Author: David Bulmer

He may be the younger brother of Zach Bell, but Chase Bell doesn't take the back seat to anyone. Having already won a Loretta's title on 65s, Chase is now riding 85s but an injury meant he missed out on adding to his collection this time around. However, he was able to join Team America in Italy as they looked to take on the rest of the world in the Junior Motocross Championships. Chase finished a very creditable second place in his and class helped America retain the trophy they won 12 months ago in France. We caught up with Chase just after the racing was over.

You won the second moto, but you didn't quite get the overall, how'd it go out there?

Yeah, I'm pretty bummed about that. I wish I had finished better in the first moto but it all worked out pretty good and I'm pretty happy. I got a terrible start in moto one so by the time I made it near the front, the leaders were gone. I just rode the best I could and hoped that in the second moto I could win it and that would be enough. Unfortunately it wasn't, but my score helped the team win that overall so I'm pleased about that.

Obviously not going to Loretta's, winning this would've made up for that?

Not doing Loretta's was really annoying but coming here brought all my excitement back and I got top three, which is what I was looking for. All anyone in America talks about is Loretta's so for me not to be a part of that was hard to take, but it's only one year and I'll be back in 2012 and hopefully try to win some trophies.

Was it a good overall experience for you, seeing Italy and everything?

It's certainly a little different experience than riding at our place. The track was a lot harder but I like it out here, it's kinda like California but I've just got to get used to it. Italy was pretty cool, we went to some different tracks and saw a bit of the country. It's hard to really see too much when you've got to get ready for the race but it's been fun.

And was it good riding against different people, riders you've never ridden against before?

I was expecting a little less than what they were, but they ended up being really fast and it was really good competition. The track was hard to get to grips with but everyone was riding the same thing so no excuses there. The riders in my class were really good and it was cool having to battle with them and not knowing how they'd react. I did have to battle a lot with Kade (Walker) in the first race so obviously I know how he rides but overtaking other riders was tricky.

What about the team aspect, was it cool to cheer on teammates?

It's completely different from the usual motocross event where it's just you against everyone else. Here, we needed others to do well in order to take home the trophy so the pressure was different.

In some ways it was harder knowing that others were relying on you, but it also made it easier knowing that people had your back.

What are your plans now once you get back to America?

I plan to do Mini O's and all the big amateur nationals. Having missed a lot of training being injured, I get a couple of months to prepare for Mini O's and that should be enough time to get me back to where I want to be. Today was a good gauge of where I'm at but coming second isn't where I want to be.