To have this kid racing in europe no matter how short it might be is good for the sport and hopefully will prepare Alessi for yet another assault on winning an AMA number one plate.

Call it what you will, but Alessi has never really been on the lucky end of the championship picture. Since turning pro five years ago in 2004 it’s been one thing or another that has kept the older of the Alessi brothers from picking up an AMA number one plate.

Second place isn’t a problem, he’s done that enough times, but walking around with a number one plate in his hand is something he hasn’t had since his hugely successful amateur days.

Alessi has never been somebody who follows the course of other American racers. Led by his father Tony and along with brother Jeff he has been cast as a problem rider in previous seasons.

Despite being an easy going guy who just wants to race Alessi has been seen in the past by the American media as a wacko, a young man with strange ideals. I don’t know Mike Alessi, but every time I talk to the kid I get a good picture of him, just a kid who wants to reach the highest point of his talent and win championships.

 Alessi isn’t your regular American racer, he doesn’t really enjoy Supercross and has in the last five or so years failed to impress in the AMA Supercross Championships. Be it from injury or lack of interested the indoor stuff just isn’t his cup of tea.

Outdoors, now that is another story. Alessi's rise through the amateur ranks began at age six when he won his first National Championship at Loretta Lynn's in Nashville, Tennessee.

We caught up with Mike at the MXoN a couple of months ago and penned this story for MotoX in England. That issue is now off the shelves so take a look here on MXlarge what the American kid had to say.

Q: Mike, I guess had you not been injured this year you would have been in the American team for the MXoN. How disappointing is that for you?

Alessi: The Motocross of Nations was the biggest race the season, the track was amazing as good or better than anything I have ever ridden. I like it rougher, in my situation I ride better in that type of circuit and the fans are so fantastic, so much passion and it’s a fabulous to be around an event like that. I really would have loved to have ridden that event. The fans really appreciate the riders in Europe.

Q: What is your call on the European riders?

Alessi: Personally I think the GP riders are really good, I am super impressed with Marvin Musquin and also Cairoli, for the most part he tries hard and he has the country supporting him.

Q: What about racing against Cairoli in the opening three rounds of the World Motocross Championship. What is your goal there?

Alessi: I will go the Grand Prix and do my best, I am not saying I am going to win; the main goal is to be ready for the AMA Outdoors in May, not the Grand Prix’s in April, and I don’t need to be 100% in February or April. I need the suspension and motor good for the Nationals.

Q: You have ridden more in Europe than just about any other American rider in recent years. Rounds of the World Motocross Championship and many European Supercross races. Why do you come to Europe so often?

Alessi: When I was riding for KTM a couple of years ago I had to come to Europe a few times to race and it was just like riding back home in America. I never looked at it like it’s a different country; I looked at it like I was just riding in America. We just go to another race and do the best we can.

Q: How would you describe

Mike Alessi? Alessi: I am a pretty easy going guy; I don’t let things bother me, as you said I just go with the flow. I don’t let too many things get in my way, things that bother me. I take the good with the bad.

Q: Tell us about your 2009 season, because it was a chance lost wasn’t it?

Alessi: It was frustrating, I started the season second (behind Villopoto) and then went to Hangtown and won both motos and the next week in Texas and won both moto and easily. I figured the season was going to plan and it was going to snowball. I was hoping to win the championship, but then I crashed and broken my knee. I took the whole summer off and go healthy again. Now I am with KTM and looking forward to getting that championship.

Q: But you tried to come back with your broken knee didn’t you?

Alessi: I came back and it was a risky thing to do, but I felt like I needed to give myself a chance to win that championship, I didn’t want to go and say later in life that I didn’t give it everything. I felt like it wasn’t over and I just needed to try and race and see what happened. If I had gotten through Colorado and not hurt myself again, scored some points, then I think I still could have won the championship.

Q: How do you work through missing a championship like that. It was yours more or less?

Alessi: It is behind us now and in the past and I don’t live in the past and I just want to get ready for the Grand Prix’s in 2010 and also some of those early pre-season races. I will come to Italy and do Mantova and then Valence. I will then be there for the first three GP’s in Italy, Bulgaria and Turkey. Then I head back and try and get ready for the Nationals.

Q: How about working with KTM again. How will your preparation be for the AMA Nationals?

Alessi: It’s going to be good, it gives me a lot of time to get ready and be 100% ready for the outdoor season in America. I will ride with Cairoli a little before the season starts, so that will be good, it will give me an idea how my speed is. I look forward to riding with him.

Q: How does the Motocross public look at you now. Have they forgotten some of the things you did as a kid?

Alessi: The fans are going to see the new Mike Alessi, the fans are not looking at the old Mike Alessi, I was a kid and I made some mistakes, but now I am an adult, and I am happy about that. The fans in Europe are huge Mike Alessi fans, I just race to win every time I go out and it doesn’t matter who is in my way.

Q: What else will you do in the off-season. Any International Supercross races?

Alessi: I had a plan to race in Australia in the winter and also some Supercross in England, but I want my body and bike 100%, I want everything on line that we are really fine tuned and I am not ready to race Supercross yet.

Q: Next year’s AMA Nationals is going to be hard work. Villopoto, Townley, Dungey, Reed. You might have missed your chance?

 Alessi: There are always going to be fast guys, but I am not focusing on those other guys, I am focusing on Mike Alessi and getting the bike 100%, it needs to be fast and the suspension needs to be good and my body needs to be good.

Q: Did you have a hero growing up?

Alessi: I always looked up to David Bailey, I idolized him my whole career, and he made everything look so easy. I didn’t go to any of the races after I got hurt.

Q: How about that big crash you had in 2008, did you watch in on internet, do you think about that much?

Alessi: I saw it and the first thing I thought (if it wasn’t me and I didn’t know) was that that person is probably dead. If I didn’t know it was me I would have thought he was dead , it was gruesome and personally I put it behind me and don’t think about it anymore. Anything can happen in the sport and it’s a risk for sure.

 Q: What about racing a full Grand Prix season?

Alessi: That is something I would look at doing later in my career, but right now I just want to race in America. Mike Alessi is a guy who is looking for a new start and a chance and will be ready to go. The 350 I rode in October and I love it, it’s like a 250F but with a 450 moto. A lot of guys are getting hurt on the 450 and I think the 350 is the way to go. I mean next year is going to be big for me, signing with Red Bull KTM, the new KTM 350cc with the linkage and electric start, I think it’s going to be awesome. I am looking forward to a news start and next year.