KTM clinched a third AMA Supercross Championship with the KTM 250 SX-F in May 2024 and its first in almost ten years. Curiously, Tom Vialle achieved the feat and continued a run of solely European riders succeeding in the most American of 250cc motorcycle racing disciplines. The 23-year-old Frenchman talks a bit about the reasons behind the milestone…
By Adam Wheeler
KTM’s recent prolificacy in premier class AMA Supercross is accompanied by names like Ryan Dungey, Cooper Webb and now Chase Sexton. But the company has been pushing hard in the 250 SX divisions (separated into nine-round ‘West’ and ‘East’ coast definitions since the mid-1980s), where arguably KTM’s most decorated motorcycle – the KTM 250 SX-F – has been striving for the same level of acclaim.
The KTM 250SX-F did not gain P1 billing in the USA until 2013, when German Ken Roczen bagged the West title. In 2015 Marvin Musquin laid his hands on the East crown. Another Frenchman, Tom Vialle – the 2020 and 2022 FIM MX2 World Champ – became only the third winner when he triumphed in the 2024 East competition this year.
Vialle needed 2023 and a learning period to reach a special level of performance in supercross. He then racked seven podiums and two wins with his FACTORY EDITION race bike in 2024 to be KTM’s third athlete to earn both world championship and AMA championship plaudits.
As a Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider, Vialle counted on strong support from Team Manager Ian Harrison, icon Roger de Coster and the whole crew based in Murrieta, California as well as his parents (father Frederic was a former racer) and family that made the move across the Atlantic with him.
But one of the biggest stories around his latest career accomplishment is the typically rapid way in which Vialle found his feet and then started to excel.
As a teenager in 2018, Tom was selected by KTM’s Joel Smets, VP of Offroad, Robert Jonas, and the rest of Red Bull KTM management for the second factory MX2 saddle next to championship winner Jorge Prado. Vialle had been a middling European Championship rider, without a win in EMX to his name. The contract surprised MXGP fans but Smets believed in his technique, his potential and, most importantly, his attitude. As a Grand Prix rookie Vialle won the Swedish GP in 2019, totaled seven podium finishes and finished 4th overall. By the time he moved to the USA at the end of 2022 Vialle had taken MX2 classifications of 4-1-3-1 in four swift seasons where he also won 24 Grands Prix (averaging six a term) and dominated MX2 holeshots with the KTM 250 SX-F. His rate of knowledge and application of new levels of fitness, racecraft and race management was empathically fast. There are few others in recent world championship history with such a swift rise and rate of trophies.
Even though Supercross represented a change of scene, a change of technology (the KTM 250 SX-F is a prototype in MX2), different racing demands and a big lifestyle switch in the USA; Vialle required just one year of education to make the grade…and is now hoping to complete the 250 ‘set’ with the Pro National motocross red plate this summer. “It’s just so different,” Tom says on the career transition. “We have nine races in Supercross and around 20 motocross GPs in Europe; the world championship is way-longer and you are not so stressed if you have to miss a race or if you crash in a moto. You cannot make any mistakes in the U.S otherwise you are out of the championship. Everything is more tight and it’s only my second year. I still have a lot to improve.”
“My goal was to come here and try something new,” he reflects. “When I came in 2022, in the winter, in my mind I tried to put everything from the past away and start from zero. A different life. Of course, I had my [GP] experience but I needed to reset. It was hard for me…but the team had so much experience and they could help me a lot, especially in 2023. It was nice to learn the tracks, and the races and the connection with the guys. We are in a good way now to fight for championships.”
“I kinda did it the same way!” he smiles thinking about his two-year education-and-victory pattern. “It’s pretty amazing actually. When you have a bad day – you don’t feel good or fast on the track - and you are still on the podium and you still get a lot of points: then this is when you win a championship.”
“It’s amazing how quickly he did it,” says Team Manager Ian Harrison. “Kenny Roczen did the same and also Marvin but it took them a little longer. It’s an outstanding result and I take my hat off to Tom. He left home with a bag and some clothes to come here. There is so much that goes into it in the beginning: a driving license, a home, finding the tracks…so we don’t put too much emphasis on that first season and setting up the bike is a lot different purely due to the suspension. It takes time to get that all rolling but this guy is a very calculated rider and is very calm and he makes very sure of his decisions, whether its riding or training. There is always a lot of thought there and he’s an awesome racer. He is always ready to go.”
Key to the 2024 story is the graft behind the scenes: working with Sexton and gleaning tips with Musquin and then dialing in the KTM 250 SX-F. Vialle put everything together. “It’s been great learning from Chase and we’ve ridden or trained almost every day since November,” he reveals. “As a training partner he’s the best I can have. I’ve also been training with Marvin also – in January – and that was a time where I learned the most. He has so many wins and he can understand me. He can see a lot of things on the track that maybe others don’t see. I think the bike improved so much compared to last year and I want to thank the team because we had a great winter.”
He also counted on his family’s presence, proving that it is never just ‘a rider and a bike’ that makes an entry in the sport’s history books. “If I [had] moved alone then I don’t know if I would have made it to be honest!” he admits. “You don’t really realize it in Europe but once you make the move it hits you pretty quick. When you are winning then things tend to be cool…but it’s when things are not going so well that you need them the most.”
Do more wins beckon? The 2024 AMA season is long enough with the motocross campaign and then the three round SMX play-off charge. The orange is going to stay fast and so will Tom.