Posts
29
Joined
5/15/2014
Location
Woodland, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
5/17/2014 3:09am
I am a huge Moto fan and really enjoy following the amateur scene and Loretta's in particular.
With the recent announcement by Kip Bigelow and the AMA of the US Jr MX team, it occurred to me that some of the names were not familiar and I was wondering who they were and what their credentials are to represent our country in this prestigious event. I then went to the Vault and found that some ofthe riders did not finish in the top ten and I did not see the name of the class winners mentioned as a team members. How can this be ? Is it like the pros who are sometimes offered but decline for a number of reasons?
Why are our AMA class champions (if age/class eligible) not the first selected or offered/ or are they ?
Someone make sense of this to me please !
Go USA !
With the recent announcement by Kip Bigelow and the AMA of the US Jr MX team, it occurred to me that some of the names were not familiar and I was wondering who they were and what their credentials are to represent our country in this prestigious event. I then went to the Vault and found that some ofthe riders did not finish in the top ten and I did not see the name of the class winners mentioned as a team members. How can this be ? Is it like the pros who are sometimes offered but decline for a number of reasons?
Why are our AMA class champions (if age/class eligible) not the first selected or offered/ or are they ?
Someone make sense of this to me please !
Go USA !
But we have had some top guys go. Didn't Tomac race one year?
Any youngster on the consideration list should be proud of their accomplishments.
Maybe someone from the inner circle will shed some light?
I would bet it's mostly , Eligibility, Time and Money issues.
The Shop
My guess, someone who was close to as good had someone who backs them heavily with some pull (an OEM perhaps) talked to the team selection crew and squeezed some riders in.
Oh wait that's been done 10________________ times hasn't it
Traveled to CO in 2010 to watch my first MX of Nations and learned about the Jr team as well. I thought this might be a good way to find out something that doesn't make sense on the surface.
Brrrrap !
Tomac, Villopoto, Wharton, Savatgy have all participated in this event in the past. Who knows which of these kids may step up as a future star?
We're asking these riders to head to a foreign country on their own dime to compete in a race that almost nobody knows about.
Choosing the team for the Junior World Championships is not as easy as it looks. In the 65 class most of the top kids from the previous year have moved up to 85s full time or aged out of the class. That makes the 65 class the toughest to pick. You also have to pick kids well in advance of the event. The OEMs have a say in who goes because in most cases they supply the bikes for the kids who go. KTM and Kawasaki have been huge supporters of the program and without their help it would be very costly.
The whole thing is a huge undertaking and coordinating it is a bear. You have to get kids who are fast, can afford to go and want to go. You need to be able to provide bikes that are competitive as the competition is riding the bikes they race every weekend and that takes some doing. A pit rig has to be procured, supplies and fuel, lodging, air fare, fund raising to help defray costs, secure sponsorship and many other things. The guys making this happen are also working full time at their jobs as well.
It'[s not perfect but they have won three out of four times (I think) they went so it must be working ok.
Mike
p.s. My son was a last minute fill in on the first championship team and it was a huge rush to just be there.
money, commitment, time all are factors. Kip does a good job with this I think and i personally think its a great thing. I try to watch/read anything i can on it when it goes down.
And congrats to Biese - double tough coming out of the snow belt with short riding seasons!
I've been passionate about the sport of motocross for my entire life and this is probably the second time I have heard about this event.
Pit Row
I have been involved with this effort since its inception, and I will tell you that top ten riders routinely turn down the invitation. Some sponsors get all over it, some sponsors couldn't care less about a race in another country where they don't even sell their products. Adam Cianciarullo and Cooper Webb declined to go in the same year.
Also, the race has been the week or two after Loretta's in past years with riders flying out on the Monday after. I think this year it is two weeks after Loretta's, not in October. Many can't just take three weeks out of their lives and Loretta's is going to take top priority. Some families are concerned about going over to race on a borrowed bike and being at a disadvantage to their European counterparts.
The rider decisions are generally made shortly after the spring national races. Sometimes a kid blossoms over the summer, kills it at Loretta's and is not one of the kids chosen. Every year there are 6 or 8 kids who, based on their results, are deserving. Only three can go.
The proof is in the pudding as we say down south. Team USA has won the event three out of the four years they have participated.
I am not doubting that there have been riders turn it down for a variety of reasons - I am questioning whether the top riders are offered the spots or if the riders are simply selected by (the appearance of the) ability to pay for the trip or some other non-performance based reason such as personal relationships with the committee members (aka politics)
USA Jr Team Facebook page
2014 Team Selection
you seem to totally miss the point and jump directly to the "unfairness" to it....or "not sending our best"....you should really educate yourself on it before blindly throwing opinions at it.
http://vurbmoto.com/blogs/aiden-tijero-world-champion/14902/
.... maybe I should see if I could pay his dad/ him for some lessons, since they live down the street
lemme put it terms you might understand.
kip is like the mitch payton of team USA. he builds a team each season to take overseas to race against everyone else. just like not everyone takes mitch's deal/contract/offer....not everyone accepts kips invite. specially since its a lot of time/money/commitment as everyone has pointed out. So #1 or #2 don't always go but....discounting these kids because they didn't finish last year 1st place at LL's is a little shortsighted. Every kid i've seen race over there has been way talented top runnin in amateurs...and usually wins or finishes podiums/top5's consistently. So i would say kip does a good job.
First, there is no clear definition of a top rider since there is no ranking system in place across amateur MX in the US. That makes it hard to say whether the top riders in an order that doesn't exist, were all asked to go. The real answer is probably not.
To answer the question you really seem to want answered. Politics and non performance based factors play a part in just about every facet of our lives from who starts on the high school girls soccer team, to who gets promoted in their job, to if a shopping center developer gets a variance to connect the driveway of his new Food Lion to the main street in his community. I'm guessing this is no different.
the race is THE WEEKEND AFTER LORETTAS... that means the riders are boarding a flight on the Sunday night after LL and flying to Europe. It was the same last year. I have no idea where you are getting October from?? That makes it extremely tough on families to have to plan to be away for close to three solid weeks in one stretch.
As for picking the best riders.... the team got announced last week, in May. Can you please tell me the winners for the 2014 LL 65, 85 and 125 classes...?? No... exactly. Nobody knows who's going to win the classes in May so they pick the best riders who they think will do well. As for Cianciarulo... I also know he was too old to attend in one of the years he'd have been a shoe-in for the 85cc class.
And finally, for all those people who have never heard of this event..... go to www.vurbmoto.com and you'll see in-depth coverage from the past 3 years. It may also be a secret in America, but I can assure you the rest of the world knows about it (shocker... I know)
2013 JWC
2012 JWC
2011 JWC
https://youtu.be/videoseries?list=PLD5F32FEE6EC140CB
and then obviously, this was the team after winning the overall event...
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