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Chad/11-10 had a bunch of riders that he "helped" out. He would do the work and the riders would supply parts from their sponsors/pockets (a lot of guys get motor parts for free depending on the sponsor ex pistons, cams etc). He setup a race team, that was funded by the work he did at the shop (until Yamaha came on and gave him bikes/budget/parts - the budget wasn't huge so don't drool). The riders and the shop (chad) had an agreement, no one knows the exacts beside the actual people involved - But they would travel across the county and expect t have the money on a credit card (it wouldn't be) to cover the fuel, hotels, etc - It became a huge problem for the riders when they sat at hotels or gas stations with $0 and a card that didn't work. Everyone got fed up at some point and they bailed.
Now
Onto the shop... Lines and lines of people wanted a 11/10 motor when they were ripping holeshots - the work was there. Chad had some problems in his life that cost a lot of money and would consume his time. So there was all of this work in the shop and pretty much him and a guy or two doing everything. Needless to say between the volume of work and the lack of staff mixed with the personal problems started 11/10 down a bad road. The motors started to not last, the customers orders were backing up, and there are a lot of people that got a very bad taste of them (totally understandable). I know theres a lot of people that bought parts or paid for work or sent them parts that didn't come back, the parts never showed up, and they've seem some of their parts on someone elses bike.
Its a shame that the story leads us to the reality that is today. The guy is good at building motors & the other side to that card is he has some things in his life that got in the way of that. The team started on chads dime and the riders skill which eventually brought sponsors - and when it came it way too late to und what was already done couldn't be undone.
It kinda is what it is at this point. The only good news is that most of the riders that used him as engine builders have moved on. Its also allowed for some other guys in swpa that are great at what they do, and they've had a chance to do things for riders that get them noticeability. I hope chad and his family can bounce back from the funk they are or were in & I hope that the riders/customers that were burned realize that something's are out of their control and not all moto shops are this way.
Don't ask me how I know these things, I just do.
MXSports has all the equiptment, fuel, staff, logistics, promotions, insurance, rentals, lodging, taxes, etc. You may look at a national and say "man they are killing it with the gate fees" but if you tried to put the event on, imagine the costs. They make the money doing the series, but each event has crazy costs (I know sponsors help but still. They have a gizzilion workers everywhere)
Some say Americas about second chances and with that being said, if Chads got his "personal stuff"(I dont need to know and no one else does either I think what that stuff was) sorted out then I say move forward not backwards.
Best of wishes to Chad and his business endeavors going forward.
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Spare me the bullshit they do it for the love of the sport.
Josh Litctles (sp)career.
I would wager there's about an equal amount of checks that are good vs bad in the Sport.
Speaking of Josh Litchle... had an interesting conversation with Travis Pastrana about helping him out one year...
I don't think anybody faults Chad for being broke. But he needs to address the allegations of unkept promises, not showing up to races, showing up late, the credit card issues, etc.
In the case of testing something from a company with someone I might have had an issue with in the past (which there's only maybe three I can think of), I can easily put that aside for the sake of what I'm working on.
And if a team or company only offers up a product or machine for testing under the premise that it gets a good review, the entire process is flawed.
There's also a significant difference between testing a product or machine and having personal feelings toward someone. Kind of reminds of the saying "everyone is an asshole to someone." In other words, nobody is liked by everyone. They're still entitled to their opinion.
Shane
I'll take full transparency over reporting/writing in a way to make sure no one has their feathers ruffled 100 times out of 100. I have enough sponsored content in my life. The ability to freely express one's opinion outside of the constraints of what the industry/sport norms may be is - IMO - a big reason why Vital is what it is, and why so many people check in here daily.
Misleading readers/consumers by providing fluffed up content to appease whoever or whatever is being covered takes advantage of the trust said readers/consumers have in the provider, whether that's Vital or any other content provider.
Just my opinion.
Pit Row
Mx sports puts on the amateur events following the Nationals - my payout checks have come from them.
-Sannerlove an Sannerhate
-A jilted moderator
-John Martin is a cheap bastard for not chipping in for his sons mx career because mx promotors make all the money
-There was even a brief moment where a certain ex pro, now trainer got drug into it but I see the edit feature was used.
-Investigations demanded of MDK motorsports and former world and national mx champion Greg Albertyn
-An unnamed insider registers and tells the real story...but is ignored for the most part.
Happy New Year!
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