How did you become a mechanic?

I come from a really small town in Norway on the border to Sweden. I grew up in a farm, worked there a lot, learn in a early age how to work. My older brother got a dirt bike when he was fifteen. The following summer I bought one when I was eight. Then I learnt quick that when you use a dirt bike you have to work on it. On the only way to do it was to do it myself. I was riding in the farm just for fun, then I went to the track for training and start racing. I raced from 12 to 14. When I was 14 I raced a full year, it was my first serious year of racing and I ended up getting 3rd. I continue racing but I knew it was hard to make good money as a racer. I raced until 2006 and then I got the mononucleosis, I was sick for 10 months ! While I was sick I started working as a mechanic for some riders and I went to the European Championship and some GP’s with them. I really liked it but I was kind of tired of Europe. Belgium, Spain, France…I really wanted to come to America. I didn’t know anybody here so I thought the best thing to do was going to MMI, the same school Derik went to. So I prepared my bag pack and I went there in October 2007. And now I’m still in America, I’ve just went back home some time to see my family and do my visa. I had good results at school and there was an internship with a private team, so I was helped them in 2008 in Pheonix and the following weekend they set me up with Eric Sorby, so I worked with him until he retire in Daytona the same year. I was really busy at school because while I was with Sorby the weekend I was at school during the week. So I finished school and then I went back to Norway for a couple of weeks. Then I came back and got a job in the same team. I drove the motor home to all the Nationals. Eric Sorby was actually working for MotoConcepts at this time and he talked to Steve Lamson and I started working for MotoConcepts in Washougal in 2009, and I’ve been here ever since. With MotoConcepts I started working for Marianna Balbi. In 2010 I was following the Girl’s program, working with Vicki Golden and Marianna Balbi. I did both race bikes and practice bikes and everything. This year I went to the Supercross as a spare mechanic. And then the Pourcel’s deal ended up so I worked for him just for 2 races so now I’m working for Ben LaMay. He’s a good kid. My career hasn’t been that long over here so I didn’t have many riders.

What is the race day schedule?

We get up at 5:30 in the morning. We usually leave to the track about between 6 and 6:30 depending on how long it is from the hotel to the track. We try to be there before 7. We take our spare wheels out of the truck, our toolboxes, our bikes… The riders’ meeting is at 7:50. The first practice is usually around 8:30 so everything has to be ready. We get our bag pack ready, spare gloves, goggles, tools, water, towels, get everything ready, get your radio ready, everything has to be ready for the first practice. The first practice lasts 15 minutes. If it rains, you have to wash between first practice and time practice, and it’s really tight. Usually we have enough time if the rider wants to change anything on a bike about settings, suspensions, engine… David does a really good job, giving advices to the riders, makes sure they are happy with the bike… Then we go to the time practice. Usually the track is a little bit slower but it depends on the weather. After the second practice no matter what you wash the bike. You clean everything, change the air filter, make your bike look good for the first moto. Obviously you double check everything , I like to start on the front and check everything on my way back. I check tire pressure, change wheels usually, put fresh tire for the first moto. Then I prepare my bag pack, take water, umbrella, radio, pit board, and when everything is ready I go to the starting line. We stay here 30 minutes before the start. Then riders come and picked their gate. Riders and mechanic prepare the rider’s line. It’s different from Europe because in Europe we are not allowed to go on the line. Then first moto starts. I go to the mechanic area and do the pit boarding. When it’s finished we go back to the truck and wash the bike, and do same thing you did before the first moto again. Sometimes we make changes on the bike with riders because the track changes a lot between the first and the second moto. It’s really hectic between first and second moto. If it rains you don’t have much time at all. I want to wash it quick but I want to wash it good. I usually don’t get time to eat, I’m just wide opened all time to get everything ready. Then it is the second moto, it’s the same as the first moto. After the race we go back to the truck, and try to start to prepare it to be torn down next week. And as soon as we are finished with bikes we start tearing down the semi-truck. It depends on how many people we are but if it’s only Brent, Derik, Kevin and me it takes 2 hours or 2 hours and a half.

What moment is the most stressful for you?

I’m usually the most stressed between motos, especially if it’s raining, because muddy races are really difficult for mechanics. Between motos why don’t have much time and we have a lot to do so it’s stressful to work in the hurry like that.

How is it going with the MotoConcepts team?

The team this year is really good. David obviously made lots of changes when he gets here. He improved the professionalism of the team, what he knows as a rider, a manager and a tester is really high. Me and Derik and Brent, we got the same mind when we come to work. We don’t really care how many hours it gets, we just do our job until everything is done. No one really gives up, it’s really good when people in a team works good and don’t want to go home when they are tired even if the work is not done yet. And Mike owns the team, he has a different perception of the sport. For mechanics, our perception of this sport is the race only. We just want to race. And Mike has a little bit different one to where he can advertise his products. I mean, for him, that’s why he’s here. He just want to do it for fun and advertise his products, and I can completely understand that. Sometimes we have to do what he wants us to do as far as our products are concerned as well. So we try to do that as best as we can and basically that’s only what we can do, we just help the team running like Mike wants. But it works good and Mike is a nice guy, he takes care of us, he took us to his lake house, he takes us to team diner… The team is working really good together I think and it’s good we all are people who really want to work.

How do you react when your bike brakes during a race?

It’s definitely not fun but every mechanic is going to experience it because things always happen. You don’t know if it’s your fault or the mechanical fault but if it’s your fault you really feel bad. You put your all life into that bike because you work on it basically 80 hours a week and you really don’t want anything wrong to go into it. It’s not a good feeling when something wrong happen.

How do you deal with the fact that media and spectators are more focused on the riders and not on the mechanics?

It’s kind of a shame, I think, that the riders get so much media, they got so much attention and they always say that they work so much their all life and don’t have a life next to it, but if you think about it, their day is done at 4 o’clock. They go training in the morning and then go to the gym and they are done. They have a lot of free time actually to enjoy their family life, enjoy friends, enjoy going to the movies or something like that, but we don’t. For us it’s wide open we work 12 hours a day and only have Sunday off. What they get paid to do and what we get paid to do is not really fair. But, we can’t really compare the two but amount is still a lot different. If you look at other sport like golf, and see how much publicity the caddies get just by carrying the clubs…They got their own caddies and their own sponsors ! And they get paid a lot of money just to carry clubs ! We work more than our riders and don’t get any attention. People just look at the bike and it’s shiny, and if it’s not shiny they say you’re a horrible mechanic. But if you want to be a mechanic you just have to deal with and no one forced us to be here. It’s our choice. If we don’t want to do it we can just leave. It’s just a little bit frustrating and it would be great if we could get more attention.

What do you think about the differences between GPs in Europe and Outdoors in America?

I really like the GP’s and the racing in Europe because I think you have more time. Over here it’s really stressful, it’s only one race day, and you have a lot to do in just one day. In Europe you have more time to do your job and then you can hang out with your friends or talk to the riders. What I don’t like is the weather, because every 2 weeks it rains ! Here also, is different because they put a lot of show in our sport. Like in Supercross, with fireworks, opening ceremonies and national song… In Europe it’s more racing. Back there you don’t really have a home because you can never go back home, you live in the semi-truck and it’s kind of fun for a while, I guess, but not your whole life. For me I really like to travel and one of the biggest reason I decided to do this job is because I like to travel and see new places. And the reality is that I get paid to travel, I work a lot but in the end I get paid to travel and not many people can actually do that. I consider myself lucky to do it !