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That's a horny teenagers attitude about girls, not the running of a pro sport.
There are always options...
I respectfully disagree.
they go together as well as James Bond driving an F150
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Ducati is, to a series about Montenagro, as JGR is to Yellowstone.
Not sure what the benefit is for JGR to get back into SX/ MX. Is there a hidden profit margin that I’m not seeing?
Screw the margins what about the fun factor! 🙂
Yeah, don’t get me wrong, another full time team in SX/ MX is great news. That’s a lot of jobs and a lot of opportunities for riders who are very fast but just under the radar to get recognized (especially 250s).
The big 5 wouldn't like that
Nobody is saying another team wouldn't be great. It's that the team is JGR, that doesn't have to be the case, there are alternatives to just JGR. Another team would be great, but JGR has come and gone and hasn't proved much despite great resources. Let's move on.
Your last point…wasn’t the reason JGR MX shut down is because they couldn’t raise the funds to run the race team?
YES! This is exactly what they should do if they want to have an unsuccessful race team and hurt sales!!
If you are Ducati, what are you going to be more impressed by? A large established racing team with all kinds of contacts, fancy buildings, tech expertise, etc etc etc.... or a motocross training facility out in the country with some steel buildings and an RV park?
I'm not saying it's right, but Ducati isn't going to let someone run their US team unless the whole setup lets them look down their noses at the rest of the industry. I imagine JGR with an influx of cash gives them the best chance to do that.
Cant remember Jgr got much success during their years.
Exactly, at one point they were Yamaha's satellite team with Toyota backing and funding. They never got results. If JGR was so awesome how did STAR become the satellite team for Yamaha? Or HEP for Suzuki, and Phoenix for Honda for that matter. Name two championship years JGR had?
“JGR/Nascar/Charlotte” is all a huge place of resources to have a new Manufactuer HQ etc …..
Pit Row
If Factory Honda is so awesome, why did the 250 team go away for so long? How many championships did they win in the 250f era?
Sure…… J Bone has never shown much passion for the sport. It was just a job. 🙄
Imagine JGR Ducati
Vet guys buying $15k bikes…
Then another 20k in billet and carbon parts made by JGR.
You raise a valid point, but I still believe they have a better track record than the other options. The year they pulled the plug was also a year where I thought their OEM pulled the plug on support as well, (and rumored to have ran the previous year on a drastic reduction of the initial support budget) and during a little thing known as the pandemic when a lot of businesses were unsure of the future.
Regardless, I still think the group that’s had sponsors like Toyota, Snickers, interstate batteries, n-fab, a hot dog company, etc., would have a better shot securing a title sponsor than Phoenix. Come to think of it, have we ever seen a major outside title sponsor on the Phoenix or Club bikes? Club I think does better than Phoenix there, but I’m looking at their bikes and see muc-off, ATV’s and more dealership, and skid steer solutions as the main billing on the shrouds. Not quite the same level (although I completely respect Club and what they’ve accomplished as well, and am a big fan).
As to the other people asking what success JGR had, did everyone forget they won multiple 450 sx and mx races with Grant, Stew, and Barcia, got 2nd in a SX championship with Millsaps, won a 250 sx and 250 mx moto with Hill and A Mart? Again, what option has more on the scoreboard? HEP with one win is great, but isn’t part of their success is attributed to Kenny’s comfort on a very production based machine? If a rider requests something one-off I trust JGR first, then the factory connection tie-in at Phoenix to create needed components .
I think the biggest potential fault in JGR is they don’t seem like an organization that would start small and scale up. I think they’d throw the kitchen sink at it and there are big costs associated with it, as evident by them pulling the plug a few years ago
*I hope my tone didn’t come off as sarcastic or salty, I actually laughed when I read Renner’s comment because he had a dang good counter point.
Some really clueless people in this thread regarding comments about JGR. Carry on.
JGR Ducati would be rad. I always loved all the innovation JGR brought to the race team bikes, especially when they were trying to get JS to gel with the Yamaha. They seemed to think more outside the box than the normal big programs. I’d love to see what this new Ducati race bike turns into
Wasn't Coy the sole reason behind JGR in the first place? Who else in the Gibbs family is passionate about motocross, enough to fund it at this level? Even with a major manufacturer behind them like Ducati, they would still need to co-fund the program.
Why wouldn't Ducati run their own program in the US?
Yamaha-Star, Suzuki-HEP, Kawi-Pro-Circuit, Ducati-JGR? Why not...
But, how many other main teams folded during the pandemic? The Suzuki support pulled from JGR and went to hep, I assume for a reason. How much money did Toyota, interstate interstate batteries etc actually give them? Or do we know if most of that was just pulled over from the nascar side? I have nothing against JGR for the record, just simply pointing some stuff out.
From what I know there was very little money (comparatively speaking) from the Toyota and Interstate deal, more of an overall branding thing to try and attract a real title sponsor. Also, at the time Yamaha was NOT willing to hand over the reigns to the factory team and fought JGR at every turn when they wanted to make changes to the bike.
Suzuki just didn't have the budget to provide the support needed to keep the team going at the level JGR needed/wanted and Coy got tired of putting his own money into the team to keep it afloat.
Did they get JGR’s support though? My hunch is Suzuki just cut the JGR support but didn’t send that money saved to HEP. Again, I have no details, and my only involvement is I’ve bought some JGR leftover parts for my RMZ’s, but here’s my hunch and what I’m basing it on.
-I don’t think Suzuki upped HEP’s support when JGR folded, at least not immediately.
-When JGR folded, a few parts did wind up on HEP bikes and more so BarX bikes (BarX ran a big sticker to cover the JGR logos when they ran those heads, as recently as last summer on Drake’s 450.) These were purchased from JGR. Want one? Call Paul over there. Very reasonably priced btw.
-The JGR bikes had works ECU’s, and the 450’s had a very distinguishable works oil filter/water pump housing that’s been used since the Dungey/Reed era by the factory teams. I believe HEP and BarX are using Vortex ECU’s and the only time I’ve seen the 450 pump housing since was on Drake’s 450 motor outdoors (which had the BarX sticker covering JGR on the head). Not to mention other odds and ends, like works front master cylinders with different hose mounting, pegs, hubs, etc. that just aren’t on the HEP bikes.
My theory is HEP kept on cruising along with the support they had from Suzuki (could be as little as parts and bikes), with major funding from twisted tea, and then Progressive allowed the Roczen thing to happen, financially. I’m sure Suzuki stepped up some when Roczen came on board, but that leaves a little gap in the timeline from JGR’s departure. According to Keefer, the only works piece on Ken’s bike is a shift drum. I certainly don’t see the other works pieces on the bikes, so I’m inclined to believe that.
I have no clue about how the deals with the nascar sponsors were structured, but I’d assume they used the different audience to sell them on it and allocate funds accordingly. Your guess is as good as mine, but at least the nascar tie gets their foot in the door. I don’t suspect Phoenix gets a meeting with the CEO and marketing team of a Fortune 500 company.
We’ll never know all the details, but it is fun to speculate. On a side note, how funny would it be if JGR ramped up to rejoin, didn’t get Ducati, and came back with Suzuki or another brand? Or if Ducati used Warhorse Moto America out of PA to run their team (they run their moto America program) and called it the fast by ferracci team? (I think ferracci became warhorse, even less sure on that though)
How many year deal?
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