Eleven10 Mods' Phil Nicoletti Earns Career Best at the AMA Supercross East Coast Lites Opener
- 1 Mar 2012
"It was real last minute," admitted Nicoletti. "I left pretty much a week before the opening round of East Coast Supercross in 2011. I figured that I had a chance to go do something different, meet new people and experience a whole different lifestyle, so I took it. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go ride a dirt bike and have a whole new adventure." As adventures are sometimes prone to do, this one veered in an unexpected direction, Nicoletti explains. "Kawasaki of Australia sent in my Visa, and somehow when they sent it in to immigration in Australia, it never got processed. So basically, the whole time I was over there, I was staying there illegally, and not knowing it. I was able to go over there for the first ninety days on a touring Visa, which was going to be fixed, but somehow it got screwed up and didn't get processed. When I went to fly back from Brisbane to L.A., they stopped me at immigration and they were giving me a hard time and saying that I was staying there illegally. It's not what I wanted, and it was so late here, to get a ride. All the teams were already filled up. Nicoletti was understandably a little iffy coming into Cowboy Stadium, and he remarked "I went in there with an open mind. It was a bit intense for me, you know, missing a whole year of Supercross then just jumping right back in there in a field as deep as it is. I was tight all day, but as soon as the main event dropped, I got my flow back. I still didn't ride the greatest, I felt like I was slow out there, and I have some things to work on in the next couple weeks. I just want to keep improving on what I'm doing. I think I can, that's every rider's goal, to be up on the box, and with the bike that I have and the support I have from the people that have helped me out at the last minute, I believe it can get done in the near future." Regarding his plans and options for the 2012 season, Nicoletti says, "Well, it's not an option for me at this point to go back to race in Australia, I can't go back. I really don't know what I'm doing after Supercross, I don't have anything. Right now I'm just with Eleven-10 Mods for Supercross. I'd like to stay with them for outdoors, but who knows. I'll just keep plugging away and doing what I'm doing and hope for the best. I'd like to stay here in the States for the outdoors, but if I get a call to go to Europe, I wouldn't mind trying that too, it'd be a cool experience." Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
