After a strange old 2014, 25-year-old Lawson Bopping has started the new season with a hell of a statement. The DPH Motorsport Peter Stevens Yamaha rider placed fourth at Horsham, but finds himself in third in the championship courtesy of some handy Super Pole points. After such a strong start to the season on a track he doesn’t love, we thought it was time we tracked down Boppo to get the scoop.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Boppo, happy Easter mate. Did you get up to much?

You too, mate. I had a pretty chilled weekend really. I did a little bit of riding and training and went to a mate’s place on the coast, but I generally took it easy. I didn’t even have any Easter eggs, which isn’t normal for me. Either the Easter bunny was slack or I wasn’t good enough this year!

Tell you what, though, it was great seeing you straight back on the pace at Horsham. How did you feel out there?

I felt okay. Horsham is my least favourite track of the series and I struggle every time I go there. I wasn’t super-pumped to start the championship there and I just wanted to get through the day and pick up decent points. When I qualified first, I thought ‘f**k, that’s pretty good!’. I stuffed up my Super Pole lap but still got third, and I got decent starts in both motos to finish third and fourth. I still didn’t feel comfortable on the track, and even though Horsham was probably the best I’d ridden it, it still sucked. The mud’s sticky and you come out of every turn with a big clump of it stuck to your pegs. I was definitely happy with fourth there, that’s for sure, especially as my aim was to come away with a top five. To tell the truth the first three rounds of this year’s championship are my least favourite of the year, so if I can stay in contention through them, I should be in a good position for the rest of the series.

Last year was a weird one for you. Tell us about it from your point of view.

It was pretty crazy, really. It started in 2013 when I got sick with glandular fever and my results sucked. I didn’t get a ride for 2014 so I went to the US and raced the supercross. I had planned on racing the last couple of MX Nationals races on the Suzuki I brought back from the US, but I got a call from the SIC Racing team asking if I’d be keen to race the last four rounds with them. I jumped at it and I had fun being back out there, even though my results weren’t great and I wasn’t riding that well. After the MX Nationals I spoke with Jay at Motul Suzuki and landed a ride with the team for supercross. That series went really well for me, my health was good, my bike was great and I finished third in the championship. It felt like I was starting to get back on track. After supercross I received offers from both Jay and Dale Hocking at DPH, but the DPH offer was too good to turn down. So yeah, in the past 12 months I’ve ridden Suzuki, Kawasaki, Suzuki and now Yamaha!

Image: Jeff Crow.

How’s it all working out with DPH?

It’s a really cool team that suits me a lot. It’s laid-back and relaxed, but they’re still very driven and work hard. As an example of that, the team didn’t receive their semi truck for the nationals until the beginning of March. Everyone put in a massive effort to get it ready and they basically built the entire truck in three weeks. My mechanic, Jarrod, is awesome and I get along really well with Dale and Tash and their kids who’re my age. Even my parents get along well with them, so we’ve already built a healthy family atmosphere in the team in a short space of time. Like all deals these days, it’s only a 12-month contract for now, but Dale’s already indicated to me that if we have a good year he’ll want to keep me on and build some continuity going forward.

Are you viewing this year as a kind of redemption year outdoors after a couple of pretty average seasons?

Well I haven’t ridden properly outdoors since probably round four of 2013. After that I sucked arse until supercross last year! It was tough having the battle through the glandular fever, where I’d feel good training at home, but by the time race day came around I didn’t any energy left. I still struggled at Horsham last weekend and I was probably a bit tight and tense being the first round of the season, but to be the next best guy after three guys (Kirk Gibbs, Luke Styke and Kade Mosig) who’ve done four more races than me in New Zealand, that was big thing for me. I’m stoked to be healthy now and I’ve changed a lot of stuff health-wise. I’m on a really crazy diet that would be far too hard to explain right now, but it’s helped my diabetes a lot and it’s given me more energy.

Well this weekend is the Appin round, which is one of the two closest to you this year. After such a solid showing at Horsham, what are your goals for Sunday?

I definitely want to podium. The field’s stacked as usual, but I think a spot on the box is definitely doable. I got good starts at Horsham and they’re vital at Appin as it’s a pretty tough track to pass on. I went and had a look over the hill at the track on Tuesday when I was riding the practice track and it looks like they’ve brought in a shitload of mulch, so hopefully it forms up nicely. It should be a good weekend.

Looking forward to it. Thanks for the chat, bud!

All good, thanks mate.