Lewis's interview of WSX CEO isn't getting the attention it deserves

SPYGUY
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In my opinion this is a higher level of journalism than we usually get in this sport.

https://www.vitalmx.com/features/direct-line-podcast-tom-burwell-wsx

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11/21/2025 2:47pm

He had a lot of great interview from WSX , Eli pre and post race interviews were excellent 

 

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uncledaddy69
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11/21/2025 3:44pm

He did one with the old CEO where he grilled him pretty hard. That one was really good too. 

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AussieParaMX
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11/22/2025 7:40pm

He did one with the old CEO where he grilled him pretty hard. That one was really good too. 

Any chance of a link? 

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BoxcarWilly
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11/22/2025 8:34pm

We need to ask harder questions in this sport more than we do. 

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aeffertz
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11/22/2025 9:25pm

Lewis did a great interview but I left the interview feeling like the guy is just a salesman.  He made a lot of big claims but only time will tell ultimately. 

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jmo443
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11/23/2025 12:08am

We need to ask harder questions in this sport more than we do. 

Agree. But not very easy, get to deep where they aren’t comfortable and get nothing ever again. Don’t get deep enough everyone on vital is pissed. Kinda a shitty job trying to make everyone happy and more of a bromance…. “I know what’s going on but have to wait for them to release the info” is what we have going on most of the time. 

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11/23/2025 4:20am

We need to ask harder questions in this sport more than we do. 

jmo443 wrote:
Agree. But not very easy, get to deep where they aren’t comfortable and get nothing ever again. Don’t get deep enough everyone on vital is pissed...

Agree. But not very easy, get to deep where they aren’t comfortable and get nothing ever again. Don’t get deep enough everyone on vital is pissed. Kinda a shitty job trying to make everyone happy and more of a bromance…. “I know what’s going on but have to wait for them to release the info” is what we have going on most of the time. 

Right, most of the journalists in the sport have known the answer to the big questions for months but have to either dance around it or gouge a little and hope the rider hints at something.  

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8tensolutions
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11/23/2025 8:05am
aeffertz wrote:
Lewis did a great interview but I left the interview feeling like the guy is just a salesman.  He made a lot of big claims but...

Lewis did a great interview but I left the interview feeling like the guy is just a salesman.  He made a lot of big claims but only time will tell ultimately. 

Agreed, and the great interview gave us that.  The series is way better this year, but the Roczen thing is strange and the plan to go against outdoors is a bad one.

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arebnac
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11/23/2025 8:33am

Lewis asking hard questions like a vital mx member would do it...  Tom being kinda "Im not going to get angry with this"
Interesting dynamics. 
TBH I never liked the WSX idea.... but I had watched the two 2025 races so far and found actually good. 
Next race in Australia being together with the national championship is also a good idea.  
Maybe they should try something similat with the Indian championship for 2026? Or maybe something with France. They have the Paris SX, then WSX could do a race in NICE or so, then the french federation could say "Well we have a 2 round championship"?? Idk... I still see WSX as just 'events around the world", but its always nice to have people working and fans having enterteinment

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11/23/2025 10:59am

isn't it wild that when a member of the moto-media asks a legit question, folks go to Vital to discuss it because it's so RARE that it actually happens? Nice job Lewis. 

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Brent
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11/23/2025 11:07am Edited Date/Time 11/23/2025 11:12am
isn't it wild that when a member of the moto-media asks a legit question, folks go to Vital to discuss it because it's so RARE that...

isn't it wild that when a member of the moto-media asks a legit question, folks go to Vital to discuss it because it's so RARE that it actually happens? Nice job Lewis. 

...because Lewis Phillips seems to have some professional integrity,  and is not an Invertebrate industry ass kisser, unlike your average dirt bike podcaster?

Is that the right answer?

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11/23/2025 12:32pm

I was slow to appreciate Lewis’s but am fully on board now. I like that he’s not a retired racers or wrench so comes from different perspective. 

1
11/23/2025 1:18pm

Great interview, really enjoyed the back and forth. Did anyone else catch Tom referring to WSX as a “Circus” multiple times? Interesting take on our sport from him…….

AussieParaMX
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11/23/2025 1:39pm

To me tom and Lewis are coming at the sport from different direction.  Lewis is coming from inside the sport with a deep knowledge of the sport and the views of the super fans like us. 

Tom is coming from the perspective of a data driven outsider looking at the sport as a production or a circus to travel around the world and bring super fans and casual fans and would be maybe slightly interested in 2 wheels or actions sports but don’t know they are fans yet.  

To me besides the super fan, where the championship fits in in the wider motorcycle industry is kind of irrelevant to the rest of Tom’s and market and to Tom himself.  

So to me Tom was turning deep supercross lore questions into what he understands.  Because I don’t think he cares.


I hope when Lewis interviews him again he doesn’t come at him from the perspective of a superfan. I don’t think we are going to get anything deeper there and Tom might shut down the interview. Not because the questions are ‘tough’ but because, to him, they are irrelevant.



although one thing that should be asked is about their relationship with Adam Bailey and AusX.  According to Bailey.

- Cooper Webb, Tomac, Savatgy and Deegan were banned from going to the AusX Open. 
- they ‘stole’ the stadium away from the Australian Supercross in the Gold Coast and intentionally clashed with the Aussie championship round.  What’s the relationship there?
 

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arebnac
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11/23/2025 3:42pm

L: "youre paying stars to be there"
T: "im not paying stark to be there"
L: "no.. 'stars"
T: "oh"

.....brits

5
11/23/2025 4:30pm
To me tom and Lewis are coming at the sport from different direction.  Lewis is coming from inside the sport with a deep knowledge of the...

To me tom and Lewis are coming at the sport from different direction.  Lewis is coming from inside the sport with a deep knowledge of the sport and the views of the super fans like us. 

Tom is coming from the perspective of a data driven outsider looking at the sport as a production or a circus to travel around the world and bring super fans and casual fans and would be maybe slightly interested in 2 wheels or actions sports but don’t know they are fans yet.  

To me besides the super fan, where the championship fits in in the wider motorcycle industry is kind of irrelevant to the rest of Tom’s and market and to Tom himself.  

So to me Tom was turning deep supercross lore questions into what he understands.  Because I don’t think he cares.


I hope when Lewis interviews him again he doesn’t come at him from the perspective of a superfan. I don’t think we are going to get anything deeper there and Tom might shut down the interview. Not because the questions are ‘tough’ but because, to him, they are irrelevant.



although one thing that should be asked is about their relationship with Adam Bailey and AusX.  According to Bailey.

- Cooper Webb, Tomac, Savatgy and Deegan were banned from going to the AusX Open. 
- they ‘stole’ the stadium away from the Australian Supercross in the Gold Coast and intentionally clashed with the Aussie championship round.  What’s the relationship there?
 

Is there an interview with Adam bailey saying that ? 

With a lighter turnout in Melbourne. A Gold Coast size stadium might have been a better for  for  aus x as well

Ash124
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11/23/2025 5:46pm

Lewis is great, but if you rephrase the OP:

Interview of offseason exhibition tour CEO.....

The response is proportional.

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Piston Slap
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11/23/2025 6:03pm

Thank you. It's much appreciated.

But. . . you aree not a serious moto-journalist some person said??!?!?

Looks to me like you got it going on!!!!

Great Work LP!

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AussieParaMX
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11/23/2025 11:25pm
To me tom and Lewis are coming at the sport from different direction.  Lewis is coming from inside the sport with a deep knowledge of the...

To me tom and Lewis are coming at the sport from different direction.  Lewis is coming from inside the sport with a deep knowledge of the sport and the views of the super fans like us. 

Tom is coming from the perspective of a data driven outsider looking at the sport as a production or a circus to travel around the world and bring super fans and casual fans and would be maybe slightly interested in 2 wheels or actions sports but don’t know they are fans yet.  

To me besides the super fan, where the championship fits in in the wider motorcycle industry is kind of irrelevant to the rest of Tom’s and market and to Tom himself.  

So to me Tom was turning deep supercross lore questions into what he understands.  Because I don’t think he cares.


I hope when Lewis interviews him again he doesn’t come at him from the perspective of a superfan. I don’t think we are going to get anything deeper there and Tom might shut down the interview. Not because the questions are ‘tough’ but because, to him, they are irrelevant.



although one thing that should be asked is about their relationship with Adam Bailey and AusX.  According to Bailey.

- Cooper Webb, Tomac, Savatgy and Deegan were banned from going to the AusX Open. 
- they ‘stole’ the stadium away from the Australian Supercross in the Gold Coast and intentionally clashed with the Aussie championship round.  What’s the relationship there?
 

scott_nz wrote:
Is there an interview with Adam bailey saying that ? With a lighter turnout in Melbourne. A Gold Coast size stadium might have been a better for...

Is there an interview with Adam bailey saying that ? 

With a lighter turnout in Melbourne. A Gold Coast size stadium might have been a better for  for  aus x as well

It’s linked above.  Motoonline did it on Friday 

1
11/24/2025 6:00am

Thank you. It's much appreciated.

But. . . you aree not a serious moto-journalist some person said??!?!?

Looks to me like you got it going on!!!!

Great Work LP!

if you're referring to me, that's not what I said. I actually was complimentary of Lewis' interview, but found it odd that while we might congratulate Lewis, we strangely do NOT call out the rest of the "media" who is terrified of asking real questions of these athletes and leaders. Then when called out about it, Vitards defend them and shame folks for expecting a higher level out of our sport.

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AussieParaMX
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11/25/2025 1:08am
wicksy85 wrote:
Motorcycling Australia has either taken a cheque from WSX or just completely out of touch and useless.Am I suprised they let it happen...... not in the...

Motorcycling Australia has either taken a cheque from WSX or just completely out of touch and useless.

Am I suprised they let it happen...... not in the slightest at all.

I don’t think the clash with a regular round is a big deal at all.  If it clashed with the AUSX Open then it’d be more of a deal.  But nobody is travelling to watch Adelaide round of the Supercross series, its regional and designed to run alongside a racing car event to juice the attendance figures.  

Any WSX round in Australia is in competition with the AUSX not with the Australian Supercross series.  

The AUSX Open was 10k down this year compared to last because the roster of internationals was a joke and people travelling are in for a far better field of riders going to the WSX a week later.  AUSX lost because the lineup failed not because the Adelaide round clashed. 

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RACING
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11/25/2025 1:43am

Very relevant Phillips WSX question in Social scoop.

 

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8tensolutions
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11/25/2025 6:26am Edited Date/Time 11/25/2025 6:28am

Thank you. It's much appreciated.

But. . . you aree not a serious moto-journalist some person said??!?!?

Looks to me like you got it going on!!!!

Great Work LP!

if you're referring to me, that's not what I said. I actually was complimentary of Lewis' interview, but found it odd that while we might congratulate...

if you're referring to me, that's not what I said. I actually was complimentary of Lewis' interview, but found it odd that while we might congratulate Lewis, we strangely do NOT call out the rest of the "media" who is terrified of asking real questions of these athletes and leaders. Then when called out about it, Vitards defend them and shame folks for expecting a higher level out of our sport.

I understand what you are saying and agree some of the journalists are just industry bros (Swap, Ping etc).  Others are not and try to ask the "hard" questions.  The problem is if they dig too deep or create controversy the riders and teams wont talk to them.  There is a balance of having the relationships, the audience, and the credibility to get the best information possible.  

Take Cooksey for example.  He used to go to races and press conferences but thought he was TMZ and look where that got him.  Then you have Matthes who has the balance I mentioned above from my perspective.  Lewis is also doing good work, but this recent interview only happened because Tom agreed to it.  If he had said no, or limited questions, Lewis cannot make him answer the questions or even do the interview.  Lewis and Matthes are the two primary guys right now because they are at the races and are consistent.  

11/25/2025 7:29am

But. . . you aree not a serious moto-journalist some person said??!?!?

Looks to me like you got it going on!!!!

Great Work LP!

if you're referring to me, that's not what I said. I actually was complimentary of Lewis' interview, but found it odd that while we might congratulate...

if you're referring to me, that's not what I said. I actually was complimentary of Lewis' interview, but found it odd that while we might congratulate Lewis, we strangely do NOT call out the rest of the "media" who is terrified of asking real questions of these athletes and leaders. Then when called out about it, Vitards defend them and shame folks for expecting a higher level out of our sport.

I understand what you are saying and agree some of the journalists are just industry bros (Swap, Ping etc).  Others are not and try to ask...

I understand what you are saying and agree some of the journalists are just industry bros (Swap, Ping etc).  Others are not and try to ask the "hard" questions.  The problem is if they dig too deep or create controversy the riders and teams wont talk to them.  There is a balance of having the relationships, the audience, and the credibility to get the best information possible.  

Take Cooksey for example.  He used to go to races and press conferences but thought he was TMZ and look where that got him.  Then you have Matthes who has the balance I mentioned above from my perspective.  Lewis is also doing good work, but this recent interview only happened because Tom agreed to it.  If he had said no, or limited questions, Lewis cannot make him answer the questions or even do the interview.  Lewis and Matthes are the two primary guys right now because they are at the races and are consistent.  

yeah I hear ya. I've said it a million times, however, that the media has more power than they realize. I can't think of another professional sport where the "media" isn't really the media. MX Media is literally just an extension of the team's PR squad. Vital talks about what the teams LET them talk about, and that's insane to me. You bring up Cooksey - he puts out a vid about Muc-Off financial struggles and instantly people make fun of him. But then ML shows up and confirms it's true. At the same time, guess who puts out not one piece of "news" regarding this situation: ML. Virtually every piece of "news" we get is something we've heard rumors about for ages, and then it happens, and then our "media" says "Yeah, I've known about this for ages...."

It's so odd. When the media realizes that without them the teams have no voice at all, the teams will be forced to open up and this ridiculous "Bromance" relationship we have between teams/media will hopefully die a quick death.

1
soggy
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11/25/2025 7:44am
if you're referring to me, that's not what I said. I actually was complimentary of Lewis' interview, but found it odd that while we might congratulate...

if you're referring to me, that's not what I said. I actually was complimentary of Lewis' interview, but found it odd that while we might congratulate Lewis, we strangely do NOT call out the rest of the "media" who is terrified of asking real questions of these athletes and leaders. Then when called out about it, Vitards defend them and shame folks for expecting a higher level out of our sport.

I understand what you are saying and agree some of the journalists are just industry bros (Swap, Ping etc).  Others are not and try to ask...

I understand what you are saying and agree some of the journalists are just industry bros (Swap, Ping etc).  Others are not and try to ask the "hard" questions.  The problem is if they dig too deep or create controversy the riders and teams wont talk to them.  There is a balance of having the relationships, the audience, and the credibility to get the best information possible.  

Take Cooksey for example.  He used to go to races and press conferences but thought he was TMZ and look where that got him.  Then you have Matthes who has the balance I mentioned above from my perspective.  Lewis is also doing good work, but this recent interview only happened because Tom agreed to it.  If he had said no, or limited questions, Lewis cannot make him answer the questions or even do the interview.  Lewis and Matthes are the two primary guys right now because they are at the races and are consistent.  

yeah I hear ya. I've said it a million times, however, that the media has more power than they realize. I can't think of another professional...

yeah I hear ya. I've said it a million times, however, that the media has more power than they realize. I can't think of another professional sport where the "media" isn't really the media. MX Media is literally just an extension of the team's PR squad. Vital talks about what the teams LET them talk about, and that's insane to me. You bring up Cooksey - he puts out a vid about Muc-Off financial struggles and instantly people make fun of him. But then ML shows up and confirms it's true. At the same time, guess who puts out not one piece of "news" regarding this situation: ML. Virtually every piece of "news" we get is something we've heard rumors about for ages, and then it happens, and then our "media" says "Yeah, I've known about this for ages...."

It's so odd. When the media realizes that without them the teams have no voice at all, the teams will be forced to open up and this ridiculous "Bromance" relationship we have between teams/media will hopefully die a quick death.

Well said. 

Another big difference in mx media and other sports is in the NFL for the most part media is not friends with the players. 

MX media is incestuous with the riders and industry as a whole. And they don’t want to lose access so the go along with the teams wishes (ie reporting contract/team changes)

Look at F1 as a great example of what could be. All of last season they were talking about Hamilton leaving Merc and joining Ferrari on the race broadcast. No waiting for a team announcement or intro. 

lastly, the secrecy behind bike changes is stupid. Teams hiding behind the fact that they are racing production bikes and they can’t detail bike issues or failures because it will scare consumers. For one you have to be so far into the weeds in this sport to be paying attention to that sort of stuff you know comparing factory bikes to your bike at home is stupid.  The casual fan isn’t going to care and the hardcore fan knows it’s an apples to orange comparison. 

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