Interview with Rob Vennegoor, Team Manager at RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki
Your team is doing very well in the 300cc World Championship ( Supersport ). Can you carry that momentum over to the IDM?
“I think so. We have mechanics from the World Championship team who are working here as well. All the guys are highly motivated. It’s also good for our IDM riders because they can see that things are going well in the World Championship. We’re bringing the know-how from the World Championship here, too. With our motorcycles, we’re performing at a high level.”
Keyword: high level. You’ve raised the bar once again compared to last year. What changes have you made within the team?
“We now have a solid secondary structure in place with Bernd Klockmann and two other mechanics. They come from the Buchner Motorsport team. Bernd Klockmann is constantly at the SKM workshop—that is, at my teammate Frank Krekeler’s shop. He also prepared Marc Buchner’s IDM motorcycles there. With this new setup, we’ve created a second, separate team that can operate independently of Frank and me. When we’re competing in the World Championship—and with a normal schedule, we would have had scheduling conflicts—we can count on this arrangement. We no longer have to swap personnel, and we now also have a data engineer and a chassis engineer on the IDM team. So: Everything’s running smoothly.”
Is there also a riding coach?
“We have Robert Schotman. He just couldn’t be there in Assen.”
Colin Velthuizen was the team’s second-best rider last year, behind the impressively strong Walid Khan. He seemed pretty frustrated at the end. This year, he’ll be fighting for the title. How are you going to help him bounce back?
“Colin needs to stay calm. Last year, Walid Khan joined the team like a wild card. He’s a unique person and a top talent. Then he won a few races. Until then, Colin had been the team’s unofficial number one, and then a faster rider came along. Of course, you have to be able to cope with that and handle it mentally. I think Colin is handling it well now. With Luca de Vleeschauwer, he has a strong second driver by his side.”
What can we expect from Jorke Erwig, the junior on the team?
“We’re not putting any pressure on him. He’s only 14 years old, so he’s still a very young guy. But he’s a really nice guy with a nice family. That’s always important, so that you can talk openly about everything with each other. He’s talented. He shows that when you compare his lap times at Assen. He started with lap times of two minutes. Then they dropped to 1:54. For him—coming from the 125cc Suzuki in the NL Open and still racing on the junior track—that’s a strong performance. If Jorke keeps developing like this, he could be a strong contender for the podium in one or two years.”
How do you discover a talent like Jorke Erwig?
“Frank Krekeler from SKM has known the family for quite some time because he was the one who prepared the Suzuki. I myself have already discovered a few Dutch talents who race here in the lower classes. And I’ve already got my eye on another one who might be able to race with us here next year.”
How are things going in the IDM?
“Our goal is to compete for the championship. We have some good riders. Colin Velthuizen and Luca de Vleeschauwer are consistent podium finishers. Marvin Siebdrath is also performing well. The COVID-19 situation has been a problem for our preparations, but we’ve still managed to test several times. We’ve invested a lot in technology and built new engines. I’ve been in the IDM for a long time and started in 2005 with David Johnson. The veterans are still here. That also says something about the championship and shows that it has a good format.”
What can we expect from the IDM Supersport 300 this year?
“It’s all very close. Yamaha is doing very well. The KTMs are gaining momentum, as is Australian rider Harry Khouri on the Kawasaki. With the Kawasaki package, we can also finish in the top three.”
What are your plans beyond this season?
“We have a very good partnership with Kawasaki Germany and Kawasaki Europe. We’re very grateful for that and already have plans to race together in the 600cc class next year. With our IDM team, we’ve created a springboard for young riders who want to move up to the World Championship. If things go well for Colin Velthuizen and Luca de Vleeschauwer, they’ll race in the 300cc World Championship in 2021 or move up to the IDM Supersport 600 class. I think this is a very good project, and Kawasaki is fully behind it.”