Where's the American's?

[kiwi_925]

Yet another season of the greatest off road series of motorcycle racing has started, as your all well aware of, its the World Motocross Champs, MX1, MX2. Mike Brown, and Mike Alessi ( only doing a few rounds ). But as Im sure you know the later is all hype, injured his back, or knew from pre-seaons form wasnt good enough so went home with his tail between his legs, and said he was injured, too scared to take on the seasoned racers from Europe.

Brown, he cant even do any better than the one moto of the British champs, and doesnt even want to show his face for race 2.

"In a strange twist Mike Brown DNFed the opening moto of the British Motocross championship yesterday and then went missing, failing to race the second moto. The future of Brown in Europe is not looking as bright as we had expected. It's going to take a huge effort from the American to reproduce the same magic that saw him win an American title."

Next year the name on everyones talking about is Townley!! World champion again this year, america next!!

Its been two years since i last posted here, so just through a spanner in the works!!

 

[Tom Cox]

A spanner, I like that.

The top performers in any sport will eventually gravitate to where the money is. Secondly if they're financially stable they will search out the competition. We have a number of International riders that compete in the States.
Maybe you need to ask the past champions of Your series why they race in the states.
One thing is known, the racing is different, continent to continent. Different rules, different customs, different languages, the individual has to ask himself if there's value in it, for him to compete. If you've earned the title of International Champion in a given venue and earned the US title in the same, then you truly are the world champion because you've beaten the worlds best.

 

[CaptainObvious]

Of course there is always the MX des Nations. Perhaps the factories will allow a few riders to atend this year.

 

[Camstyn]

Some who were in attendance at round 1 have noted that Brown looked to be the fastest guy there in his class, and he cooked his ignition in both motos from over-revving the bike. I heard tempers are flaring in the pits, he wants a bike that will take the abuse and they want him to ride it differently. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in their pits, who knows what's going on...

 

[Timr]

Of course there is always te MX des Nations. Perhaps the factories will allow a few riders to atend this year.

That's not likely. Check out this quote from DC's Racerhead on racerxill.com:

The GPs, by the way, were won by Stefan Everts and Tyla Rattray, the two odds-on favorites to win. And the Youthstream people went ahead with their plan to pay no purse money. In other words, I will make as much in prize money today at Castillo Ranch as Everts did for winning his record-extending 80th Grand Prix. No wonder everyone wants to come to America and race.

By the way, Giuseppe Luongo’s decision to stop paying prize money altogether does not bode well for Team USA, Chad Reed, Grant Langston or anyone else racing on this continent to go to the 2005 Motocross des Nations…. Well, yeah, Team Canada will go, but that’s only because hockey will probably still be on strike.

 

[Okiewan]

pfft.. screw that! Riders should be racing for the love of the sport, not money.

 

[pace]

I know that's why I come into work every day.. :think:

:)

 

[Tom Cox]

Spode?

Amateur's ride for fun, competition, personal satisfaction and the love of the sport. Professionals try to make a living at it. They ride for MONEY. The more notoriety they can get, the more money they can make. It applies to all sports. Why do you think teenagers and twenty year olds sign basketball, baseball or football contracts worth millions of dollars. For the love of the sport??

 

[Okiewan]

lol, thanks for clearing that up for me tcox. :p

 

[HiG4s]

Amateur's ride for fun, competition, personal satisfaction and the love of the sport. Professionals try to make a living at it. They ride for MONEY. The more notoriety they can get, the more money they can make. It applies to all sports. Why do you think teenagers and twenty year olds sign basketball, baseball or football contracts worth millions of dollars. For the love of the sport??

YES!!! No one that doesn't absolutly love their sport would never be able to get good enough to ever be offered a million dollar contract.

 

[Tom Cox]

Struck a nerve

As an Amateur or Professional an individual can take great pride and satisfaction in the level at which he/she performs. You can call that love of the sport. But a Professional makes a living at what he/she is doing. Its a job. If you don't perform well enough and meet the conditions of your contract, or violate a condition of your contract, you lose your job. Professional people push their abilities all the time to make themselves better than their competitors.
They may personally, or have their Managers negotiate for more money and better benefits at contract time. They try to get more Sponsors for only one reason, to make more money. When a Professional rider holds out and doesn't sign his contract because he feels its not enough, or when he changes teams and brands, its not for the love of the sport. Its business, aka, a job. His job is to compete at a level that makes him better than his competitors.
"You" may love your sport. The individual riding Professionally and living out of a box van and paying their own way from race to race trying to make it on what they win and what they can get from Sponsors or family, may have at one time loved what they did, but now its a job. Try loving your job when you're finishing out of the money every week. Fixing your bike when its broke or preparing it for the next race after driving half way across the country. Additionally find time for the dedication and determination to practice for hours to make yourself better.
Ask all of these people why they're doing it and for all the reasons they give, it will always finally come around to money. Its how they've chosen to make a living. Doing something that they do well, getting satisfaction from beating the next guy and being paid for it. If you wish to call that love, so be it. For the rest of us it's a job and some make it at our desired profession and others don't.

 

[CaptainObvious]

pfft.. screw that! Riders should be racing for the love of the sport, not money.

Ah, try to see the humor in Okie's comment?

 

[Tom Cox]

Old Spanner

You know, actually Kiwi_925 is probably laughing his _ _ _ off at us debating the issue. He accomplished what he wanted by posting the thread, to see if he could get a rise out of the Americans. Best thing we could have done was ignore him. I'm guilty as charged.

 

[HiG4s]

Ask all of these people why they're doing it and for all the reasons they give, it will always finally come around to money. Its how they've chosen to make a living. Doing something that they do well, getting satisfaction from beating the next guy and being paid for it. If you wish to call that love, so be it. For the rest of us it's a job and some make it at our desired profession and others don't.

I have heard many living out of box vans say they love it.. and considering that many of them actually make less than a manager at McDonalds they must at least like it a lot.

My wife is a teacher, and she loves it. Sometimes she complains, sometimes she thinks about quiting. And seeing she has three degrees she probably could double her salary if she quit. After all 35K a year for someone with an AA and two BAs is not that much. But she stays because she loves teaching. I don't believe anyone would stay in a job as hard as motocross for as little as some of these guys live on if they didn't love it.

 

[pace]

Well... obviously the following doesn't apply to all pro racers out there, but bear in mind many of them do not have a single degree, let alone two or three. For those guys, working the shop during weekdays and then trucking their bike to the track at weekends is done out of necessity as much as 'love'. Athletes at the top of their sport are invariably extremely intelligent people, but there's also a lot of guys making up the numbers out there that clearly don't have a job waiting for them at NASA if they quit racing motorcycles. For those guys, wrenching and racing motorcycles sure beats working the mic at McDonalds. Given the choice, I know which I'd rather be doing.

 

[Tom Cox]

To HiG4s

My wife is a teacher, and she loves it. Sometimes she complains, sometimes she thinks about quiting. And seeing she has three degrees she probably could double her salary if she quit. After all 35K a year for someone with an AA and two BAs is not that much. But she stays because she loves teaching.

Living with a teacher, I would think you'd understand where I'm coming from better. I teach. Yes I'm a teacher. I teach adults. It's great teaching adults, they're there to learn. They challenge you on answers and issues. Part of the curriculum is real life issues and how to understand and manage them. It poses very interesting discussions as everyone presents the material based on their point of view. A point of view which is based on their life experiences. It's a reflection of what they know. If you reflect on this thread, everyone that contributed, just did an exercise. There's no grade. However we all have a chance to reflect on the content and evaluate what we could learn from it. The exercise is not an effort to prove who's right or wrong, it's an opportunity to express a point of view. I simply described it as I saw it, which is apparently in conflict with your values and impressions. I accept that.

 

[HiG4s]

Living with a teacher, I would think you'd understand where I'm coming from better. I teach. Yes I'm a teacher. .

First that is a terrible juxtaposition of logic. Because I live with a teacher and you are a teacher I should understand you better? And second, what makes you think I don't understand where you are coming from? Just because someone understands your point of view doesn't mean they have to agree.

Having been around this sport since 1970 and have raced for several years myself, I believe no one would put up with the issues the struggling priviteers put up with, or be able to spend the necessary time practicing to reach the pro level of this sport without a love of it. It would be too easy to take the knowledge gained and get a 9 to 5 making decent money at a motorcycle or marine engine repair shop. Or change to any of a thousand other jobs that would be less dangerous, more stable and just plain easier. But as long as it is being said that it comes down to money,, how about some numbers, after expenses, how much does the average privateer make?

 

[Tom Cox]

Some don't make any money, that's why they quit. I wrenched for a rider, that had sponsors, who rode open pro class (when we still had one). He was $21,000.00 in debt when he called it quits. He was so disappointed, he hasn't competed in any event since.

I started racing in 1965 and paid my 25 years of dues to AMA to become a Life Member. I still ride hare scrambles and enduros with my son.

Where did I note that we had to agree? Matter of fact I openly acknowledged there are going to be different perspectives based on point of reference.

Why do you feel the need to attack my position. If you understand a position you acknowledge it. As I did of yours in a previous notation. { Doing something that they do well, getting satisfaction from beating the next guy and being paid for it. If you wish to call that love, so be it.} Evidently that definition isn't to your satisfaction. You're driven by what defines "love of the sport". What I described is what they do. It is something they do well. They get satisfaction from competing and beating the next guy. If they're fortunate enough, they get paid for it. If you believe that these words do not describe what they do, please, in your own words, describe for everyone what they do as racers and what does "love of the sport" mean.

It apparent you have very strong beliefs and my position and others are a threat or challenge to them.

I'll reserve my comments on your understanding of teachers. In November of 2004 I started my 36th year of teaching. I teach for the satisfaction and rewards of it. Maybe you call that love.

 

[kiwi_925]

Money

Interesting how quickly this post turned from about racing in different countries to money, as the saying goes money makes the world go around....money should be a by-product if your good at what you do. I found this also on the racer x web site, a long read - granted, but well worth it, just to give you from the other side of the fence.

You're obviously referring to the elimination of the race purses. Explain that, please.
Yes, our unpopular decision was to cut the purses and the travel indemnity in Europe. Why did we do it? Because we absolutely have to invest all the money that we can find—and more—in improving the quality of the series. We have to improve the tracks, have a wider television distribution, and expand the series into different countries. Before, when the previous promoter was here, they wanted six or seven hundred-thousand dollars to bring the Motocross des Nations to the United States. To bring a Grand Prix to Japan or China, they wanted $900,000. That wasn't because they wanted to put that money in their pockets. It was because in order to succeed, they needed—at a minimum—that money, just to cover their costs. So what happened? The U.S. Motocross des Nations finished badly (also because of many other reasons), and there were no out-of-Europe Grand Prix rounds. That wasn't the previous promoter's fault. It wasn't that they only had a European map. In fact, for three years, they lost two or three million dollars per year. That's why they got rid of motocross. It's not like they said, "Look, now we're giving motocross back to Giuseppe because he's handsome, he's nice, and he's our friend." It was because they're a company that does business, and after one, two, three years, it wasn't possible. As a consequence, I told the FIM—because it was the FIM that asked me to take over motocross—"You know that, if we want motocross to get to a point where it has worldwide reach, we're going to have to make some important changes." The world economy today is in difficulty. Also, before, the sport was all connected to cigarette sponsors, which are now more difficult. And television today pays one-fifth of what they paid five years ago for distribution rights—not just with us, but with MotoGP, Formula 1, and all the important sports. That means that we don't even recover 50 percent of the costs of production, but we still have to do it. Today, a sport without television isn't worth anything except the value it brings to those who participate in it. It's because of television that athletes are able to make high salaries. Because of all these facts, we arrived at the conclusion that we have to create a World Championship that is truly worldwide, that touches all the continents. It has to have worldwide television distribution, and the tracks have to be better. We have to improve the pressrooms, and everything else involved with the promotion of this sport. That's our job, and if we do it right, the teams and riders will be better able to make money. If we bring motocross to where it has 300 million people watching it, it's worth a lot more than if there were only the 300,000 spectators a year that see it. This is an attached value that is much, much more important than the prize money, which, in the end, is $1000 per rider, times 60, times the number of races, which equals $2 million. If we pay that $2 million as prize money, we're still losing money, like the previous promoter did. On the other hand, we can invest it, and have television and a much better system, and begin to make money. Because I can't work if I lose money. If I want to lose money, I'll just pay it—it's right to speak clearly.

So I think the money side of things is a lose lose, promoters and racers. But back to the racing, the Alessi's, disapointing is really the wrod. But did anyone mention that Ben Townely in only his second ever MX1 GP won the damn thing! How good is he!! Have to wait and see if Bubba can do this in his second or first attempt at a motocross. But money is the only thing bringing riders to america to race, just my thoughts.

 

[HiG4s]

Why do you feel the need to attack my position.
It apparent you have very strong beliefs and my position and others are a threat or challenge to them.

What is apparent is you make a lot of assumptions from very little info.

 

[Tom Cox]

Dead horse

That's quite a comment from someone that has repeatedly made a statement, but for whatever reason is not able to define it, to defend it.
To many ones and zeros have been waisted on this issue. I'm go riding, something that is much more satisfying, rewarding and has value.

 

[JPIVEY]

Awww Kiwi, the Americans only use the World Motocross Series as pratice and warm up laps for the real racing back here in the states :nener: :moon:

 

[kmccune]

********edited to shorten*******

You're obviously referring to the elimination of the race purses. Explain that, please.
Yes, our unpopular decision was to cut the purses and the travel indemnity in Europe. Why did we do it? Because we absolutely have to invest all the money that we can find—and more—in improving the quality of the series. We have to improve the tracks, have a wider television distribution, and expand the series into different countries.

Sounds like the world motocross seen is in financial trouble... could that be from lack of interest ???

 

[marcusgunby]

the organisers are trying to milk all the money out of the series, there is plenty of interest, just greed im afraid.

 

[kmccune]

It may sound strange but I hope that you’re correct, as it means that the roots are intact, so there is hope. I do pay attention to the world title chase, but I think that people do go where the money is. It use to be in the FIM races and now it may not be ( I am not an expert as I have only received plastic trophies for services :bang: :) ) but I have been paying attention for 29 years or so. :blah: :)