic again, and then Kawasaki upped our budget after some good results with Kay, sort of getting into the top ten, and yeah now we sort of go again in this next period after Trentino, we've got five weeks coming up so we hope to, sort of, take another step. As people probably know, I've been in this game, what, 37 years now, this season? You have to deal with highs and lows, and you have to find the way to be sustainable, to grow and you know, deplete to whatever sort of budget you have, and that will give you longevity, which is the name of the game for me, because it's still my passion.

Having one rider in the GPs, if you have one rider that's going good, it still takes a lot of attention. And then Taylor's doing a good job in the British, which covers that. And then Kay's also doing the Dutch Masters, which covers, you know, the Benelux countries. So, for Kawasaki, I think we're hitting the spots and yeah, we hope to keep climbing up the table and attack the factory teams. I know what's required. I know what we have to do. And, you know, we've done it before and we're comfortable with all that. So yeah, we're happy at the moment. And Kay, yeah, he's a really nice kid.

 

BTG:  Do you get much help from the factory teams, like do you have much to do with Antti Pyrhonen’s squad? Any sort of communication between the two there? Or do you think, if it works for you, do they get to know about it, and vice versa?

SD: No, I mean, we're a pretty individual team. We have a good association with Cosworth, although they're extremely busy with a lot of car engine work, and we're waiting on some parts, so we can't really make our full package until this next period. Luckily, the Kawasaki is a good base and we've been pretty much riding a stock engine with you know, accessories on it, which is unlike me, and I've sort of refrained from working on it more until we have, you know, the complete package. And yeah, I mean, from a factory side of it, we don't really have a relationship, apart from hello and goodbye and shake hands with Antti's team. You know, they are their own team with the factory and they report back and we're quite an individual team. Luckily, I'm sort of an engineer by trade and we can do a huge amount of work to our bikes, just within our workshop, which has been there 25 years now, it's well equipped. So yeah, we keep going and we just rely on ourselves, and that's all you can do. Kawasaki have always been good. It's like our 12th year with them now, so it's good.

 

BTG: With Kay, you had a good result in Switzerland with eighth overall, that matched his career best, and then he put in his best Qualifying Race on the Saturday. Can you sum up how well he was going in Switzerland, and then how good the qualifying race was, befoe we talk about the main races in Sardegna?

SD: We set out this season to build slowly, top 15s and then top 10s, and we sort of achieved those straight away, straight into the top 10s. And then in Switzerland, we had three good results for eighth overall. We were really happy with that, because it's not a track that Kay's really focussed on. So, we were looking forward to coming into Sardinia, but that's for Kay's riding. However, from a bike point of view, it's like, oh dear, it's very hard on the bike there. I was dreading it a little bit because it's very hard, it's very deep and anything can go wrong.

Yeah, we came into that and we were surprised with a fantastic qualifying result. And then backed up by two great rides in races one and two. And from our side of it, the bike, we didn't lose any water, we didn't have any issues. And I put that down to Kay being a sand rider, and us being used to British riders and riders that aren't natural in the sand, because Kay is our first rider from The Netherlands. So, we were used to riders that can't really ride sand as good as possible. And that helps the bike massively. It's the difference between a good ride and a good finish, and a good ride and a DNF because they're heavy on the clutch, they're in the wrong gear, they don't use the bumps, they don't float around. And I would say that's the biggest difference. And we were shocked by that, you know, elated with his result and he was as well. It's his best result and it was good that we had it together, yeah. I'm really happy.

 

BTG: So it made that much of a difference to you, then, how Kay rides the sand as just this natural skill that he’s built up from being a young kid in the Netherlands, yeah?

SD: Yeah, I think it's important, you know, because people go into the sand, and they're like, “the bike's rubbish” and, you know, burning clutches out and this and that. “Oh, the bike's crap, it's overheating,” but, you know, it's the rider. You know, we didn't do anything special. I always test the bike without nets on the radiators, because anything you put in front of the radiator is going to block it. So, the sand was not doing anything to the radiator, so I didn't run nets. We ran normal coolant. We didn't have to put water in it, which allows you to go longer, but it makes the engine temperature go up, so when it stops, it stops, sort of thing!  You know, that was a relief. That was the biggest relief. You know, because even like, Valin had a couple of issues, and stuff like that. It's not wishing bad on anyone. It's just the difference. It's the first time, you know, if we'd come there with, Jack or Bobby like last year, it would have been burnt out clutches, engines got hot, DNF because everything's gone wrong.

 

BTG: Do you see the data, the gears they're pulling, do you go into that side of it? Do you see on the data that he's physically pulling a gear higher than the likes of Jack or Bobby did?

SD: Yeah, they're just using their momentum. I always remember, it's one of my stories, I used to do Kenneth Gunderson's engine, when Brian Jorgensen was riding, we were the factory Yamaha team and I did both engines, but you know Gundersen had the same as Jorgensen, and Gundersen was like five seconds a lap quicker! So, Brian's like, I don't think he knew I was doing the bikes, but I'm telling you that bike is the same as yours. You know, if anything, yours is better! Anyway, we then went out and spent a whole day doing figure of eights on a flat piece of sand, so Brian's style was to come in fast, brake, accelerate out. And then Gunderson was like in a bit slower, precise, and then out. So basically, Brian comes in, dumps a clutch, accelerates, then it just digs a hole! So the RPMs go up, and when you go to pull the next gear you haven't got momentum. You've got RPMs but then that drops because the next gear has to try to pull you out of the hole that the high RPM has dug!

You've seen them in the sand before, they rev the bike and it sinks and they can just park it, and that's what it does out of a corner. If you don't come in and keep momentum, hook the next gear, get over the suspension, so you're driving over the bumps rather than holding the back down, then you're staying on top of the sand rather than digging. And they are the things that Jeffrey and people like that do. It's natural. They know the braking point, they know the grip, and they know how to ride. Teams get such a hard time with engines and that because they can't ride, you know, because people can't ride the sand. I mean, I remember Max Anstie having issues as well, in Lommel with the GP that he had, but he won! Well, I mean, he can ride sand. We won Lommel two years in a row. First in the world, anywhere, even America, we were the first to win a major competition on the 2014 model YZF250. You know, it was phenomenal once we got it going.  We’ve always worked hard, as we do with Kay, to make sure we give the rider the best that we can, and for the most part our relationships with the riders, like Zach Osborne and Max, have always been good.

 

Kay Karssemakers

BTG: First thing to ask you, Kay, if I can, because obviously we didn't really catch up last year. You had issues with a team and then you joined Steve's team. How did it come about that you joined Steve's team, doing those GPs at the end of last year, and how did you feel coming into 2026?  

KK: Yeah, for sure, I was really grateful to get the opportunity last year when I had no team, and we were doing the races with a sponsor, Abrex Logistics, and then I got a call from Steve, if I was interested to do a British round at Preston Docks. I just took it and went there, and not even rode the bike once! I went straight into the race and finished two times second behind De Wolf. That was really good, for the first time seeing each other and speaking with each other in real life. From then on, we kept contact and spoke a little bit about some things, and then he asked me if I wanted to do a few races for him in the GPs. So then yeah, I finished the season for him and actually, yeah, he's a really good guy. He wanted to make some steps together because I also needed it. And yeah, so we made the deal for the 2026 season. And yeah, I'm really happy that I'm there right now.

 

BTG: Can you tell us please, how did you feel after the result in Switzerland, how pleased were you with that, at a track that, as Steve said, is not your best kind of track? And then you had such a good Qualifying Race in Sardegna as well, so you must have felt good coming into the Sunday of the GP there?

KK: I was feeling good, feeling fit, and we are still making steps every week, I think, with the bike and stuff. We are still improving, so it's good to see…. What do I have to say then? (Laughs)   

 

BTG: No, no, no, that's fine! You can literally say whatever you want, it's not a script!  I wondered, did you know that it was your best Qualifying Race result on the Saturday?

KK:  Actually, not when I finished the line. I didn't know it was my best Qualifying result. But yeah, for sure when I saw the team and stuff, they said, yeah, you finished seventh. So, yeah, for sure it was nice to be really between the factory boys in the start for the first two races. So, no, it was nice.

 

BTG:  And then, yeah, the GP Sunday itself, like, you're battling right up there in the top ten, like you say, right amongst the factory guys. So, were you feeling comfortable? Was it a real push, that pace for you? Or how intense was it compared to where you have been before?

KK:  The first race, I got a really good first turn and also the second turn I did make some passes straight away. So, I was up there and I think I was sixth. And actually, the first two laps I was really pushing to even pass for fifth and fourth. And then the gap went a little bit bigger and I stayed in sixth for like 20 minutes or something. I struggled a little bit with arm pump. So I had to let pass two guys, the factory Triumph guys. So, I finished in eighth.

Then the second race, I got a really good first turn. I think I was in fourth or fifth. And then the second turn, Farres pushed me almost off track, so I went out of balance. I had to come back from, I don't know, 15th or 16th. And then the beginning of the race wasn't good. I just struggled a little bit with the track, and then, like after 10 or 15 minutes, I really found the flow and, I saw on the pit board that I was doing really good laps. So, yeah, that felt good. I kept fighting really till the end, and in the last four laps I think, I even passed three other guys, so to come back to seventh was a really good feeling, so now I'm really happy with that.

 

BTG: It's got to be nice to get the same race result from a good start and then from fighting back.

Joe Haskayne, Cameraman: When you actually watch the starts, in the first race you got pinched coming down the start, so you actually went into the first turn not that great. But you'll see on Camden McLennan's GoPro, you see that you come up the inside both times. You just went right up from like, 18th, 20th to be in the top 10. Both starts!

 

BTG: Yeah, you definitely come up the inside, then Valin pushed into the berm, didn’t he?

KK: Yeah, that was in the second turn. Yeah, second turn. But the second race, I was really good out of the first turn. I think I was in fourth or fifth. And then I almost passed Farres into the second turn, but he saw me, so he went to the bank, to the right, to push me almost onto the bank of the corner.

 

BTG: So you have another year and a half now, obviously this year and next year in MX2, so are you starting to feel like this is now your time to get in the shop window for the MXGP class? Do you feel that you're getting towards that sort of age where a 450 is going to have to be what you race?

KK: Not yet really, I just wanted to get a good steady year, and we are currently on a good path. We are consistent and we are still making steps, race by race. That's really nice and for sure I want to build towards the 450 class. That's for sure the main goal, to be also up there, or in there, so yeah for sure that's the plan.

 

BTG: Obviously, being Dutch you know that you will be strong on sandy circuits like Sardegna, so are your expectations a little lower coming to a place like Trentino this weekend, or any other hard pack circuits throughout the calendar?

KK: Well, not really, it's not like that I feel, for now this weekend that I'm not gonna really be up there, because I think if you see Switzerland, I also did a really, really good weekend. And even the last few laps in the second race, I put in some really good laps, like the lap times were really, really good and even got a purple sector. And that was really hard pack. So, I think I'm good on both, but for sure, the sand feels like home.

 

BTG: Steve mentioned to us that it's the first time he's had a Dutch rider, and that he was surprised at how easy you were on the engines. Do you put that down to the fact that you’ve grown up in the sand, you know instinctively how to get the best out of it compared to riders from outside of the Netherlands?

KK: I think It's not really a difference in riding the sand between a Dutch rider or a French rider or something. They are also based in Belgium, so they see a lot of sand in Holland and Belgium. But I think it's just from a few years back that I'm always used to the sand. I think we worked during the winter, and even last year really, also about my technique in the sand to being more smooth and lighter on the bike and stuff, so I think we did also a good job on that.  I'm also working with George from a technical touch, so we are discussing everything, what's the best for me and what I feel the best with. So, it's really good to have him also on the side of me.

 

BTG: Nice one. Just the final thing to ask you, we’re trying to ask a lot of the riders as well, just for information in general, where does your number come from? Why is the number 33 your standard choice, for some time now?

KK:  I always rode with number 22, and then one year when I went from 85cc to 125cc, there was an Italian guy I think who was using the 22, so I had to get another number. I just saw 33 and I think it looked quite nice, a bit similar to 22. So, I just go for that one.

 

BTG: Of course, and in Dutch the number 2 sounds like 3, yeah?

KK: That's right. The Dutch for 2 is twee, so three-three sounds like two-two in Dutch. Just like my old number!

BTG: Brilliant, well thank you for talking to us and all the best for the season!

 

Epilogue: Kay kept his consistency with more good points scoring at the MXGP of Trentino, with ninth in the Qualifying Race, and eighth overall with 9-8 finishes on Sunnday.  He kept tenth in the series there by a point from Julius Mikula, but France was not as kind to him as he took no points across the weekend.  He is now 11^th in the Championship, 16 points behind Mikula, but keen to strike back in Germany!