#5: MXGP of Trentino

The assumption you made that the revenue = pure profit is wrong. There are plenty of issues with Infront and FIM but this isn't one of them. They make significant extra costs to let the WMX, EMX125 and EMX250 run and I doubt it's generating any profit.

I totally agree with you though that 13 European championship rounds is an insane number and should be limited to my opinion to a maximum of 9 rounds with Sardegna / Finland and Turkey excluded. Infront / FIM should create an EMX calendar that makes sense and is do-able for both small teams and privateers.

I also agree on the standpoint that the racing could even be better with a full gate but again, EMX250 has nothing to do with the lack of satellite teams in MX2. The people who fund this circus rather fight for a title in EMX than racing for 18th - 25th position in MX2 and that for a fraction of the costs.

Manufacturers come and go, that's part of motorsports.

Trust me, the OEM's foot for maybe 2/5th of the bill of the current ''factory'' EMX250 efforts, the rest of the bill is for the respected teams. For that low amount of support you can't fund a private MX2 / MXGP team and no team-owner is interested to do only half of a championship at 3 to 4 times the costs where they are not able to win regardless.

When we go back to the situation we only have had 1 overseas Grand Prix and a total of 12 to 15 rounds and regulations that prevent the use of advanced electronics / factory gearboxes / exotic materials entries will probably improve a bit but we should get used to the fact we won't have 80 riders sign-up for a Grand Prix anymore, that's history.

"Trust me, the OEM's foot for maybe 2/5th of the bill of the current ''factory'' EMX250 efforts, the rest of the bill is for the respected teams. For that low amount of support you can't fund a private MX2 / MXGP team and no team-owner is interested to do only half of a championship at 3 to 4 times the costs where they are not able to win regardless."

Rocketship, what i dont get is this part that the costs would be so much higher.  Why would the costs be higher if an EMX250 team that does 13 rounds decides to run the exact same programm but just enter in MX2 at those 13 rounds.

Good question as I didn't explain it correctly and mixed up 2 things.

Doing MX2 with the overseas included costs team owners 3 to 4 times as much as running a season of EMX250. Doing the 17 European rounds in MX2 instead would at least be double the costs of doing EMX250 but probably even more.

I calculate with 10 EMX250 rounds vs 17 European MX2 rounds. (10 rounds = average for EMX250, per season it ranges from 8 to 11 rounds last couple of years) 

When doing MX2 this means you need to have more bikes, more parts, higher travel budget and to come as close as possible to the factory guys another engine spec that again is in need of shorter service intervals, more expensive parts and more expensive fuel. Also you can't really work with 1 mechanic per rider anymore as it is just way too much work so you need a practice mechanic and a race mechanic. Also vans / truck are continuously on the road when doing 17 rounds which adds up to the costs.

Also the assumption that you could receive that 2/5th of support for only doing selected MX2 rounds instead of EMX250 is not how it works. OEM's and industry sponsors are not too eager to support that in MX2 that's why teams like the Hitachi Team and Silver Action team are not around any longer.

The exposure of getting an 18th place in MX2 is limited compared to winning / or doing a podium in EMX125 / EMX250, so there is value for front runners in both European Championships compared to be mid-pack in the World Championship, that's why those top EMX teams rather stay where they are than moving up and taking a lot risks as a satellite team.

Not only riders see the EMX125 / EMX250 and even WMX as a stepping stone, also the team owners think like that. They invest and proof themselves towards manufacturers that they can do a good job on a high level so they will get considered to become official factory teams (Hutten and most recently Beddini are prime examples of that)

Originally there should have been 10 EMX250 rounds but they added 1 before the season started and when the season eventually started they added another 2 rounds which is absolutely insane and not in line with the spirit of the championship so I can understand people thinking what's the point of having this championship and why not let them run in MX2.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes sense.

So basically as long as EMX250 is raced during GP weekends and is 8 or 10 races major emx teams will prefer that series untill they get good support for MX2. 

What would your suggestion be for increasing the number of riders in MX2?
I  think last weekend was a decent number (32 entries), but the slowest 6-7-8 entries had no business being in EMX250 so for sure not in mx2. How to increase the number of riders to 30 plus with riders who have the speed to not get lapped if they have a decent start (so the Soulimanis & Nilssons last weekend)?

Right now, there is no solution. I totaly agree with Rocketship.

As a proud sponsor of an MX2 sattelite Team for the love of the sport , not for profit the Reality looks worst right now. With the trouble in the european economy, esp. Germany there are so many problems with Sponsors and the trouble with the austrian brands ,there are a lot more Problems (Bikes, Parts.esp. for Teams that are not works or semi works).

Another question is the problem with Riders 23+ not making the cut to MX GP? There is no europ. Championship anymore, only one round always in Lommel. The German Masters pays purse money, every second Tier Rider from all over Europe shows up, and some cant even make the Main, Great Racing,but national Riders with lower Budget or Even Amateurs and Rookies cant also  make the main, because of the overcrowded fields. There are not so many Series left. The average Guy has to travel from Italy,Spain, France, Holland, Germany for a good Season.

There is unfortunately no simple answer / solution to get to a gate with 30+ riders who do the whole season again. It's the way how our sport is funded and how the promotor controls the way teams can obtain that funding. 

The decline of the amount of riders in MX2 started already years ago when Infront increased the amount of races + all the super expensive overseas rounds. Costs have been raising year over year and it's near impossible to compete with the factory teams in the MX2 class at the moment.

Regulation changes that limit the use of electronics and exotic materials would be a good first step. Less rounds, let's say going back to a maximum of 14 / 15 rounds and a calendar that makes sense would also help.