Catching Up With…Steve Boniface

bayodome

• January 29 2009
• 2,088 views
• 9 comments

At Anaheim II, we came across French rider, Steve Boniface, underneath the Seaspan/ Troy Lee Designs/ Honda rig.  The no. 141 now sits in 20th place in the Supercross class standings (although he has only been in half of the main events so far) and he took a few minutes to speak with us about how his unexpected sponsorship came about.

So how is the bike?  I see that you are riding a 2008 CRF450.

The bike is really good.  I’m riding an ’08 model.   At the beginning I was on my own and was going to do the first few races by myself.  I did not feel very comfortable riding the ’09 when I tried it, so it was easier for me to jump back on the ’08, a bike I knew, and knew what it can do, so that is the main reason why I went back to the ’08.

How did you end up back in the States?  I recall this summer you started doing some of the GPs and then I stopped seeing your name after you took over Mike Brown’s ride when he left that series.

So after the first two outdoor Nationals, I already committed to doing the French GP for a French team, so I kept my word to do that and ended up doing pretty good there.  Then I got a ride with the Honda CAS team for the remainder of the season, but after four GPs they were not paying me like they were supposed to, so we stopped the deal.  Since then I have been back in the U.S. and my plan was to do some Supercross at the beginning of the year.  Living in California it’s easy to do the West Coast rounds so my plan was to do that in the 450 class, and then three days before Anaheim I, I got a phone call from Troy told me he was looking for a rider since (Jimmy) Albertson got injured.  The next day we talked and, it being really close to the first race, I wasn’t ready to jump back onto the 250F.  So I told him that maybe we could do something in the 450 class and he could help me out since he had one spot open.  That’s how we ended up doing this together.

Are you contracted to do the entire series or just the West Coast?

Actually we just have a friendly agreement.  They will help me out in the 450 class and I think it’s good for both of us.  Right now it’s just for the West Coast rounds, so here and the next three, and we’ll se how it goes.  Perhaps I can find something good to finish the series, and go back East with a good team, if not then I do not know what I’m going to do.

Last summer you really surprised a lot of people with some great finishes outdoors, although it should not have been too shocking as you have been a top name for a while.  Are you again going to do the Nationals or do you already have a deal for the World GPs?

I do not have anything going on right now.  Like I said, maybe I will try to do these six Supercrosses on the West Coast; try to find something to finish the season with a good team.  If not that, then I will just start training and getting ready for outdoors like I did last year with some more riding and be more prepared than the other guys.  Hopefully I will find something good with a good team.  I am hoping to do again what I did last year outdoors. I feel like I can be up there again or even better.