STUNTER13 ABOUT STUNTRIDING – INTERVIEW WITH RAFAL PASIERBEK

Motorbike stuntriding is a relatively new sport becoming more and more popular every year. The sport is popular yet also equally demanding when it comes to skills required from the best stunt riders. One of the very best guys in this business is Monster Energy’s Rafał Pasierbek aka Stunter13. We have recently hooked up with Rafał to talk about the sport he does and loves. What is the essence of motorbike stuntriding and what emotions does this sport bring? I think that now it is finally the time when motorbike stuntriding is going into the right direction. A couple of years ago every stunter was mostly focused on doing very technical tricks such as circles on the rear wheel etc. Obviously those tricks must be practised but they could not really build a complex show that people from the outside of stuntriding scene would like to watch. But now it is different, the sport itself has developed a lot and finally everyone can find something interesting in it for themselves – rear wheel tricks, front wheel tricks, acrobatic figures or drifting 100 bhp bikes to show their screaming power. Where do you need to go to watch stuntriding at its best? Where can you get into this sport? There are lots of stuntriding contests but the problem is that we cannot really present our full showman style there since we are usually limited to 3-4 minutes and therefore we are more focused on very technical tricks which may not be so spectacular for the fans who are not experts in motorbike stuntriding. The judges give points for those tricks, though, so we have to do them. However, our sport is so flexible that we can do our shows practically everywhere, we just need enough space, same as FMX riders. The best opportunity to watch stuntriding are such shows then, usually organised at various motorsport events. What is the position of motorbike stunt in the world, does this sport grow up and gain more popularity? Each year some new global companies get interested in sponsoring the discipline and riders. I know from my own experience how hard it was some time ago to find any sponsors when I was winning practically every tournament in the world. It was hard to convince anyone that it is not some illegal hooning in town but a professionally done sport. At that stage I would never think I could ever gain factory sponsorship from Yamaha or that one day I would become a member of the Monster Energy family. Is it a sport for everyone or ordinary people can just stand and watch? I think that everybody can try it but it will be definitely easier for those who has got some experience with motorbikes. If you can ride a motorbike you will feel it better and doing tricks will come easier for you. But you need to be a bit crazy to do it, all in all. People who are scared of powerful bikes should not do it, for their own safety. Let’s talk about tricks – is it about how technically complicated they are or how spectacular they are? Both. When I do a show for fans I ride in a different way than at contests or when I want to impress other stunters. Sometimes the easiest tricks done during a show can impress public the most, especially when they are not really stuntriding experts. For example, a trick called “Christ”, which is standing on a petrol tank of your bike when it’s moving. This trick gets the biggest ovation at shows but me and my stuntriding mates always laugh how simple it is and that it does not really require any top notch skills. What are your plans for the future, different than this sport? What would you like to do when you’ll be riding only for your own pleasure? No idea, really. I would like to ride a long as I can and then whatever happens, happens. I will go wherever fate sends me to.