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MotoGP Off-Season Thread

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And don't forget that the priorities are a bit different for young americans. They tend to gravitate towards other sports such as football, baseball, etc. There isn't as much emphasis put on motor sports, especially moto road racing. Whereas in countries like Spain and Italy moto racing is a national passion.

I'm quite sure that there are many young american men that could be great riders that we'll never see because they are not encouraged to pursue road racing. The factors that Jerry has brought up only adds further obstacles to pursuing this endevour.
 
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RaptorFA said:
And as we speak, Motocross is coming on!
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even then, the trend for the west and southwest t produce great riders is do in no small part with the fact that you can ride year round in almost ideal conditions

weather no doubt also plays a huge part in why spain and italy make such good racers


btw dovi gets small shoulder surgery dec 4th.
 
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kevin 714 said:
even then, the trend for the west and southwest t produce great riders is do in no small part with the fact that you can ride year round in almost ideal conditions

weather no doubt also plays a huge part in why spain and italy make such good racers
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I'm not sure I buy that. Spain has a population of 50MM. Between Southern California and the southwest, we have well over that and those areas have a far more predictable and rideable climate than Spain.
 
Agree. :thumbup We are pretty frickin spoiled around here with regard to weather. Provides much more time to develop skills.

I didn't even know Dovi was hurt. This must be clean-up fron an older injury. HMMM, Rossi got a shoulder surgery prior to his first year on the Duc. Not a trend I would want to follow from a supersticious standpoint!
 
Americans are too tall to be best MotoGP. Thats why we world champion basketball instead.
 
RaptorFA said:
Agree. :thumbup We are pretty frickin spoiled around here with regard to weather. Provides much more time to develop skills.

I didn't even know Dovi was hurt. This must be clean-up fron an older injury. HMMM, Rossi got a shoulder surgery prior to his first year on the Duc. Not a trend I would want to follow from a supersticious standpoint!
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Minor stuff. Getting a plate removed. Remrmber he had more real surgery between Honda and yamaha.
 
RaptorFA said:
And don't forget that the priorities are a bit different for young americans. They tend to gravitate towards other sports such as football, baseball, etc. There isn't as much emphasis put on motor sports, especially moto road racing. Whereas in countries like Spain and Italy moto racing is a national passion.
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I was having this discussion with my wife about our little one... I wanted to get him into Karting, but really, besides as a pass time, there is no real feeder series here in the States in case he does get fast... Moto's though he has chance to either go dirt or track... as small as Moto here in the states is, it's way bigger than the open wheel options...
 
RaptorFA said:
And don't forget that the priorities are a bit different for young americans. They tend to gravitate towards other sports such as football, baseball, etc.
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The Golden State Warriors, one of the worst teams in the NBA, are paying Andrew Bogut a whopping $13 million this season.

You may have never even heard of Bogut...exactly the point. :laughing
 
I have a great idea guys. Since bench racing becomes a bit more redundant (redundant) during the offseason, instead we can measure our penises and see who has the biggest one!
 
Let's not forget the doomed Argentina MotoGP round of 2013.

[youtube]TA1QHtFkH48[/youtube]
 
kevin 714 said:
........
a contributing factor is that the very best talent ameica has to offer in moto racing is in the dirt, where they are unparreled. america has the single best farm and amateur system for MX and SX, of any country in the world. no question.
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Here is where I see something that you don't. America has SuperCross. A stadium event that has had enormous success. It is American centric, and you rarely see foreign riders doing well in the series. In contrast, Americans have rarely done well on the world MotoCross stage, for the same reasons they don't do well on the MotoGP stage. It's expensive and difficult to go do it. It is also biased toward a small region of riders.

Casey Stoner is a perfect example of how difficult it is to get into the series. I am actually surprised that we are seeing Germans in MotoGP, and they are relatively close to Spain and Italy. It's not about training on small bikes. It's about expense, distance, and an inherent bias to pick riders closer to the series' home.
 
JO EBRMC said:
The geographical challenges in AFM alone are a serious consideration.

The second problem - AMA hasn't been able to make this happen (nor has anyone in the US, even MX and SX).

Until they can overcome the second problem, the first will continue to affect our ability to produce world level talent. I have no doubt that if we could even make a small amount of progress, we could produce those riders. As a country, we are very good at kicking ass when we set our minds to it.
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The AFM use to have riders from a wider geographical range, and they raced more tracks. It is now pretty much the Northern California Racing Club. And it just shows that at any level, racing is expensive and time consuming. It just reinforces what was said before: It's hard to go race in a European Series.

The AMA sponsorship money became even more difficult when the economy and motorcycle sales tanked. Add all the other sport venues where sponsors can spend their money, and sponsor checks are slim. It's a tough situation, and we need folks with a lot more disposable income going to races and buying bikes to change things, I am pretty darn sure.
 
clutchslip said:
The AMA sponsorship money became even more difficult when the economy and motorcycle sales tanked. Add all the other sport venues where sponsors can spend their money, and sponsor checks are slim. It's a tough situation, and we need folks with a lot more disposable income going to races and buying bikes to change things, I am pretty darn sure.
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Excellent article at Motomatters about sponsorship problems and motorcycle racing:

http://www.motomatters.com/opinion/2012/11/25/things_motogp_can_learn_from_f1_part_1_t.html
 
I say technology is killing racing. It has made it so expensive it can not support it self anymore .
Growing up, a factory racer often helped drive the box van.Yep, no tractor trailer(s) and posh Motorhomes..:shocker
In motocross, the box van contained two bikes, the race bike and a practice bike and a few consumable parts such as extra plastic fenders and tires. That was the race team, mechanic and rider. The van doubled as hotel for many. These were the Factory guys I am talking about. A privateer team today would overshadow those efforts.
Sought after sponsors might offer discount parts, a set of tires, free oil in exchange for plastering their stickers on every square inch of their bike, van, neighbors kid sting-ray.
At some point TV came and so did lure of getting real $$$. The competition ramped up in full public view. Riders now looked even more to technology to bring them an edge, better suspension, lighter rims, stronger parts that didn't break in the heat of battle.
Millions saw that trick stuff and demanded it for them selves. "I know I could cream that Hanna dude if I had his bike!"
The fall from grace had begun. Once, you bought a simple inexpensive bike. Whether dirt or road racing, you just pulled off the parts you didn't need or might break, zip tied on some plastic number plates and went racing!
Those days are long gone, you and I now ride on some pretty trick stuff as a result. We use tires that are better than the GP guys had just 10 years (less?)ago.
I love it! But also we are responsible for pricing racing out of reach, for suing manufactures of poor products that might break, for promotors of tracks I might crash on (while thinking I can beat Hanna). For demanding all the best components, teams of mechanics, Data engineers, suspension specialists, PR folks, trainers, the list goes on.
Basically, we have exceeded the $$$ taken in thru selling TV rights and dwindling sponsors that are no longer in the position to throw unlimited funds at the riders/teams.
Time to get back to basics?:thumbup
DT.
 
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dtrides said:
I say technology is killing racing. It has made it so expensive it can not support it self anymore .
Growing up, a factory racer often helped drive the box van.Yep, no tractor trailer(s) and posh Motorhomes..:shocker
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And no one watched it.
 
JO EBRMC said:
And no one watched it.
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Lots of people came to watch , just not the masses in their easy chairs:laughing It was more of a family affair, up close and personal:ride.
DT
 
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