PL: Yeah, we ended up getting around five podiums that year, which was pretty good. We were a little disappointed that Yamaha didn't want to do more with us for the 2002 season but then we had had some talks with Suzuki and they were interested in stepping up a little bit more with us.
We were really enthused about getting on board with them - and the support from Suzuki has been phenomenal! Once again, in hindsight looking back, the switch to Suzuki was a very good move for us and we're really, really happy with the equipment and the relationship that we have.
Q: Suzuki has in-house factory 125 riders, but isn't Motoworld more or less the official factory supported 125 team?
PL: I guess you could say that. It's kind of a grey area because there has never really been an in between team like us. There are factory teams like Yamaha of Troy or the privateers. So we're kind of that in between team now and we're really proud of that.
It is kind of a new road we're paving here. We are their only official factory supported team although we are not the official factory supported team, if that makes sense, because their 125 team is still in-house. So, although we received about the same amount of support as an official 125 team would receive, they still have their official 125 team in-house. It's a unique arrangement and we receive quite a bit of support from them - we're really happy with it.
Q:How do you rate Motoworld's 2002 season Paul?
PL: Overall I'd say it was a big success. We had expected a little bit more from Justin Buckelew, but Justin had some problems that we tried to work through together - instead of just turning our back to him. I'm most proud of the fact that we stuck it out together to the end of the year. Together we worked hard and he really started to turn his results around. He is a good guy and a good friend and whatever problems we had the beginning of the year, we addressed and corrected, and then things started to turn around for him.
