The Behind The Gate documentary series, which is produced after every GP and aired immediately on MXGP-TV.com, continued with Episode Six, “Making The Break”, which focused on the MXGP of Trentino, before the five-week break in the schedule prior to the MXGP of France.

Infront Moto Racing - Ben Rumbold Interview

We went behind the scenes with Venrooy KTM Racing, and their MX2 rookie Noel Zanocz, who was even treated to a fine dining experience at the Arciduca Ristorante in Arco with his girlfriend Paula, which the teenager enjoyed, maybe a little too much! It all made for great content for the programme.

We interviewed Noel on the Friday of the MXGP of France, as Noel sought shelter from the surprising heat of the Lacapelle-Marival sunshine to give his views on his rookie season so far, after finishing 15th overall at Trentino and holding that position in the Championship.

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

BTG: [Before the cameras roll] Just for sound-check: do you know any more famous people with your name? Noel Gallagher? You know who Noel Gallagher is? Oasis?

NZ: No, I don't know them. Christmas! It's Christmas in French.

BTG: Wow, I wasn't going to go there! I wasn't going to be that unkind to you! So, Noel, coming to Trentino, you’ve had a few decent results in the past there. What are your thoughts on Trentino, and for our recording, tell us about your season so far before that weekend. How are you feeling about being in MX2, for your first season so far?

NZ: Yeah, so I had a pretty rough pre-season. I had a thumb injury, and a ligament problem in my knee. So, I'm still struggling with that, but we tried to make the best out of it. We made a little progress, Sardegna was one step ahead, and yeah, just crossing the fingers to survive Trentino. It’s not been so easy for me there in the past, and yeah, just try to get some feeling on the track, and putting in the hours on the bike to get the feeling, and basically, that's the plan for the weekend.

BTG: Obviously, you've gone up from EMX250. Not too many of you starting this year compared to before. You know, yourself and Janis Reisulis are really the main two that have moved up there. So, how has it been for you? You know, you're now going from two races across two days to three races instead, you know, one and then two on the Sunday. What's it like for you? How are you finding it? How are you dealing with it? And have you made much changes to your training, for example, to cope with it?

NZ: Yeah, so far it has been quite a big change. Also, as I said, my winter was not so easy, so I'm not fully prepped yet. I'm struggling with many, many things. Also, I'm not super confident yet in myself, and yeah, it's also been a big change. Like, we have way more riding time, so it's a little bit hard, let's say, physical-wise, to really see where you must push or not. Already from Time Practice, it's quite important, I think, to have a good gate pick in the Qualifying Race, and from then on, obviously, we are racing for points, and that's already a big difference from EMX250. But I'm excited to learn, and I'm really here to get the experience this year.

BTG: Now, you're on the team, obviously, the Venrooy KTM team with Mattia Guadagnini. How are you finding the bike, and how are you finding the team with Mattia as your teammate? Is it good for the atmosphere, and how much contact do you have with him as part of your whole life in the team?

NZ: Yeah, so obviously, the KTM is a really good bike, and I have been enjoying riding it. It's really cool to have Mattia as a teammate, and he has obviously a lot of experience with the KTM group. Yeah, he has a lot of, let's say, nice advice for me on the racetracks and everything. He has been a factory rider, so he knows what it takes to be up front, and he can share his opinion. We spent time together with the team in the pre-season in Sardinia in January and it was going really well. Then, yeah, he was also helping a lot, like just in general. So, yeah, it was a really nice time with him.

BTG: So, yeah, going through to Trentino itself, obviously, you scored points and you had your best Qualifying Race yet to get there on the Saturday. So, how are you feeling before the actual start of the race? The Sunday, you're good with the track, the bike’s dialled in, how's it looking for you before the start?

NZ: Yeah, so actually it was better than what I expected on Saturday. And yeah, I had a good feeling, but the track was really, really dry and sketchy. So, that was tricky, but I could manage it, I think, quite good. I had quite a nice start, and then yeah, I could ride a little bit my race. So, I was excited for Sunday as we saw the weather podcast. Maybe it's gonna be a little bit rainy in the first race, but yeah, normally the weather should be fine.

BTG: You had a great start in MX2 Race 1, right towards the front, it was absolutely amazing for you. You got a great start from that side of it. Obviously, a lot of riders came past you, and I guess that's tricky to deal with. But yeah, how did that feel being up there on the first lap? And was it more stress because you had more people around you, or how did all that feel with the start?

NZ: Yeah, I've been always a really good starter when the rain came down, so it might be because of my weight or I don't know. Just why, with the rain, I always love to ride in it, but yeah, the track didn't turn out to be that bad, like what I expected. I thought it's gonna be way more slippery, so I really tried to take it easy and calm in the first couple of laps, but it didn't really pay off because I dropped back really quickly, so I was quite disappointed in that. But yeah, tried to ride a little bit my race, let's say, and just gaining the hours on the bike.

BTG: Were you feeling it much with the thumb injury? Is that pretty much now behind you? You got through Trentino, okay?

NZ: Yeah, I would say the knee is more of a struggle. After the pre-season races, I got injured with my knee. Several ligaments were not completely torn, but a little bit screwed up, let's say. And yeah, I try to survive. I thought ‘Now we're gonna have one month of break. I will really try to use that time to get back my fitness and also a little bit more confidence with the knee, make it stronger, and really just put in the hours on the bike and also off the bike to be fit again’.

BTG: Great stuff, and obviously, we can see there that you're 15th in the Championship right now, and you've only got a few points ahead of you to get past guys like Scott Smulders and Jens Walvoort, and of course, Cas Valk is now out as well. So, you’ve got a chance there of getting in the top dozen in the world. Was this the kind of aim at the start of the year to get up there? I mean, what did you have your sights on at the start of the year?

NZ: Yeah, so actually, till November, I felt really good, and then I had an unfortunate thumb injury in a practice. What I've been struggling with for three months, and it was really hard to get back the trust in it. I've been to many doctors, everyone said different things, and some said some bone injuries, some said the ligament problems. And in the end, they never really could find out the real problems, so that has been a little bit difficult. And then, yeah, I mean, till that moment, I was really hoping for, let's say, a top eight finish, be in the mix with the factory guys, and try to put decent results in every weekend. And now, with the injuries and everything, I had to change a little bit, because it was unrealistic. Now, I really want to take each race as it comes and really to take this year for learning as much as I can and put in the work and see where we end up. I'm still pretty convinced that I can do good in the second part of the season, and I will do everything to get there.

BTG: Just to find out a bit more about you, you ride with the number 716, you have for as long as I've seen you riding. So, yeah, talk us through the number. How come it's 716?

NZ: Yeah, so in Hungary we say always when you're born, you start with which year you're born, then the month, and then the day. And because I was born in 2007, January 6th, I took the 7 of the 2007. January is obviously the first month of the year, and then the 6th when I was born that's how my number came!

BTG: You said about Hungary there. Obviously, there aren't many riders or professional athletes in motorsport at the very top level from Hungary. So, how did you make your way to this point? Did you just start winning everything in Hungary, then went further afield? Tell us please about going through the youth ranks and how you started, and where you started to race through to this level.

NZ: I started really, really young. When I was three, I was already on a bike. And yeah, I think when I was five, I did my first race in Hungary, when I was a five-year-old on a 50cc. And then for two years, I finished last in every race that I started. And then, yeah, obviously, that was not so easy to move from there! I didn't really want to ride back then. My dad always had to, let's say, motivate me with some different kinds of things to keep me on the bike. I really wanted to play football back then, but yeah, I started to get some decent results in Hungary. Then we started to go to the Czech Republic on the 50cc. I started riding really good there. So I moved up to 65cc pretty young. I think I was 10 years old when I won Free Practice in EMX65, in Loket, that was really good. But then, yeah, the races didn't really end up how I wanted. And then I moved up to 85cc really, really young. I rode the 85s for four years, I believe I did some races in the ADAC, and obviously EMX and the Junior World Championship. Then moving up to 125, that was really the time when we started to travel a lot, winter camps in Italy and just do all the series. And my first year I did only a couple of rounds and the Junior World Championship. So, then in 2024, it was the first year when I really got the chance to be a part of a factory team, and then last year with Jackie on the Honda. I had two really decent years, results wise, and everything. Now we are here in MX2! It's kind of a big deal. I don't really remember when was the last time, or if anyone from my country has rode in the past in the MX2 World Championship. So it's really a big thing from Hungary.

BR: Nice, and there's a few of you coming through as well, like Aaron Katona, for example. So, are these guys riders that are following your way, or has there been a new wave of riders from Hungary that we are likely to see in the future?

NZ: Yeah, I think this opened a lot of doors for kids, just to see that it's possible. And I really hope that we are going to have some other talents from Hungary, because it would be really nice for the sport and everything.

BTG: One last one for you, just a bit of a different one. Can you say, so far, what has been your very best day in the sport? What was the day that you can remember going away from the track, being absolutely full of it, buzzed up? What's your very best moment in motocross, basically?

NZ: That's a difficult one. I have three top ones. Like, obviously, winning the World Junior Championship in Heerde [The Netherlands, 2024], that was something amazing, being the first Hungarian to win a world title, and it was just amazing. Then again, the same year, but in Spain, when I win the European EMX125 title, it was just amazing. I was leading the Championship for the whole year, but then in Switzerland, the penultimate round, I had a broken engine and I dropped back into second place in the Championship. So, arriving there, knowing that, yeah, I have to give my all to make sure that I can win the title, and in the end, it paid off. So, that was really an amazing day.

And a little bit different, yeah, one that was good, was 2022, the Motocross of Nations in Redbud. I had the opportunity to ride with FIM Team Europe there, and I was just 15 at the time. To race the Open class on a 250 bike, and battling with my idols like Dylan Ferrandis, it was just an amazing experience. So, yeah. That was a really, really cool one.

Epilogue: The progress continued for Noel with his best GP yet at Lacapelle-Marival. Fifteenth again in the Qualifying Race was followed by twelfth overall from 13-12 results on Sunday, advancing him to fourteenth in the standings. Just 14 ahead of him is the injured Cas Valk, who will be unable to compete for most of the season, but the Hungarian is only two behind Maxime Grau before the Liqui Moly MXGP of Germany, so a place in the top dozen in MX2 is well within his grasp. Massive thanks to him for being great with us in Trentino, and to Venrooy KTM Racing for getting him organised!