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Money. Teams have budgets and paying every single win bonus possible is budget killer. Then the guy who wins everything wants (and deserves) a fat raise in base salary, aka budget killer v2. Even if they insure against bonus payouts, the insurance premiums go way up.
So, what you’re saying is, no issues are going to come up with Honda and Jett like they did with everyone else if Jett keeps winning, should be clear sailing then.
No, your claim was that they won't try to re-sign him. They will, but if he wants to do something else he'll do so as what's happened with everyone else.
My gawd man, read my OP again! Where did I say they “won’t” re-sign him? I said I’d be interested IF they re-sign him. Smh again
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Feels like you’re splitting hairs over a stupid question in the first place.
Will Hunter want to pay Hunter what he wants for a 450 deal? They'll have Jett. What will they need Hunter for? Other than to keep Jett happy I guess.
Kinda the same thing with the Marquezs. I think it’d be best if he went elsewhere where he can be the #1 guy, but we’ll probably see them both on a Honda for the first couple years.
Hunter having his Redbull deal.. Kinda limits where he can go.
........win too much. Just sayin'
Lol they aren't letting him go anywhere 🤣
He's talking RC & Stew
MC didn't want to ride that POS 1997 CR250R, had nothing to do with Honda. RC left for more money & your right about Stew
Guess we will see how Chase does on Webbs bike
It really wasn’t a question, just a statement. And if it was stupid, feel free to not reply next time.
I’m not saying that, I’m saying there is always two sides to every story.
They may put stipulations on him the way they did McGrath and Ken. Jett may get offered a Brinks truck full of cash and move on like Chase did, you never know.
Have you read his book? They were also trying to essentially own him and everything he did (even away from mx/SX) with the new contract.
“Mr. Honda” has proven to be dumb af in the past. Like when Jeremy allegedly got photographed riding a different brand jet ski at the lake in ‘96 and…well he went to Suzuki in 97.
Heard he’s signing with Makita Suzuki with a DeCoster comeback. Stamp it.
Pit Row
This is fact. As much as you would think Honda wants to say "Our guy won every moto on our bike", in reality, they really don't. Jett this season alone, has put one hell of a dent in their 2023 MX budget. Championship? Of course! Win every moto, (IF it works out that way....), not so much.... Hunter's season is more what they as a team are banking on. Win some overalls, snag a championship or two, make Red look good. Jett comes along and goes on a streak that isn't normal, that shit HURTS the bottom line. Trust me, the bean counters are watching this. Your new Honda off road bike in Fall 2024 may take an MSRP hike that seems a little more than you thought it would. Somebody eventually ends up paying for this........ Win bonuses are expensive, especially if you are racking them up.
Eli already did that. On the much maligned “blue pig” no less.
then again, most team managers are savvy enough to figure a perfect season (in terms of win bonuses etc) into their budget as a worse case scenario, then there is no dent or difference in their actual costs vs budget
Ha! Never been in or seen any organisation that budgets for the worst case scenario.
That’s not to say they don’t have the money but they wouldn’t have budgeted on winning at least 8 out of 11 overalls.
Hopefully never. Riders just look better, technique wise, on the Honda. Would be a shame to see Jett riding a bike that isn’t as flattering.
I bet Jett secretly wishes it was up next year. He could be negotiating a serious pay rise.
As it is he’s going to be making some serious $$$ this year.
The teams insurance policy holder does not.... worst case for them is a payout, albeit with some damn tricky clause writing tossed in there. If a team includes perfect season, all holeshots, leads every lap, fastest qualifier, etc...., they still will lose out in some way, shape, or form. So, now we rely on Insurance provider to back us up, which never, ever, EVER, does what they promise. Have you ever had a claim on your own insurance that actually completed what you originally signed up for? Now, when it's all over. the only folks paying for all this glory in the end, is the end line consumer. Especially since this is Honda's bread and butter....the consumer. Streaks and bonuses like this they DO NOT want to happen often, takes too long to recoup the immediate losses.
You are cherry picking data points. Plenty of riders don't re-sign with their current team. If they aren't performing they get cut; if they are performing they get cut. Others stay long term when they are winning. Dungey stayed with KTM for six years. RV rode his whole career on Kawasaki. There are good riders that never win titles who jump brands every few years. In fact I'd go as far as to say that, when you look at the entire data set there is little to no correlation whatsoever between performance and staying on a given team.
It's not hard to think about what factors might go into the decision to keep or not keep a rider. Some that spring to mind in no particular order:
Performance, budget, long term planning, personality clashes, brand ambassadorship, rider doesn't like the bike etc etc.
With their line up I think they would have to budget that.
Before the season if you said tomac, jett and chase win all the overalls and 3-4 each. I would have believed it. That's 7-8 and a possible title.
I know it's a bit different but jett won 9/12 last season on the 250.
If Hunter runs top 3 in 450s like I think he will, he will be leaving Honda because Kawi will offer him a nice contract that Honda won't be willing to match. Star has Deegan coming up, Honda will have Jett, KTM will have Chase. That leaves Kawi out in the cold unless AC's shoulder nerves make a dramatic recovery or he learns to ride faster with the nerves in their current condition. It doesn't look like anyone else is coming up in the next couple of years that they can snag and they will have to biggest budget remaining for a top rider. This assumes Beta/Triumph don't try to throw a lot of money at Hunter.
It seems to me Honda is already planning for that 2nd 450 rider after Hunter leaves (Shimoda).
I don't think anyone will be able to outbid Honda for Jett so barring injury he may be the one top guy that manages to ride Honda for their whole career. We'll see though. In 7-8 years if some kid is coming up that looks like the next big thing Honda might play games with Jett like they did RC and might lose him a couple years sooner than they should.
I think I also read that RC had heard that Honda had been talking to James Stewart about signing him. Maybe that lit a little fire under his Ass and he decided to go to Suzuki and punish them. Like I said before, don't screw with what's working, because what wins on Saturday, sells on Tuesday. Hopefully Honda learned that lesson.
Chase is gonna regret that decision, when he finds out KTM's are made in CHINAH! and his bike breaks down.
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