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So we’re back to what started this entire fiasco: the rule book, stating any rider can claim another rider’s bike in the same class for double the MSRP. It does not make an exception for highly-funded, high-visibility teams. Few racers would have the financial means to counter a claim, but Star/Yamaha does. And did.
Regardless of the nuances in what Brennen said and others contradicted, once the dust settles it’s clear that Brennen was muscled into rescinding the claim. Offering free motors flies in the face of the claiming rule’s spirit: to keep the playing field somewhat level. Yet all we’ve learned is that nothing is level, on or off the field.
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These attempts at character assassination by questioning Brennan’s honesty aren’t doing anything besides showing how deep in Yamaha’s pocket he is, lol. You either get the respect from the moto community as a journalist, or tall ceilings courtesy of Yamaha, but good luck trying for both.
I don't understand why people think Matt Walker was in the wrong. Apparently he has no connection with Yamaha or Star, but has trained Brennan for 3+ years, so cares about the guy and in his opinion thinks claiming a bike will hurt his future in the sport. Some factory Kawi rep who is responsible for hiring riders called in after Matt and said the same thing about it being a bad idea for Brennan's future in the sport. That of course then brings up the question of why even have the rule if the industry is going to black ball you like JT said.
I can see how the kid would get disoriented and have trouble making distinctions and understanding the gravity of what is happening.
And that Steve is exactly why they did it.
It’s difficult to imagine, with the multiple players involved and the level of escalation, that the Star bike was ever leaving their pits.
And yeah, he's got some motors coming for Yamaha's, not sure what he's going to do with them
The issue seems, someone brought a hi-end machine to an amateur race, that has rules in place to keep that from happening.
Instead of blaming, blackballing the kid, and raising the cost of a claim, how about we stop trying to kill the sport with unobtanium at the Am level, and hold any TEAM" accountable when they step on that grenade
Pit Row
-- Claim was made. People with no business in the claim got involved.
-- Pressure and bribes were made to withdraw the claim.
-- Claim was withdrawn
No oversight or accountability was made on the entire situation. You do not need anyone that was there, you do not need to quote anyone.
WTF is the world coming too.
Well, Brennan (who seems like a good kid), said in his initial video interview that his dealer (Chris from Motoplex) told him Yamaha said they were going to pull the dealers support and/or franchise if he went through with this claim. The dealer is saying did not say this.
It makes a lot of sense to a ton of people that there could have likely been a coalition between Walker and Luce to bully Brennan into changing his mind. Why the hell would Luce text Walker late at night and call him back to the track for an important meeting? If the Yamaha side was “ready to let the bike go” there would be no late night call to Walker to return to the track for a private meeting. Their coalition would have likely resulted in Walker telling the Dealer that Yamaha will pull support for his dealers if Brennan didn’t retract his claim. Walker obviously did the talking to keep Luce out of it, but used Luce’s presence as a threat to the Dealer. As a result, don’t you think it’s very possible that the Dealer told Brennan’s father they need to pull their claim for this reason (for fear of losing support from Yamaha)? If yes then Brennan isn’t lying, but instead relaying the information he learned from his Dad’s discussion with the Dealer. IMO, it would be very VERY likely for a Dealer to communicate this to the Dad during their private conversation. Why? Because it takes the Dealer’s opposing stance/opinions/emotion out of the equation and makes it a much more comfortable conversation to have with the Dad in order to justify the need for the claim to be removed. And just because you claim his Dealer said he didn’t say that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen…anyone of these guys can be bluffing, so maybe keep an open mind to both sides.
Brennen said that it was Cotter and Deegan with him in a room, we know now Mike from AMA was in there also.
There was a lot of talk from Cotter on the layout of the trailer. Isn’t it possible that the layout of the trailer had Brennan facing the direction of Cotter and Deegan but he didn’t see Burkeen had entered the room or was standing in the back corner listening? Regardless whether Burkeen was in the room or not, or in front of Brennan’s face or not, 3-5 minutes of this, or 6 minutes according to Cotter, is 6 minutes way too long. It shouldn’t have happened, at ALL. This is a huge violation. Cotter seemed to care a lot about whether Brennan’s engine builder was his Dad while talking outside, but he didn’t seem to care about Brennan’s age when he took him inside by himself. Cotter said something along the lines of “I thought he was 18”. Well, unfortunately in the real world where there’s accountability, he could be terminated for this assumption no matter how good of a guy he might be.
Brennen never mentioned the motors from Yamaha in his initial video interview, first time was to me. That seems rather important fact no?
Isn’t it more important that it’s known Brennan approached Yamaha earlier in the week about those motors but didn’t get any support. But then after Brennan claimed the bike he gets a special late night meeting with Yamaha and they roll out the red carpet (a.k.a bribe) right after being threatened by the interrogation team? Just because Walker was doing the yelling, doesn’t mean Luce wasn’t part of the strongarming. Luce said, “I let Matt take the lead”. So if Luce is sitting there, going along with all the threats and yelling and he didn't object in any way, then he’s part of the bullying team too. Also, does Yamaha give two motors to all amateurs who ask for them? You made it seem like Yamaha was doing such a good gesture by taking care of his motors. Why weren’t his motors taken care of before he made the claim?
To me, THE most effed up thing in this was Brennen saying that Yamaha was threatening this dealer..if true, that's absolutely terrible. Brennen admitted to me he didn't know WHO told his dealer that AND the dealer said no one from Yamaha said anything to him about that
Read above for a logical explanation of where that came from. It’s very likely that Walker was used as the conduit for the Yamaha strongarming.
Brennan, who again SHOULD have this bike, has not been consistent in his side of the story. That's 100% true.
It’s very easy for you to say 14 times “He should have the bike” when he doesn’t actually have the bike. FYI – it’s not making you appear to be neutral in this situation when you are completely blind to any form of bullying or coalition from the guys who pay some of your bills.
A couple more things. The fact that you discussed the beef between these two kids shows intent to bash his character and paint a bad picture for his motivation/intent. His motivation or intent is completely irrelevant.
Finally, you seem to question Brennan's credibility due to his age....well, how old was that kid you let join your show to bash Brennan (friend of the Deegan's coincidentally)? Why would you let such a young kid who's not credible due to his age come onto the show and bash another kid? Seems like you had it all planned out.
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