Jett Lawrence thinks Euro local weekend warriors have more skill than American amateurs.

nskerb
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10/13/2021 7:02am
It would be cool to see if Jett could hold his own in MX2 right now. Not saying he should go over there, but it would be interesting to see.

There should be some type of EMX125 and 250f circuit in the states split east/west that follows the nationals and lets the kids mix it up on the tracks when they get nice and rough. I know this isn't a new thought and the amateur combine thing is doing sort of that, but higher numbers of riders and events would be cool. I'd mostly really want to see them do it on 125's.
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MO 23
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10/13/2021 7:13am
Sully wrote:
Why come to the states to race all of the products of that system, then? Why not stay in Europe to race GPs and the products...
Why come to the states to race all of the products of that system, then? Why not stay in Europe to race GPs and the products of that system your whole career?
MO 23 wrote:
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too. It’s not an attack on the US...
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too.

It’s not an attack on the US, just stating his opinion on the amateur systems between the two. And he is one of only a handful with first hand experience at both. I think it’s great to hear his opinion.

I think we all can agree that there are some issues with the US amateur system. Huge money early on, short races and it’s pretty staggering how little the guys race, although that does seem to be somewhat improving.

An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory. Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider...
An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory.

Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider stacks up at A1 against some of the B class kids racing SX futures this year.
Hang on, is that actually what he said? I listened to the WTS a while back and he said the system over there was better. I never remember him saying thing like “the weekend warrior in Europe would beat the best in the US”
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Shaft721
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10/13/2021 7:29am
Sandusky26 wrote:
An EMX250 rider just came over to race our National’s and did damn good.
Not trying to be a dick but the guy who just won lorettas this year (kitchen) was far far ahead of one of the top EMX250 guys over there.

1.5 minutes ahead in moto 1 at hangtown.

I think he did very well on a borrowed bike with a stock engine for sure just saying.

I think Jett is exaggerating a little bit.

In my opinion, the US 250 class is a bit stronger than the MX2 class.

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gt80rider
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10/13/2021 7:43am
I dig Jett.... but.... America is different... sx means more than mx here... and sx is all about the start, then sprinting...

The bigger problem to me is burn out.... these guys burn themselves crispy by age 20.... and want to retire by 25... the system makes them hate racing... ask rc... rv... Dungey... they practiced so much they ended up hating to race
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APLMAN99
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Chad Reed- what would he know- has been making the same objective criticism as Jett. Too many classes to fit in, too few meetings and too...
Chad Reed- what would he know- has been making the same objective criticism as Jett.

Too many classes to fit in, too few meetings and too short motos.

Maybe no coincidence that 4 out of the 6 2021 Outdoors places were guys with MXGP/EMX experience.
So would it be safe to say that Jett, Hunter, and their father stepped down to race easier competition because the Euro series were just too difficult?!?!?!?!?!?
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109
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10/13/2021 8:14am
Bold statement from a guy that went to Lorettas’s in 2019 and Mini O’s in 2018 and won 0 titles.
I’m sure he’d swap his outdoor title for a LL title any day…. He’s prob in the best position to comment. He’s seen both ends of...
I’m sure he’d swap his outdoor title for a LL title any day….

He’s prob in the best position to comment. He’s seen both ends of the stick and just won a title!

But honestly how do you think these fast kids in the States would go heading to Europe to race even EMX?!
Vohland raced EMX125 last year. Liam Everts pretty much lapped him in Moto 1. Went 17-14.
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10/13/2021 8:27am Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 8:28am
Bold statement from a guy that went to Lorettas’s in 2019 and Mini O’s in 2018 and won 0 titles.
I mean that is exactly kind of the point....

How are the guys that won those titles over him?? Better than a guy who won Sx races and a 250 MX national title? No I think not.

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Motofinne
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10/13/2021 8:34am Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 8:40am
Bold statement from a guy that went to Lorettas’s in 2019 and Mini O’s in 2018 and won 0 titles.
I’m sure he’d swap his outdoor title for a LL title any day…. He’s prob in the best position to comment. He’s seen both ends of...
I’m sure he’d swap his outdoor title for a LL title any day….

He’s prob in the best position to comment. He’s seen both ends of the stick and just won a title!

But honestly how do you think these fast kids in the States would go heading to Europe to race even EMX?!
109 wrote:
Vohland raced EMX125 last year. Liam Everts pretty much lapped him in Moto 1. Went 17-14.
To be fair, Vohlands speed was pretty good but his results suffered because a couple of tip overs. Without those he was probably finishing around 5th.
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Rad76
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10/13/2021 8:47am Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 8:48am
Shaft721 wrote:
Not trying to be a dick but the guy who just won lorettas this year (kitchen) was far far ahead of one of the top EMX250...
Not trying to be a dick but the guy who just won lorettas this year (kitchen) was far far ahead of one of the top EMX250 guys over there.

1.5 minutes ahead in moto 1 at hangtown.

I think he did very well on a borrowed bike with a stock engine for sure just saying.

I think Jett is exaggerating a little bit.

In my opinion, the US 250 class is a bit stronger than the MX2 class.

And Put Levi at Lacapelle Marival, he would have a hard time breaking top 5 in EMX and would complain about the track non stop. Elzinga went 7/8 this week-end in EMX250 BTW, pretty much invisible.
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Sandusky26
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10/13/2021 8:56am Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 8:56am
Rad76 wrote:
And Put Levi at Lacapelle Marival, he would have a hard time breaking top 5 in EMX and would complain about the track non stop. Elzinga...
And Put Levi at Lacapelle Marival, he would have a hard time breaking top 5 in EMX and would complain about the track non stop. Elzinga went 7/8 this week-end in EMX250 BTW, pretty much invisible.
That’s pretty much what I’m getting at. Kitchen wins everything in amateurs, Elzinga is a top ten guy I’m guessing in EMX250. Give Elzinga a bike that’s a little better than the stocker he was riding and he could be top ten here.
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SilverSpurs
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10/13/2021 9:16am Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 9:22am
APLMAN99 wrote:
So would it be safe to say that Jett, Hunter, and their father stepped down to race easier competition because the Euro series were just too...
So would it be safe to say that Jett, Hunter, and their father stepped down to race easier competition because the Euro series were just too difficult?!?!?!?!?!?
Jett's argument was that the US amateur system is soft compared to EMX and does not prepare riders for the transition to Pro as well. Skill levels and fitness are higher because of the more challenging tracks. I have no idea how he rates the level of competition between MXGP and ProMX.

The Lawrences moved to the US for better opportunities ie Geico/ HRC contracts and the greater financial security.

'?!?!?!?!?!?' Whats with the silly exclamation marks/question mark row? Adults don't write like that.
It was quite obvious that your remark was pejorative.
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Johnny Ringo
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10/13/2021 9:52am
APLMAN99 wrote:
So would it be safe to say that Jett, Hunter, and their father stepped down to race easier competition because the Euro series were just too...
So would it be safe to say that Jett, Hunter, and their father stepped down to race easier competition because the Euro series were just too difficult?!?!?!?!?!?
Jett's argument was that the US amateur system is soft compared to EMX and does not prepare riders for the transition to Pro as well. Skill...
Jett's argument was that the US amateur system is soft compared to EMX and does not prepare riders for the transition to Pro as well. Skill levels and fitness are higher because of the more challenging tracks. I have no idea how he rates the level of competition between MXGP and ProMX.

The Lawrences moved to the US for better opportunities ie Geico/ HRC contracts and the greater financial security.

'?!?!?!?!?!?' Whats with the silly exclamation marks/question mark row? Adults don't write like that.
It was quite obvious that your remark was pejorative.
Jett directly said in that interview the weekend warrior at lommel is better than the amateurs here. And I’m taking that as he is referring to our top amateurs like Hymas and Kitchen and not the C class guys.
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Brent
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10/13/2021 9:57am
Sandusky26 wrote:
That’s pretty much what I’m getting at. Kitchen wins everything in amateurs, Elzinga is a top ten guy I’m guessing in EMX250. Give Elzinga a bike...
That’s pretty much what I’m getting at. Kitchen wins everything in amateurs, Elzinga is a top ten guy I’m guessing in EMX250. Give Elzinga a bike that’s a little better than the stocker he was riding and he could be top ten here.
Yeah, Rick was down about 8 to 10 HP from the Yamahas at Hangtown, plus he weighs a lot more than those guys (177 lbs with no gear)

But Rick did say that he is not used to the high speeds in US national motocross - he said that he normally can't go into corners in Europe that fast because the tracks are a lot rougher.

From his perspective, outdoor motocross in the US is just as difficult overall, but the speeds are much faster here and the jumps are much larger here than in Europe.

He also said that Fox Raceway was very similar to European tracks because of the deep sand and how rough it got, he said Hangtown felt like a high speed slot car track.

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10/13/2021 9:57am
fanger wrote:
I'm sure there's reasons, it does seem like a bit of a head scratcher that there isn't a full time amateur class racing the nationals.
Imagine 250A racing between the motos at a national.
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Brent
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10/13/2021 9:59am
Sandusky26 wrote:
That’s pretty much what I’m getting at. Kitchen wins everything in amateurs, Elzinga is a top ten guy I’m guessing in EMX250. Give Elzinga a bike...
That’s pretty much what I’m getting at. Kitchen wins everything in amateurs, Elzinga is a top ten guy I’m guessing in EMX250. Give Elzinga a bike that’s a little better than the stocker he was riding and he could be top ten here.
Rick will be getting that opportunity to show his talent in MX2 and possibly supercross next year on a factory team, stay tuned...
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Sandusky26
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10/13/2021 10:02am
Brent wrote:
Yeah, Rick was down about 8 to 10 HP from the Yamahas at Hangtown, plus he weighs a lot more than those guys (177 lbs with...
Yeah, Rick was down about 8 to 10 HP from the Yamahas at Hangtown, plus he weighs a lot more than those guys (177 lbs with no gear)

But Rick did say that he is not used to the high speeds in US national motocross - he said that he normally can't go into corners in Europe that fast because the tracks are a lot rougher.

From his perspective, outdoor motocross in the US is just as difficult overall, but the speeds are much faster here and the jumps are much larger here than in Europe.

He also said that Fox Raceway was very similar to European tracks because of the deep sand and how rough it got, he said Hangtown felt like a high speed slot car track.

My opinion is Rick would have an easier time adjusting to US Nationals. Compared to one of our amateurs racing EMX. How could you begin to prepare for a place like Lommel? We don't have tracks like that.
RG1
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10/13/2021 10:11am
If you have the opportunity to race 30 minute motos on GP tracks, on GP weekends from the age of 14, I think that’s always going to be better preparation for a pro career, than only racing a handful of meaningful races each year with races half the length of pro races. I don’t think it’s a very controversial statement to say that
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Brent
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10/13/2021 10:16am Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 11:56am
APLMAN99 wrote:
So would it be safe to say that Jett, Hunter, and their father stepped down to race easier competition because the Euro series were just too...
So would it be safe to say that Jett, Hunter, and their father stepped down to race easier competition because the Euro series were just too difficult?!?!?!?!?!?
Maybe ,but overall the pay and endorsement contracts are MUCH more lucrative in the United States than in Europe. Maybe that influenced Jett's family decision, I dont know.

I've been lucky enough to be on the inside of the contract thing a bit lately, and while the contract to ride the bike is roughy the same as here, the win bonuses and the gear and helmet contracts seem to be so much more profitable for the riders that get hired to race in the States..

But the thing is here you MUST race supercross or no one will hire you even if you are top 5 outdoors or in MXGP.

First question from any team manager for a US based team is " how are they at Supercross?"

Most fast European outdoor riders (except for the French) have little to no SX experience, so they can't make the jump to race in the States.

You can't even find a supercross track north of Southern France for guys to practice on, I guess they were building some at the local practice tracks in the Netherlands and in Belgium, but no one ever rode on them...
Johnny Ringo
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10/13/2021 10:19am
fanger wrote:
I'm sure there's reasons, it does seem like a bit of a head scratcher that there isn't a full time amateur class racing the nationals.
Imagine 250A racing between the motos at a national.
Ain’t enough time in the day
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philG
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10/13/2021 10:20am
Euro guys have to race, because if you dont, nobody even knows who you are.

Matthes is right, the US AM scene is stupid, they should look after the ' now ' guys and stop pissing money up all the wall on 'might be's '...

Everyone spends 4 years trying not to race each other,

Noteable exceptions are Evan Ferry and Max Vohland who race a bunch, cos the old men knoiw what matters.


Jett is right. He will have raced Dutch , Belgian and French races against the best those guys had when he was over here,
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Brent
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10/13/2021 10:23am
Sandusky26 wrote:
My opinion is Rick would have an easier time adjusting to US Nationals. Compared to one of our amateurs racing EMX. How could you begin to...
My opinion is Rick would have an easier time adjusting to US Nationals. Compared to one of our amateurs racing EMX. How could you begin to prepare for a place like Lommel? We don't have tracks like that.
Lommel is Rick's home track, he practices there twice a week.

He was very surprised at how smooth the local practice tracks around SoCal were, and we went to them all during his stay here.

I thought taking him to Glen Helen on a Pro day would be good, that is the roughest track I know of around here, and he said it was way smoother than what he was used to.

I think he would do well in the nationals if he had a full season here, but he said getting used to the high race speeds was his biggest issue.
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yak651
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10/13/2021 10:45am
fanger wrote:
I'm sure there's reasons, it does seem like a bit of a head scratcher that there isn't a full time amateur class racing the nationals.
Imagine 250A racing between the motos at a national.
Ain’t enough time in the day
Fake news - they could make it work. Moto 1 on friday, moto 2 Saturday between 450 first moto 250 second moto. They already said they can't get TV because the program is too long so what difference does it make if they finish at 4PM instead of 3PM?
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10/13/2021 10:51am
Sully wrote:
Why come to the states to race all of the products of that system, then? Why not stay in Europe to race GPs and the products...
Why come to the states to race all of the products of that system, then? Why not stay in Europe to race GPs and the products of that system your whole career?
MO 23 wrote:
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too. It’s not an attack on the US...
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too.

It’s not an attack on the US, just stating his opinion on the amateur systems between the two. And he is one of only a handful with first hand experience at both. I think it’s great to hear his opinion.

I think we all can agree that there are some issues with the US amateur system. Huge money early on, short races and it’s pretty staggering how little the guys race, although that does seem to be somewhat improving.

An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory. Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider...
An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory.

Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider stacks up at A1 against some of the B class kids racing SX futures this year.
Right now, there is a no name local pro spinning laps at Lommel that would lap Hymas and Kitchens.

But you’re right, get them on a nicely prepped supercross track and they’ll get smashed, that’s saying something I guess?
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Shaned9326
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10/13/2021 12:02pm
After watching the mxgp series every round it looks like they will race damn near anywhere with zero fucks given!! Guys hang it out no matter what the surface they are in and has been some great racing every week!!!
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Johnny Ringo
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10/13/2021 12:12pm
Imagine 250A racing between the motos at a national.
Ain’t enough time in the day
yak651 wrote:
Fake news - they could make it work. Moto 1 on friday, moto 2 Saturday between 450 first moto 250 second moto. They already said they...
Fake news - they could make it work. Moto 1 on friday, moto 2 Saturday between 450 first moto 250 second moto. They already said they can't get TV because the program is too long so what difference does it make if they finish at 4PM instead of 3PM?
Why not just race them on Sunday with the rough track left over from Saturday
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Johnny Ringo
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10/13/2021 12:14pm
MO 23 wrote:
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too. It’s not an attack on the US...
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too.

It’s not an attack on the US, just stating his opinion on the amateur systems between the two. And he is one of only a handful with first hand experience at both. I think it’s great to hear his opinion.

I think we all can agree that there are some issues with the US amateur system. Huge money early on, short races and it’s pretty staggering how little the guys race, although that does seem to be somewhat improving.

An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory. Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider...
An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory.

Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider stacks up at A1 against some of the B class kids racing SX futures this year.
UpTiTe wrote:
Right now, there is a no name local pro spinning laps at Lommel that would lap Hymas and Kitchens. But you’re right, get them on a...
Right now, there is a no name local pro spinning laps at Lommel that would lap Hymas and Kitchens.

But you’re right, get them on a nicely prepped supercross track and they’ll get smashed, that’s saying something I guess?
I guess what I’m getting at is talent is talent. It takes a lot of talent to go fast on a supercross track, and it takes talent to haul on a piece of shit track like lommel. Just because a guy is better at one of those doesn’t mean he’s more talented than the other or vice versa.
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USA
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10/13/2021 12:15pm
MO 23 wrote:
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too. It’s not an attack on the US...
Because he probably wants to race supercross, make more money and living in an English speaking country helps too.

It’s not an attack on the US, just stating his opinion on the amateur systems between the two. And he is one of only a handful with first hand experience at both. I think it’s great to hear his opinion.

I think we all can agree that there are some issues with the US amateur system. Huge money early on, short races and it’s pretty staggering how little the guys race, although that does seem to be somewhat improving.

An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory. Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider...
An opinion that a weekend warrior would work over a guy like Hymas or Kitchen is pretty inflammatory.

Let’s see how well a weekend Euro rider stacks up at A1 against some of the B class kids racing SX futures this year.
UpTiTe wrote:
Right now, there is a no name local pro spinning laps at Lommel that would lap Hymas and Kitchens. But you’re right, get them on a...
Right now, there is a no name local pro spinning laps at Lommel that would lap Hymas and Kitchens.

But you’re right, get them on a nicely prepped supercross track and they’ll get smashed, that’s saying something I guess?
At 8pm on a Wednesday? They got headlights on too?
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Park Boys
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10/13/2021 12:16pm Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 12:20pm
Rad76 wrote:
And Put Levi at Lacapelle Marival, he would have a hard time breaking top 5 in EMX and would complain about the track non stop. Elzinga...
And Put Levi at Lacapelle Marival, he would have a hard time breaking top 5 in EMX and would complain about the track non stop. Elzinga went 7/8 this week-end in EMX250 BTW, pretty much invisible.
Invisible? Or was he getting horrible starts and moving up thru the pack in both motos. His second moto was pretty impressive until a late race tip over or what ever it was.

How do you know how Levi would do?
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mxtech1
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10/13/2021 12:41pm Edited Date/Time 10/13/2021 12:42pm
Amazing.

One of the youngest 250 champions in our sport, who grew up riding and racing all over the world, and who is directly speaking from experience of racing Amateur on both continents before turning Pro, lays out facts that our system in America is flawed, and could be better. Yet, the Vital experts say he’s wrong and turn it into a Europe vs. America pissing match, like usual.

I side with Lawrence on this one. Our Am system needs to change. Fewer classes, longer motos, and increased gates. My fear is, this will never happen at the grassroots level though until we stop with the AMA sanctioning at every damn local track, which is catered to feeding the Loretta Lynn’s corporation.
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ATKpilot99
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10/13/2021 1:23pm
It's refreshing to see a good old fashioned American vs. Euro pissing match instead of the vax , no vax ones we've been seeing lately. Please continue.
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