At just 21 years old, Berry Sweet/Lucas Oil Yamaha rider Tye Simmonds made the shock announcement yesterday that he was retiring from professional Motocross.

Even still, his announcement yesterday caught many by surprise. We caught up with Simmonds to find out what brought it on and what the future holds.

Tye Simmonds has announced his retirement from professional Motocross. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Alright, Tye. Spill the beans, mate. Your announcement yesterday came out of the blue for many people. What brought this on?

Yeah, mate. I think this decision had been coming for a while, but I couldn’t figure out what the issue was and why nothing was coming together for me. This year I moved to Newcastle and lived with my team manager Craig Anderson and his wife, Katrina. I was as fit as ever, training hard and riding well during the week, but I couldn’t put it together on race day.

During the mid-season break I went back to Bourke for two weeks and went piggin’, riding and hanging out with mates. Two days into my stay I realised all I’d missed about living at home and being close to my dad and family and I didn’t want to leave.

I was still enjoying going to the gym and my off-bike training, but when it came to riding, I’d just sit there wondering what was going on and struggle to get motivated. For me that’s weird – I’ve always been known as a bit of a lazy bastard off the bike, but would love being on the bike and putting in motos.

I’d try and kick myself in the ass, but even when I was riding my mind was wandering and I made some big mistakes, simply because my mind wasn’t on the job.

I think that’s when it hit home that I needed a decent break and sort my shit out. I told my family and friends that I thought I was done, then told Craig and Katrina at Appin. My plan was actually to retire at the end of the year anyway, but at Appin I had a decent crash and the results continued to be below what Ando and I were after.

It wasn’t coming together, so I did the right thing and called it a day early instead of wasting everyone’s time at the races.

Last year you started the season strong, but when your pop passed away and you had an injury, you took an extended mid-season break to try and find yourself again. Is this decision related to that at all?

Um… yeah, mate, I think it did kinda trigger it. It’s weird because last year I had no preparation for the MX Nationals, I was the unfittest I’d ever been, and I podiumed at round two at Coonabarabran, then again at Murray Bridge.

My Pop was really sick during Murray Bridge, so we high-tailed it home straight after the races, but by the time we got home he’d passed away and we’d missed him by about an hour. It was pretty gut-wrenching. My uncle Pete, pop and my dad were the backbone of my racing and pop was there for my whole career.

After he passed away I raced at Dunedoo and felt the best I’d ever felt, then went home and was riding ‘The Gullies’ – one of my freeriding-type tracks at home – and my bike just stopped on the up ramp while I was in third gear. I landed on my head and it just showed just how unpredictable this sport can be. Those circumstances and that crash really did start all this and I haven’t really come back from it.

So how are things between you and Ando? From the outside you guys seem to get on great. How did he take the news?

Yeah, we’re still good. I lived with him for six months, training and everything. It was unreal. We’re still good mates and I can’t thank him enough for all the support and hard work he’s invested into me this year. I’m bummed it took me six months to realise that I needed a break, but he and Katrina have done nothing except support me the whole way.

Simmonds in action for the Berry Sweet/Lucas Oil Yamaha team during this year’s MX Nationals. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

You’ve been involved with Motocross since you could practically walk. Is this really the end for you? Are you hanging your riding boots up for good?

Yes and no. I originally planned to take some time off at the end of the year and sit the Motocross out, then return for the 2014 Supercross season. And that’s still the plan, I guess – I’ve just brought it all forward a bit.

I enjoy Supercross more than Motocross, so there’s a chance I’ll return at the end of next year. If I still don’t want to ride, I won’t return and screw a team around or make myself look [silly]. If I come back next year I’ll be ready to go and I won’t be riding around for the sake of riding.

For the moment it’s an extended break and it’s too early to say whether I’m done for good.

Well you’ll have a bit of time on your hands now. What are the plans, apart from going pig-hunting?

There’ll be a bit of that, mate! I might go walkabout for a bit and see what happens [laughs]. Nah, the main plan is to open a training facility out here called the Simmonds Training Facility. We’ve got tonnes of land and tracks and dad loves working with kids. It’s always been a dream of his to open something like this, so I’m excited to work alongside him and make it happen.

The amount of stuff we’ve got here for kids to do is endless. It’ll be like the Millsaps Training Facility where during the summer we ride, go water-skiing, go down massive slides into the river, and do lots of training too.

Once we get going – hopefully by the end of the year – we’ll run two-to-three-day camps. If we start to have some talented regular kids, we might look at making a long-term base for them out here.

I’m also getting ready to buy a gyrocopter. Once I get good at flying that I want to do some contract aerial mustering. I’ve done a lot of mustering on the ground with bikes and I’ve always wanted to go flying. I’m looking forward to that.

That’s gold! Well it’s great to hear you’ll still be involved in the industry and that this retirement won’t be the last we see of you. All the best, mate. The races won’t be the same without your ugly mug getting around.

Thanks for the support, mate. See ya round.