Southwick Official Press Release

GrapeApe
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8/12/2013 2:16pm
It doesn't add up that someone who hasn't promoted races needs to prove himself at that task before getting a race this big?
That, and once a track falls off the schedule for one year it's not that easy to just put it back on.
Brent
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8/12/2013 2:59pm
Xeno wrote:
It's amazing that a National can't draw 50,000 people in Southern California. There are 19 million people in the LA, San Diego and IE metro areas...
It's amazing that a National can't draw 50,000 people in Southern California. There are 19 million people in the LA, San Diego and IE metro areas and Lake Elsinore is roughly in the center of that region.

50,000 spectators is about 0.26% of the total population- one quarter of one percent.
BAMX wrote:
The track is built in a flat lake bottom with zero trees / shade and is held at a time when temps are 100 plus and...
The track is built in a flat lake bottom with zero trees / shade and is held at a time when temps are 100 plus and usually windy. I had a handful of friends go last year because they wanted to check it out. None of them are going this year.
Oh come on Bam, you and I both know that Elsinore has at least 7 trees they planted on the hill....Tongue

Problem with that place is that it was/ is not spectator friendly. No shade , no grass, blowing dust , hottest time of year, etc.

Of course the core people like riders will show up and drag their reluctant friends/ family along, but they won't come back until that place gets a lot more upgrades for the spectator.

It wouldn't cost that much, how about putting in a large lawn on the big hill with some sails or shade screen strung up between some telephone poles? Charge extra for the "Park" seating and I guarantee it will be packed with people.
Brent
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8/12/2013 3:03pm
Plus, if they can put lush green golf courses in the middle of the effing Mohave desert then they can sure as hell put a little grass in at Elsinore so people can sit.
DrSweden
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8/12/2013 3:34pm
It doesn't add up that someone who hasn't promoted races needs to prove himself at that task before getting a race this big?
Sure, but what are the odds that the new event taking the Wicks place 2014 will just be a one timer? The train left with the Pitellos, why the door got shut that fast looks a bit strange now, seems the new promotor is up for the task?

Maybe baby in the future, but the ball is already rolling, and obviously it seems someone else in the schedule needs to get the axe to make room... Or the new "Wick" elsewhere are dandy getting a one or two year deal only?

Only certain, we know shit about the future.

The Shop

DesertRat13
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8/12/2013 6:57pm
“When my sister spoke to Mike and Kevin at Loretta Lynn's”

So its true Kevin Windham was going to be part of the southwick national?!?! Like he doesn’t have a clue how a national should be run. Grondal has the money and knowledge of moto. Youre telling me those two couldn’t pull together a kick ass national by NEXT YEAR? Hell, even if they were both incompetent they have plenty of industry contacts and could easily hire the best people available to git r done.

Ralph and diane were not forced out. Its clear now that excuse is not true. They did not want to or could not pay what the track is worth. It was there decision to quit. It’s bizness! So grondal and windham step in to take over and are told no way because its to late and they don’t have experience running a national.

Somethin stinks real bad here. Loyalty my ass. I bet it has to do with money just like everything else. Financially, how is MX Sports going to do in all this? Did they already have a plan in place to dump southwick? Is the new national going to pay them more than they got from southwick? Follow the money.
DownSouth
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8/12/2013 7:25pm
Windham was just on PulpMX and talked about this. Like others have said he mentioned that 2014 isn't going to happen but he feels the door could still be open after the new group actually starts operations at the track and gets things up to speed.
dkg
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8/12/2013 7:47pm
Hmmm, I am a little lost. We get great news about Southwick's continued existence, a statement from DC that we will see what the future brings and there are still people bitching about it? Any rational person would like to see the new operator get some experience under their belt before holding a National event. With all the recent turmoil, most would want to see a good working relationship between the new operator and the Legion before committing to any National event. Frankly, I suspect the new operations team would like at least a little time to get things running smooth before hosting a National. Is there something I am missing here?
FreshTopEnd
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8/12/2013 8:22pm Edited Date/Time 8/12/2013 8:22pm
Tell you what, having made it through the full press release now, dishing a private conversation with the series owners, when they are occupied with running an event, is not really a smart way to start a relationship with the decision makers at the outset of your relationship when you're trying to get your new program accepted.
bultokid
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8/12/2013 8:33pm
OR you could put a National in the 2nd largest state with 4 of the Top 10 cities by population in the US.
TeamGreen
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8/12/2013 10:36pm
dkg wrote:
Hmmm, I am a little lost. We get great news about Southwick's continued existence, a statement from DC that we will see what the future brings...
Hmmm, I am a little lost. We get great news about Southwick's continued existence, a statement from DC that we will see what the future brings and there are still people bitching about it? Any rational person would like to see the new operator get some experience under their belt before holding a National event. With all the recent turmoil, most would want to see a good working relationship between the new operator and the Legion before committing to any National event. Frankly, I suspect the new operations team would like at least a little time to get things running smooth before hosting a National. Is there something I am missing here?
Pfffft...

Who's this dkg dude?

He comes in here talking' all smart with some of that there "common-sense" & what-not.

Pffffft...
dboivin
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8/12/2013 10:41pm
dkg wrote:
Hmmm, I am a little lost. We get great news about Southwick's continued existence, a statement from DC that we will see what the future brings...
Hmmm, I am a little lost. We get great news about Southwick's continued existence, a statement from DC that we will see what the future brings and there are still people bitching about it? Any rational person would like to see the new operator get some experience under their belt before holding a National event. With all the recent turmoil, most would want to see a good working relationship between the new operator and the Legion before committing to any National event. Frankly, I suspect the new operations team would like at least a little time to get things running smooth before hosting a National. Is there something I am missing here?
TeamGreen wrote:
Pfffft...

Who's this dkg dude?

He comes in here talking' all smart with some of that there "common-sense" & what-not.

Pffffft...
yeah don't go injecting facts and common sense into this thread...
DocMarten
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8/12/2013 11:26pm
“When my sister spoke to Mike and Kevin at Loretta Lynn's” So its true Kevin Windham was going to be part of the southwick national?!?! Like...
“When my sister spoke to Mike and Kevin at Loretta Lynn's”

So its true Kevin Windham was going to be part of the southwick national?!?! Like he doesn’t have a clue how a national should be run. Grondal has the money and knowledge of moto. Youre telling me those two couldn’t pull together a kick ass national by NEXT YEAR? Hell, even if they were both incompetent they have plenty of industry contacts and could easily hire the best people available to git r done.

Ralph and diane were not forced out. Its clear now that excuse is not true. They did not want to or could not pay what the track is worth. It was there decision to quit. It’s bizness! So grondal and windham step in to take over and are told no way because its to late and they don’t have experience running a national.

Somethin stinks real bad here. Loyalty my ass. I bet it has to do with money just like everything else. Financially, how is MX Sports going to do in all this? Did they already have a plan in place to dump southwick? Is the new national going to pay them more than they got from southwick? Follow the money.
MX Sports is part of the Trilateral Commison, Bildebergers, etc and they're trying to work with Luongo (another corrupt promotor) to make all motocross tracks the same.

Globalisation at its finest!! Durr
8/15/2013 10:16am
DC wrote:
Nothing to really elaborate on: the 'Wick has been saved for local racing, but the national promoters that we knew and worked well with for many...
Nothing to really elaborate on: the 'Wick has been saved for local racing, but the national promoters that we knew and worked well with for many years were forced out, and that's never a good thing. They did a lot for the sport and the series.

We will see how things go with this new promoter and the Legion and revisit the idea down the road. I know Mike wants to do big things there, and I am sure he will get himself sorted and moving forward soon.

DC
MX Sports
Ralph and Diane were not "forced" out of Southwick. 5 years ago they negotiated a new contract with the Legion for a 45% reduction in their rent. This was supposedly because they had a bad year and that they were going to make major improvements to the track. After 5 years the Post had not seen any major improvements to the land and felt that since the money wasn't being invested in the track then we should increase the rent. We increased our asking price and believed that there would be honest business discussions between Diane and Ralph and the Post. They never came back to the Post with a counter offer. They never explained that maybe their expenses they have to pay MX Sports was increasing and they could not pay the requested increase. They never said they had plans on the board to improve the track to meet MX Sports standards and didn’t have the money to pay us. They never talked to us at all. If they came back to us with anything we would have listened, just like we listened 5 years ago when we made a significant decrease in their rent. But they never came back, they just published a statement that said they were retiring and that Southwick was closing and the Nationals were going away. I presume that they had approval to say the Nationals were going away. From the Legions perspective they made a business decision based upon all the information they had, and didn’t share with us, and decided that retiring now was in their best interests.

Southwick is not going away. A number of people who have been involved with motocross for years believed in Southwick and saw the possibility to run it and make some money at the same time. Although we had some extremely qualified candidates, I believe that we selected the best one for Southwick and for motocross in the Northeast. The "Wick" will be around for quite some time. It will serve the riders in the Northeast and we may even get a National race back in the future. There are a number of national and international riders who would love to ride in our sandbox and I believe that Mike G will do his best to present a quality product to all motocross fans. Right now it’s time to focus on the future and making Southwick MX338 a destination for all riders and spectators,
BobbyM
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8/15/2013 11:02am
Bunch a fucking crybabies on here...fucking grown...I mean groan men in this case. Holy shit dorks...quit whining.
COAL-TRAIN
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8/15/2013 11:42am
BobbyM wrote:
Bunch a fucking crybabies on here...fucking grown...I mean groan men in this case. Holy shit dorks...quit whining.
You sound like a woman at the time of the month Bob.
BobbyM
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8/15/2013 3:07pm
BobbyM wrote:
Bunch a fucking crybabies on here...fucking grown...I mean groan men in this case. Holy shit dorks...quit whining.
COAL-TRAIN wrote:
You sound like a woman at the time of the month Bob.
We're all in sync here...

Smile
dantheman
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8/16/2013 8:03pm
Funny thing about patterns, they usually tell a story Wink

So far we have two track owners who explicitly refute the reported "reasons" of why the national was lost and... at the same time it's stated that, in regards to concerns over Utah, "this is not the future of motocross" while the last two tracks of the season seem almost cookie cutter type replica's of each other... hrmmmm.

I truly think a bit of deception is going on here but as I stated earlier, I'll look at five years from now to see what really happened to the sport of motocross, as they say... hindsight is always 20/20.

Also, it'll be interesting to see what the 2014 replacement track will be for the iconic 'Wick.
BobbyM
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8/16/2013 8:31pm
“When my sister spoke to Mike and Kevin at Loretta Lynn's” So its true Kevin Windham was going to be part of the southwick national?!?! Like...
“When my sister spoke to Mike and Kevin at Loretta Lynn's”

So its true Kevin Windham was going to be part of the southwick national?!?! Like he doesn’t have a clue how a national should be run. Grondal has the money and knowledge of moto. Youre telling me those two couldn’t pull together a kick ass national by NEXT YEAR? Hell, even if they were both incompetent they have plenty of industry contacts and could easily hire the best people available to git r done.

Ralph and diane were not forced out. Its clear now that excuse is not true. They did not want to or could not pay what the track is worth. It was there decision to quit. It’s bizness! So grondal and windham step in to take over and are told no way because its to late and they don’t have experience running a national.

Somethin stinks real bad here. Loyalty my ass. I bet it has to do with money just like everything else. Financially, how is MX Sports going to do in all this? Did they already have a plan in place to dump southwick? Is the new national going to pay them more than they got from southwick? Follow the money.
Kdub knowing how to promote races because he's a racer is like saying mario andretti could put on the indy 500 with ease. That is about the dumbfuckest post i have ever read on vital. Par for the course I suppose.
DesertRat13
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8/16/2013 9:00pm
Some of you are totally missin the point. The American legion says the promoters were not forced out but DC keeps sayin they were. Sounds like a PR move so MX Sports look like the good guys and the legion look bad. When the national was cancelled everyone blamed the legion. How convenient.

Have you noticed a pattern where mx sports is running at more and more tracks they own or control and the historic tracks are getting chopped? Looks like they want all the control and all the $$$.

Colorado national is getting chopped next, just wait. How long till Millville or Hangtown get chopped?

Wheres the AMA in all this? Do they have any say in anything? Are they going to get chopped to?

A while back TFS said DC was like an octopus and had his hands in every thing. Thought he loosing it but maybe he saw what was really goin on. Teefus was a smart dude.
DirtDgr
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8/16/2013 9:35pm
Unless you have intimately been a part of putting on a National MX you haven't a clue.

To expect MX Sports to gamble with a new promoter is ridiculous.

Sucks to lose an old track I agree.

The track is the easy part and it ain't easy! There is so much more!
dedi684
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8/17/2013 4:54am Edited Date/Time 8/17/2013 5:49am
Southwick sucks, it gets ruined more each and every year. Hopefully mike g turns it around, literally, gets the sand back on it and we can start to enjoy it for years to come. I know myself and many other racers either didn't enjoy it any longer or stopped going altogether. With that being said, weather's turning and I can't wait to hit a couple wicks this fall.
team186
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8/17/2013 6:50am Edited Date/Time 8/17/2013 6:53am
I got some friends that called me last night from Vet Fest at Red Bud, he told me they are parked next some other friends of ours from Indy. They say last year someone said at Crawfordsville GNCC over the PA they would have a Pro national in future. They also said they go by there all the time and looks like a ton work is happening out there and a MX track is being built on same site as GNCC that is run by Racer Productions??

So that my guess a guy said that another guy said he heard stuff and saw stuff and the southwick replacement will be in Crawfordsville, IN.
Shawn142
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8/17/2013 7:10am
Some of you are totally missin the point. The American legion says the promoters were not forced out but DC keeps sayin they were. Sounds like...
Some of you are totally missin the point. The American legion says the promoters were not forced out but DC keeps sayin they were. Sounds like a PR move so MX Sports look like the good guys and the legion look bad. When the national was cancelled everyone blamed the legion. How convenient.

Have you noticed a pattern where mx sports is running at more and more tracks they own or control and the historic tracks are getting chopped? Looks like they want all the control and all the $$$.

Colorado national is getting chopped next, just wait. How long till Millville or Hangtown get chopped?

Wheres the AMA in all this? Do they have any say in anything? Are they going to get chopped to?

A while back TFS said DC was like an octopus and had his hands in every thing. Thought he loosing it but maybe he saw what was really goin on. Teefus was a smart dude.
So many conspiracy theories.. I just gotta ask who gives a crap?? The founding members of the NPG who promoted this race since the beginning are gone and MX Sports doesn't wanna deal with anyone else. Any PR spin would be a penny in the ocean of who gives a shit in the end.

I do think it's hilarious you want the AMA to step in and do something, as if they've somehow done so much right for the sport before MX Sports took the reigns.
BobbyM
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8/17/2013 7:28am
Some of you are totally missin the point. The American legion says the promoters were not forced out but DC keeps sayin they were. Sounds like...
Some of you are totally missin the point. The American legion says the promoters were not forced out but DC keeps sayin they were. Sounds like a PR move so MX Sports look like the good guys and the legion look bad. When the national was cancelled everyone blamed the legion. How convenient.

Have you noticed a pattern where mx sports is running at more and more tracks they own or control and the historic tracks are getting chopped? Looks like they want all the control and all the $$$.

Colorado national is getting chopped next, just wait. How long till Millville or Hangtown get chopped?

Wheres the AMA in all this? Do they have any say in anything? Are they going to get chopped to?

A while back TFS said DC was like an octopus and had his hands in every thing. Thought he loosing it but maybe he saw what was really goin on. Teefus was a smart dude.
Semantics. ..
BobbyM
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8/17/2013 7:58am
DC wrote:
Nothing to really elaborate on: the 'Wick has been saved for local racing, but the national promoters that we knew and worked well with for many...
Nothing to really elaborate on: the 'Wick has been saved for local racing, but the national promoters that we knew and worked well with for many years were forced out, and that's never a good thing. They did a lot for the sport and the series.

We will see how things go with this new promoter and the Legion and revisit the idea down the road. I know Mike wants to do big things there, and I am sure he will get himself sorted and moving forward soon.

DC
MX Sports
Ralph and Diane were not "forced" out of Southwick. 5 years ago they negotiated a new contract with the Legion for a 45% reduction in their...
Ralph and Diane were not "forced" out of Southwick. 5 years ago they negotiated a new contract with the Legion for a 45% reduction in their rent. This was supposedly because they had a bad year and that they were going to make major improvements to the track. After 5 years the Post had not seen any major improvements to the land and felt that since the money wasn't being invested in the track then we should increase the rent. We increased our asking price and believed that there would be honest business discussions between Diane and Ralph and the Post. They never came back to the Post with a counter offer. They never explained that maybe their expenses they have to pay MX Sports was increasing and they could not pay the requested increase. They never said they had plans on the board to improve the track to meet MX Sports standards and didn’t have the money to pay us. They never talked to us at all. If they came back to us with anything we would have listened, just like we listened 5 years ago when we made a significant decrease in their rent. But they never came back, they just published a statement that said they were retiring and that Southwick was closing and the Nationals were going away. I presume that they had approval to say the Nationals were going away. From the Legions perspective they made a business decision based upon all the information they had, and didn’t share with us, and decided that retiring now was in their best interests.

Southwick is not going away. A number of people who have been involved with motocross for years believed in Southwick and saw the possibility to run it and make some money at the same time. Although we had some extremely qualified candidates, I believe that we selected the best one for Southwick and for motocross in the Northeast. The "Wick" will be around for quite some time. It will serve the riders in the Northeast and we may even get a National race back in the future. There are a number of national and international riders who would love to ride in our sandbox and I believe that Mike G will do his best to present a quality product to all motocross fans. Right now it’s time to focus on the future and making Southwick MX338 a destination for all riders and spectators,
Sounds like they were looking towards retirement. Good for them.
watson
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8/17/2013 10:08am
A new promoter is a lame reason to not back an established National like Southwick. The obvious answer is that MX Sports already has another National lined up in it's place for next year, and who can blame them? Southwick's future was as bleak as can be for quite a few months there.


Like everyone else, I will sorely miss Southwick. And Glen Helen. And Steel City. I like the direction MX Sports went with Muddy Creek, though. However, at the end of the day it's the fans that are the lifeblood of the sport and most fans would say they want the above tracks back on the schedule.
Shawn142
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8/17/2013 10:22am
watson wrote:
A new promoter is a lame reason to not back an established National like Southwick. The obvious answer is that MX Sports already has another National...
A new promoter is a lame reason to not back an established National like Southwick. The obvious answer is that MX Sports already has another National lined up in it's place for next year, and who can blame them? Southwick's future was as bleak as can be for quite a few months there.


Like everyone else, I will sorely miss Southwick. And Glen Helen. And Steel City. I like the direction MX Sports went with Muddy Creek, though. However, at the end of the day it's the fans that are the lifeblood of the sport and most fans would say they want the above tracks back on the schedule.
It isn't just replacing some promoter, it's replacing a founding member of the NPG. If MX Sports is being honest about this revolving schedule with a few races (which they seem to be) Southwick will return and all you guys will find something else to complain about.
bd
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8/17/2013 11:03am
“When my sister spoke to Mike and Kevin at Loretta Lynn's” So its true Kevin Windham was going to be part of the southwick national?!?! Like...
“When my sister spoke to Mike and Kevin at Loretta Lynn's”

So its true Kevin Windham was going to be part of the southwick national?!?! Like he doesn’t have a clue how a national should be run. Grondal has the money and knowledge of moto. Youre telling me those two couldn’t pull together a kick ass national by NEXT YEAR? Hell, even if they were both incompetent they have plenty of industry contacts and could easily hire the best people available to git r done.

Ralph and diane were not forced out. Its clear now that excuse is not true. They did not want to or could not pay what the track is worth. It was there decision to quit. It’s bizness! So grondal and windham step in to take over and are told no way because its to late and they don’t have experience running a national.

Somethin stinks real bad here. Loyalty my ass. I bet it has to do with money just like everything else. Financially, how is MX Sports going to do in all this? Did they already have a plan in place to dump southwick? Is the new national going to pay them more than they got from southwick? Follow the money.
Is KW really involved with Southwick? I find this ironic.... Lol. Awesome if he is.... Windham is 110% moto
watson
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8/17/2013 11:35am
Shawn142 wrote:
It isn't just replacing some promoter, it's replacing a founding member of the NPG. If MX Sports is being honest about this revolving schedule with a...
It isn't just replacing some promoter, it's replacing a founding member of the NPG. If MX Sports is being honest about this revolving schedule with a few races (which they seem to be) Southwick will return and all you guys will find something else to complain about.
Still a lame excuse. Companies continue to do business with other companies every day after changing of hands from founding members/ CEO's. Sure it's a risk, but it's also a risk holding two brand new Nationals in a race season.

And we'll see if the revolving schedule comes into fruition once an older track actually comes back. I'm sure it's MX Sport's intent to do just that, but it may not be a viable model. For a promoter who's making all the spectator accommodation investments that MX Sports routinely needs on their end, profit once every other year may not be worth their while.

I rarely complain on this board, but the loss of those tracks is certainly something to whine about Tongue

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