Daniel Falzon is a class act in Australian road racing circles, not only because of his three consecutive 600cc titles (Supersport and Superstock), but also because of his professional off-track nature. The South Australian has achieved significant success against some of the sport’s finest rising talent over the past few years, boding well for a strong future ahead. CycleOnline.com.au spoke to Falzon about his title win at the Phillip Island ASBK finale last Sunday, as well as his shock decision to sit out the Australasian Superbike Championship (ASC) remainder.

Image: Andrew Gosling.

Well done on the Supersport championship. It’s your second Supersport title in a row and third Australian championship in a row when you count the 2012 Superstock 600 victory. Congratulations.

Yeah, thank you. It’s a surreal feeling taking out three consecutive titles. This year with ASBK’s shortened series it probably wasn’t what we hoped for. I always like to do the long series with lots of competition, but the riders were very competitive and every race I was pushed all the way to the last lap; even at Phillip Island right down to the last lap to take the win. So I’m very happy with the result.

Over those three years, you have been on board the Yamaha R6 and have kept your program pretty consistent. Do you think that is a factor – that continuation – in your success?

Yeah for sure, our relationship with Yamaha has strengthened over the past years. The R6, it’s a great bike and I can’t fault it. Our team, we have worked together well with Yamaha and each year I think we are getting stronger. Another Supersport title just goes to show we’re in it for the fight and next year we will see what happens.

And Phillip Island on the weekend, the final round. Take us through the races and how you got that title wrapped up…

Well everything was thrown at us in those two races. I was really hoping for a couple of dry races where I could be sure I was going to stay on the bike, but having a wet and dry track at once with wet tyres for race one was very sketchy. I was sliding out of corners because the tyres were getting worn, so to be able to push enough to win the race and to have the championship in the back of my mind was very difficult. I would rate that as the hardest race of my career. Then came race two, it was a lot more relaxed because I had a 10-point advantage over Aiden [Wagner]. I just needed to finish in 10th place or better, so I just stayed with a level head and let the other riders get a bit further ahead. I just kept focusing on my lap board, managing my position and made sure I was going to be inside the top 10 at all times.

It was only a two-round series, but the Supersport class was full of competitive guys and it seems like the response to this championship win has been really positive. To me from the outside it looks like everybody involved in the program is really satisfied with this victory despite the circumstances.

For sure. It is the Australian championship and in 10 years time it will be looked back on and we’ll see that we did win the Australian Supersport title two years in a row. That’s all that really matters to us. It wasn’t ideal, as I said, about the two rounds, but the competition was stiff. We had very similar riders to the ASC and it was very close racing.

Now this week you guys announced that you won’t be finishing off the ASC season, instead focusing on the Phillip Island Championship from this point. How did that come about? I know that within the announcement itself it was explained, but it must have been a difficult one to make.

Yes, a very difficult decision. At the start of the year we said to each other we were going to commit to starting all three series and then come halfway through the year we would see where we were at and decide which one to finish, to spend our racing budget. We just feel with the ASC series the rewards don’t outweigh the costs for us. We can be putting our racing budget towards something in 2015 and focusing on ASBK. It’s probably a better path for us to follow.

Image: Andrew Gosling.

As a racer though, although the budget you said is a big part of it, when all is said and done, those three races that you will miss out on would be great for your experience. At this point do you feel like that could affect you in terms of your future? Not being on the track with the likes of [Aaron] Morris and whatnot for the three events seems like a missed opportunity.

In a sence it’s always good to do more racing, but we have to be smart about it. I raced Aaron, Callum [Spriggs] and Aiden in Supersport last year, so its not new competition for me and I also raced ASC in 2010, so we know what we’re up against. It took a bit of thinking. We have been talking about it for about three weeks now and I think this is just the best outcome for our team. If it was for me personally I would like to race anywhere, but it’s a decision from the team and we now look forward to 2015.

Is any part of the decision political? I know you guys have been major major backers of the ASBK, so aside from the budget and spending your money wisely which is understandable, does the political side of it come into it at all?

Of course there is always politics behind every decision, but we’re trying to keep this professional and trying to stay out of the politics as much as possible. There are things about the ASC series that don’t sit well with us – how we are not listened to very much in the series doesn’t help. We just feel that the ASBK is very professional and their plans for next year seem like the way we want to go.

Looking ahead to the future now that you have won three 600 championships. The logical step for you to step up to a Superbike or to try and look overseas. What are your plans?

Yeah, I would like to race overseas: that would be the ultimate goal, but I have to be realistic about it too. Logistically it’s probably not going to work unless there is some great ride offered in a team. My ultimate goal for racing would be to race a Superbike in a factory team in Australia and that seems realistic, so that’s what I’m trying to achieve. I think going on a Superbike for 2015 would be great, although we haven’t really spoken about it much with the team. We will just do the MotoGP round and then we will look at our options for 2015 and maybe what we will be racing.

Well thank you once again mate, thanks for the chat.

Thanks very much, Alex. Any time.