Jeremy Seewer was a long way from home. The evening before, the 2022 Swiss-born MXGP vice-champion was holding station at K1 Speed in downtown San Diego, California, and in tandem with Yamaha Motor Corporation teammates Eli Tomac and Dylan Ferrandis (Monster Energy AMA Supercross and AMA Pro Motocross) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), unveiled the new global Monster Energy Yamaha race team livery.
The 67th annual FIM Motocross World Championship will open with the Patagonia Argentina Grand Prix in March, but it already has Seewe’s complete focus.
“Our MXGP season starts in March, so January is the month to put in the hard work,” he said. “It’s means being in kind of a boot camp for one month in the south of Europe in Sardinia, doing testing and training and cycling and doing a lot of motos and putting a lot of hours on the bike. It can be rainy days and sunny days and it is just putting in laps and getting the bike to work and getting my body to be in top shape. That’s what this January is for.
“It’s not like I have days to waste. You know, what we do is more than a normal job, because I cannot stop at 5:00pm or start at 8:00am every day. Monday is no different from Saturday or Sunday for me, you know? I mean, it’s a dream that we are living, but a lot comes with it that the people don’t see. There is a lot of hard work. And it is very hard work. You have to go to the absolute limit with your body.
“The other thing we deal with is the pressure. We go out there and at the end, OK, we have a whole team and an entire crew behind us and to support us, but when we are behind the start gate, it’s me and the bike.”
A world-class racer both lives and dies on their GP results. Bad races keep you up at night.
“It can be tough,” said Seewer. “Racing can give you a feeling that nothing else on the planet can give you. When you win or when you have a successful race, the energy you get from that is irreplaceable. But the opposite is that when you have a bad day or when you have a few bad races, it nearly kills you from the inside because you are trying to figure out how and why. It’s not a nice feeling. This is the opposite. Still, these feelings make you stronger and make you want to do better the next time.”
Seewer is becoming accustomed to finishing runner-up in the FIM world championship. In 2017 he placed second overall in MX2, while 2019, 2020 and 2022 brought Seewer FIM Silver Medals in the premier MXGP classification.
“I mean, the first time I became the vice world champion, I was proud.. I was like, ‘Wow! I’m the vice world champion! I got somewhere! Wow!’,” he said.
“And then when I got it three times, it was like, ‘Okay, I want to win now.’ You’re not happy with second anymore. Seeing the whole picture last year, I lost a lot at the beginning of the season. Without that, I think I would have been fighting for the world title. The approach for the 2023 season is that I want to win, you know? I want to go out and be the best. I don’t want to out myself in a spot where I have to win because then too much pressure is going in the wrong way.
“I want to enjoy what I do. I want to win without feeling like I have to. Those are two different things. I’m ready for it. I’m looking forward to it. MXGP is the toughest of the toughest. There are many, many good guys out there. You don’t get any place on the track for free. This is my goal – to win. I know I can’t win every race, but I want to be up there consistently and getting podiums and fighting for wins. I will see race by race. I don’t look too far ahead. I definitely want to be in the mix and have the goal to win the world championship.”
