MotoOnline.com.au caught up with 20-year old superstar Jess Gardiner, who won last weekend’s KTM Australian Enduro-X round in the Women’s class, to find out how the weekend went and what is in stall for season 2014 as she prepares to take on the world again in the World Enduro Championship and the Australian Off-Road Championship series.

Jess, last Sunday at the first round of the KTM Australian Enduro-X Nationals at Archerfield Speedway was your first ever time competing in a Enduro-X event, how was it?

Really good! I had a blast. I had a lot of fun, from the start of the day I felt really good. I’m on board the all-new 2014 Ballards Motorex Sherco 300cc machine with the new fuel injection system.

But I have not really ridden it much since I have been home, I’ve had a bit of a thumb injury last week when I was overseas. So I have had a bit of a pre-season break just to get ready for last weekend.

So how did your thumb hold up to the tough task then riding on the track last weekend?

My thumb held up not so bad to be honest. There was a bit of pain after the race, but when I was racing the adrenaline took over so I didn’t really notice it. In the final race I took the holeshot and basically made the race mine.

I wasn’t really thinking about the other competitors and just doing what I know and what I have been doing with my training back in France and back at home.

Image: Russell Colvin.

You mentioned about your training just then. Can you tell the MotoOnline.com.au readers how you go about your training?

My stepfather [Dave Zoellner] has built me probably one of the best enduro tracks in Australia, which has a lot of hard obstacles which takes about one minute, 20 seconds to get around located in Western Sydney, which has taken my training to another level.

Also my very close competitor Kristie Mckinnon, we train together every day, so were pushing each other every day which has been a lot of fun.

We head down the road for the next round at Sydney Speedway, which is your home round. You must be pretty confident going into that.

I can’t wait for that round! I will have a lot of my family and close friends and a lot of friends from work cheering me on, so I’m really looking forward to hopefully making a good result in front of my home crowd and I hope to see everyone else there to.

Apart from racing the Enduro-X series, what else will we see Jess Gardiner do this year?

I will once again do ‘double duties’ racing in the AORC series racing for the Ballards Motorex Off Road Team with the support of Sherco Australia, as well as racing the in the Maxxis FIM Enduro World Championship like I did in 2013.

I will also contest the A4DE, which will be held in Dungog this year in August. I’m also hoping to represent Australia in the ISDE this year in Argentina.

You touched on the subject about racing for Ballards Motorex Off Road Team. You have had a close relationship with Geoff Ballard, who is without a doubt a legend in the history of Australian off road racing. How did that all come about?

Geoff has helped me out since I began racing in the AORC series in 2010. I raced for his team when he had the Yamaha team. Even before that he helped me a fair bit with a bit of coaching, training and general help if I needed it. Since then we have built a very strong relationship. He has always supported me and helped me with guidance.

For the last two years he has been my team manager, personally as well. He basically is my mentor, he helps me every day with advice and sponsorship and so on. Geoff is someone who I really admire and look up too. He has helped me become the rider I am today.

Image: Russell Colvin.

So looking towards the World Enduro championship this year when it kicks off in Spain on April 5-6, what’s your goal for this year? You finished third last year, can you bring home that number plate in 2014?

Look, I do have a tough competition in Europe being Laia Sanz, who has won the 2012 and 2013 championships. She is very dominant at the moment, but I am working on it. My biggest downfall against Laia is she has a lot of technical skills being a 13 times world trials champion, she has a lot of experience in that aspect.

So I’m training very hard in that area to be able to compete with her. But anything is possible and will have to wait and see on how we go in the first round in April.

One final thing Jess, what sponsors have you got on board for 2014 backing you?

I would like to thank all my sponsors that make it all possible that include Sherco, Ballards Offroad, Motorex, Bulk Nutrients, InsureMyRide, Fourohfour, Total Tools Penrith and JK Williams.

Plus my product support, which is supplied by Factory spec, Metzeler, Kustom MX graphics, Force Accessories, Progrip, Airoh helmets, Oakley, Fox boots, Pod MX, GoPro, FunnelWeb, DID, Talon, Braking and Rebel Media Group.

Thanks for your time, and good luck for season 2014!

No worries, thank you.