A s parts of Europe are starting to come out of COVID-19 lock-down and international motorcycle racing returns to some sort of normality , with MotoGP serving up some incredible racing in the shortened 2020 season , we jumped at the chance to catch up with a Kiwi at the centre of the MotoGP world , former Dunedin man Paul Trevathan , the crew chief for the KTM factory team . In an average year , this intrepid Kiwi might spend nearly 10 months travelling around the world , on hand in the pits for the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer at more than 20 MotoGP world championship races . Trevathan heads up a small but highly-skilled technical team that is focused on giving talented Spanish racer Pol Espargaro the best possible chance of scoring world championship points . The just-turned 51-year-old Trevathan is based in Druten , in The Netherlands , living there with his wife , Nicole , and their two children , Niek and Eva . It wasn ’ t what he originally thought he ’ d be doing with his life .
MOTOCROSS “ I left New Zealand as a 21-year-old in 1991 with my then girlfriend and we had the plan of travelling around the world for a couple of years . I wasn ’ t planning on doing anything with bikes ,” he said . Trevathan had raced motocross in New Zealand since he was young and he became a motorcycle mechanic , but he never dreamed he ’ d end up in the hot-bed of motorcycle road-racing . “ The plan was just to move around , pick fruit for work and look at the world . At the end of 1991 , I found myself in the Netherlands and at the Motocross des Nations , helping out the New Zealand boys , and I ended up meeting the Missotten brothers who owned a motocross shop ( like the Pro Circuit of Belgium ). They offered me a job for the winter and that ’ s how I ended up back in the bike world . “ Phew , a lot has happened when I look back . My first fulltime year on the race circuits was in 1994 . I worked with ( New Zealand ’ s ) Darryll King in the 500cc motocross world championships .
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