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I thought the proposal Lewis Phillips had about top ten USA and Euro racers in SMX is great, but it makes me think how pro MX is one of the few pro sports that doesn't give their fans what they want quite often. No Glen Helen, no races in the south east, no two strokes, no Euro vs. Americans, on and on. It seems other major sports cater to fans more, and pro mx is more take it or leave it attitude.
His idea is fantastic, but reality isn't just as easy as "give the fans what they want". Didn't WW Ranch willingly give up their national?
But for real, if his idea became reality, that would be amazing across the board IMO, not segmented like the 2 stroke/SE national/glen helen die hards.
Dollars are probably more practical than Euros.
But nah, I like the idea and I'm a fan of MXdN and when Herlings raced Pro Motocross or when Villo went to MXGP etc. However with the SMX rules / qualification, I don't see how it would work or to be honest why the AMA should be paying 'exhibition' riders in a national 3-round playoff/'championship' who don't usually ride AMA MX / SX
Allow points to be accumulated in GP races towards SMX.
Leave it to the riders to decide in the GP’s if the want to come make some nice US dollars for 3 races in the World Super Motocross Series.
I think 10th pays close to $100k.
* guaranteed GP riders will show for the purse money.
The AMA doesn’t pay any riders.
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Glen Helen: the owners don’t want to participate. MX sports has tried multiple times to come to some sort of an agreement but the owners aren’t willing to play ball unfortunately.
No races in the south east: Davey Coombs has explained this in multiple interviews but the turnout is never great and the location/weather window isn’t logistically ideal (similar reasons to why we no longer have Freestone on the schedule).
No euros vs. Americans: we are unfortunately different in that we have multiple disciplines (SX/MX) and sanctioning bodies (FELD/MX SPORTS/IN FRONT) unlike the NBA or NFL for example. This is definitely one that is on the precipice of changing as it’s a win/win for all parties involved if we can somehow figure out a schedule and qualification scenario that works. MXDN will most likely be part of this conversation as well.
They are listening but some of the things we would like to see changed aren’t as easy to fix as it may seem. I’m remaining cautiously optimistic about it all. Never did I ever think FELD and MX sports would work together let alone to this capacity.
To many hands in the pot to get 3 different promoters to split it up
I love the idea. I never thought that MX sports and Feld would work together. So who knows. I can see reasons it would be great, and reasons it would not work out.
I think in many cases the promoters give the Fans what they ask for ,when the fans show that they really want it. If a small group of fans wants something, and the larger base is not supporting it. Then it will not work out. Changes take time. Especially with dates and locations for big races. So many things that have to be taken into account to set a schedule.
How about we reward the riders who ride in the American series.
The SMX is great for privateers who barely make ends meet in this sport and you want to give their spots away to GP riders?
This is a great point, the best riders both sides of the pond arnt short of a bob or two.
Really what needs to happen is privateer mx needs to separate its self from factory mx.
The privateers get a series they can race to win in, build up their profiles & the factory boys get to race globally at the very elite level, talent & equipment.
And call it the smx International
Didn't they already try this with the original SMX Cup in 2016? It was supposed to be a mix of the best Supercross and Motocross (GP) riders.
That event went over so poorly I think most people forgot it even happened. Maybe it was poor promotion or venue, but I think generally GP riders are hesitant to ride any track with Supercross elements. Like with what happened to Gajser at MEC that one year; there's just too much risk.
What I think would be cooler would be to end the Nationals/GPs with a hybrid event that pits the best of each series against eachother; almost like a 250SX Shootout.
Wasn't that more of a manufacturers cup? 3 riders from each brand if I remember rightly? Was pretty lame though.
I believe this is what Lewis was originally proposing. Some sort of collective event that can get a few GP riders to qualify for the SMX rounds. Even though the turnout hasn’t been great in the past, a regularly scheduled US based GP would work. Just need to align the schedules which will be the biggest hurdle imo.
Here you got the answer you're looking for. Just go to the 4:00 mark
I understand why fan's wishes go left unheard. All the reasons have been given ad nauseum, as often as the fan's wishes have been chimed. It just seems every other major sport, not that pro mx is a major sport, plays to the fan's wishes. Other pro sports want more fans, more fan involvement, more fans at the events, searches out locations to draw more people, looks for ideal situations to get more people. And here we are with a national schedule the same as forever, with Glen Helen fans, South East fans, Texas fans, two stroke fans, MXGP fans, told if they want racing motorcycle entertainment that they like, that they can go to - look elsewhere. It is not inclusive. I understand you can not please everyone, but sometimes it appears American pro MX/SX racing organizers/promoters are cool with milking the core they have and really do not care about the rest of the potential audience. It seems they are really just phoning it in?
Glen Helen doesn't want to embrace all the risk.
Riding season in the southeast is spring and fall, not July.
Money solves the euro vs american participation/sanctioning problem.
Blah, blah blah.
I had an employee once that had an excuse for every problem. No longer.
There is a difference in listening vs hearing.
They seem like fair reasons to me. It’s not like they can threaten Glen Helen to hold the national. Sure they can choose to lose money on an event in Florida but at the end of the day, they’re trying to make money not lose it. There are a lot of logistical requirements to hold a race of this size. When it’s not organized properly, things can go sideways (usually to the detriment of the fans). Case in point: Chicago SMX round was not prepared for the crowds and didn’t have enough concessions available causing 30+ min lines and running out of food/drinks. There are many pieces of the puzzle that have to come together for these wishes by the fans to be granted. I’m hopeful it will get better, we just have to be patient.
Davey spoke about this a bit on a pod (I think Pulp). There just aren’t enough tracks with the infrastructure/room to host a national. This is part of the reason they dropped Muddy Creek from the schedule. I want to see a switch up to the schedule just as much as anyone but there just isn’t anywhere to go.
Pit Row
They could offer to share risk with Glen Helen
They could hold an event in FL when humidity is less than 90% and temp is less than 90*
They could support a purse that encourages top Euros to come over and race a one off SMX event.
These things would be embraced by fans.
Know why I am an expert on these things? Because I read Vital a couple times a week.
Know why you think these are unsolvable problems? Because you are a negative thinker.
I don’t think they’re unsolvable. I’m just sharing the information we were given. They’re solvable but not without some bumps in the road and cooperation from all parties involved.
But the money didn't come from the AMA, Feld or MX Sports.
A modern day Trans-Am series would be unreal!
Put 1 GP on the schedule that pays AMA and GP points, 25 then 22, etc no matter which series the rider is from. Also set 1 of the AMA races that does the same and add a new race to both series somewhere they don't race now, Mexico or Australia for example. A mini Trans-Am integrated in the regular schedule.
MX is one of the few pro sports that doesn't give their fans what they want quite often
It is one of the very few sports in which you don’t see the top guys in the sport consistently competing against each other. Truly a travesty. Give us at least a few races per year where they pay both AMA and GP points at the same event. We never see the best of the best competing in an individual event.
https://www.area51motocross.com/
Western NY, will easily fit in the outdoor schedule with no crazy travel for the teams.
The facility is first class....I'd like to know why Davey has never considered Area51 for a National.
We already have a NY national with Unadilla. They do not want to host multiple nationals in the same state as each could cut into each other’s revenue. They dropped Broome Tioga from the schedule years ago for this reason. There are many other factors that we are not aware of that come into play. We unfortunately don’t have an itemized list of what an event needs to host 10s of thousands of people but I’d imagine if we did, we would end up at the same conclusion that they’re currently in now.
I have nothing but the utmost respect for the riders and I’m not downplaying these athletes in any way but the bigger picture is that this is an entertainment business. I give these sanctioning bodies a hell of a lot of grief and don’t agree with everything they’re doing but I do think they’re trying to put on the best show they possibly can with the cards they’re dealt.
I understand your post but I'm not so sure about hosting multiple nationals in the same state cuts into each venues revenue.
I see it as a bonus for race fans. The fans who go to Dilla would also go to Area51..or any other close by national.
A have a load of buddies in upstate NY and they hit up most of the East Coast Nats.
Figured I’d share this Coombs interview about picking tracks etc. since we’re on the topic. Conversation starts at around 1:14 mark..
https://www.youtube.com/live/hQrbCY4pyMc?si=gaaCQjOydqloAZUX
Obviously you're right man, bad writing on my part.
I'm not from American, and more importantly I'm an idiot, so I default to calling Feld / MX Sports stuff AMA which is totally incorrect and a total misnomer.
To be fair, they did say they will not be using a stadium again, so it should be all speedway style tracks. Food for thought.
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