Hoyle aiming to gain experience in first year

Having landed a World Championship ride this year with the newly formed 125cc Haojue Team Matthew Hoyle is still something of an unknown quantity, having only regularly raced thus far at Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup level.

Bad luck at the first three rounds of the year have seen him yet to start a Grand Prix race in 2009, due to a crash in Qatar, the team’s withdrawal due to technical problems in Japan and non-participation for similar reasons in Jerez after he failed to make the grade in qualifying. So far his 2008 Donington wildcard is his only experience of GP competition.

Nonetheless, the team spearheaded by MotoGP Legend John Surtees and directed by the experienced Team Manager Garry Taylor is still at a relatively early stage of its development and Hoyle is relishing the opportunity in front of him this season.

Explaining his background and how he came to be involved in the Haojue structure, Hoyle commented, “When I was younger, my father used to race motocross and then he got me into motocross. When I was six I started racing, but I got my first motorcycle when I was three years-old. I’ve done three years in the British Championship, also winning it in my last year, which was 2008, and I also did the 2007 and 2008 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cups.”

“Last season we heard about the new Haojue team so we went to Donington and I had a test on the bike so the team could see how I was and how I worked. We kept in contact because they were looking at other riders as well and then I think at Valencia they rang me and said, ‘the ride is yours’.”

Despite his frustrations so far, Hoyle remains upbeat, saying, “Because it’s my first year, it’s a new team and everything, my objective is just to go out there, do as many laps as we can. I haven’t set any big targets and maybe by the middle of the season we are going to start setting more realistic goals as to where we want to be.”

He continued, “The experience in the team is massive, with the likes of Garry (Taylor), Trevor (Morris), and all the mechanics, who have been in the MotoGP paddock for many years now.”

Meanwhile, talking up the attributes of his new team-mate Michael Ranseder, Hoyle adds, “He is a good guy, we get on really well and he is also helping me sometimes if I am struggling to try to overcome my problems. With it being a new bike we need to get as much information and get together as much as we can, to try to improve quicker than in a normal team.”