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Silly thought here…
How about: merge MX2 and emx250. Riders doing the flyaways will become not legible for emx250 points. Riders only doing the european rounds are legible for emx250 points, but will not outscore MX2 riders due to missing out on points.
This way the european rounds will have full gates. Emx250 will became a seperate championship within MX2. Kinda like the “triple crown champion” in SX.
16 riders at the gate also isn’t a world championship filled with locals who scored points, after lapped 3 times🙄 Three or four overseas races should be enough. Two at the beginning and two at the end of the season.
They already tried to be motogp.....3day event.....one race per class ............that's wasn't a succes......
Get your facts straight. That was Dorna Offroad, not YouthStream (or InFront). Luongo sold the promotion rights of his company (named Action Group back then) in 2000 to Dorna Offroad, who still had 3 world championship classes, being MXGP, 125cc and 650cc for the seasons 2001-2002-2003. For the 2004 season he bought them back and started again as YouthStream, reinstalling the two races per class, and renaming them to MX1 (later MXGP), MX2 & MX3.
I was talking how they're aming for a single world championship class, being MXGP.
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Yep
I reckon leave EMX250 alone, it's really good series as it is.
But didn’t Luongo run it for Dorna?
I'm pretty sure that's the case.
He's never 'let go' completely of his cash cow, even through his various sales to other companies, and, despite his handing things over to his son - Nepotism / Nepo Babyism : Hello! - and Infront, I'd not be surprised if he's retained 'ownership' of MXGP in some way, through to whatever year (sometime in the 30s?) he's got it for, from the FIM.
I like the EMX series - all of them. It gives exposure for riders and smaller Teams, in a Big market.
But, as I keep on writing, The Luongos / Infront, need to stop pocketing All the money, and put it back into supporting Teams, to get through a Long season, with Very Expensive costs to those Teams.
When that may happen? - well "pigs Might Fly".
In the meantime, The set up that's been in place for many years, will continue to damage the GPs, and, with the riders facing that damage, and the Ridiculous Age Rule in MX2 , it will continue to provide a steady stream of riders going towards the USA, where they can have a chance at Not being relegated back to smaller European National series, or, being thrown to the Wolves, into MXGP, before they want to / can get support to do.
Heck, the lack of an age rule in the USA, (yes, he had a year left before aging out, but he sure as hell wasn't going to get an MX2 Title in the time left to him ) and his desire to do SX ( and, get the F**k away from Luongo), enabled Dylan Ferrandis to make his way through to 450s, at his own pace. And that worked out pretty bloody well for him.
I would also keep EMX250, but somehow enforce something to make sure riders who get results actually move up.
Last season we saw wildcards in mx2 from EMX250 riders like Skovbjerg, Fredsoe, Reichl, Owens, etc who showed in these wildcards they clearly had the pace to battle with regular mx2 guys like Braceras, Karssemakers, Smith etc.
All these guys have done multiple years in EMX250, finished in top 10 in points in '25, showed they have speed for mx2, but somewho dont move up but again return in EMX250.
Get rid of the age rule in MX2, increase the age rule in EMX250 and make riders point out for EMX250.
Even if he did (I can't remember), it was Dorna Offroad who owned the rights of the worldchampionship at the time, and they decided to change the format to single race GP's and three classes in the same weekend.
The issue is also the fact that they pay in MX2 is so bad. Most non-factory teams actually want budget from you and your own personal sponsors. And the factory teams pay very. very little salary to their riders.
yeah it sucks. But it is the same in emx250, because many riders in top 10-15 have to pay serious money to ride. So thats not the reason not to move up
Easily the most open Ben's ever been about Kawasaki, Beta and whatnot. Worth a watch or listen (on podcast platforms now).
Dungey vibes.
+1 on the body belt. Great lower back support.
so are there reliable links to watch some of these preseason races?
Yes youtube
I didn't see anything for the italian round for "official" coverage.
Pit Row
I was able to watch the italian championship live on youtube last sunday for free.....it was livestream
You always talk a lot of sense mxaddict and I am of the belief that you have more of an idea than most! I do believe though in these modern times mxgp as a product has got to compete with its counterparts when fighting for sponsorship and in the world we live in people don’t care so much about the passion they care more about how it looks to others. The problem with money is not limited to our sport, even half the f1 grid brings money. I think we had a great thing for a while where the average guy could reach the highs and some of us diehard fans hang on to that! The good old days you might say. But at one point hesketh could win F1 races. All motorsports are on the same path we are just slightly behind
Again, always hold your input in high regard. Cheers
US model (AMA SX and MX championships) actually works with no age limit and with prize money. This is the way InFront should go! But everybody knows they don't want to.
Yes 100 percent on the ama model, but the point could be argued that as America is one country the privateer earning prize money can still do it out of a van driving where mxgp would have to limit itself to Europe to have that. Is that a world championship? Is it that the water is European motocross’s biggest problem? (Again I am with you I was at GPS in the 90s) I hate how the sport is in Europe and find it hard to watch sometimes, i just like to see other views on the topic and find different ways to look at it and try to enjoy it
Maybe we could have own championship series in each continent and then have grand final(s) where champions from each series would be competiting against each other for the world championship title. That would keep the travelling costs down for each series and we would still crown the world champion in the end.
Its obvious that Infront has a big part in this, but a question i have is where are the industry brands and local supporters in all this?
When you are a fast rider who is fast in the ADAC/French/Dutch/British championship you will have a decent setup to train and have bikes and stuff. Otherwise you cannot be competitive in such a championship. So the karssemakers, Gwerders, Soulimanis, etc last year.
How much would it really cost to add a number of GPs to your budget. Not doing all the GPs and overseas etc, but doing the 6 or 8 GPs closest to your home. So you take two of your bikes, your campervan, dad or a friend to help and drive to the GP nearest to you. Whats it? Entry fee, travel costs, some spare parts usage, tyres, racefuel. What is that 1500 euro? 2000 euro? That's 15k to do 8 GPs? There is no value for gearcompanies, parts brands, local sponsors etc in GPs for 5 companies to step up and sponor a couple of grand?
It isnt just the money. Its the schedule.
So all the Nationals here in Europe run on the off weekends of the GPs' mostly (France doesnt care now, they run when they want) so you might get 2 GP's on the bounce, and a National race before and after them, so that is 4 weekends away, no time to prep, and most importantly, no time to go to work .
I did 6 weeks out of 7 once doing races in the UK, and mainland Europe, and it was a killer, so many teams run with part time weekend warrior type staff, that it just isnt feasible to put that much strain on teams and budget to make up the numbers.
i'm not talking about teams with staff. i'm talking about privateers who do a couple of gp's.
Again i think Infront should pay. But where are the industry brands and local sponsors putting money up so these guys do more GPs?
So am i , you cant do and do GP's on your own, so you need a driver and mechanic at a minimum, from the UK you can do Holland, Belgium , France and Germany real easy, Italy and Czech are a bit harder, but Sweden and Latvia are miles, my mates lad does EMX 125, they had to do Loket ( i think) and Sweden, with a British the week in the middle, that was Wednesday out to Czech, back late Monday, up to the north of the UK , then leave tuesday to get to Sweden because of the ferries and stuff, back early hour of weds . Not doable more than a few times, with how much it costs.
We have a British at Canada Heights , the week before MXGP at Foxhill, then Locket, them Lommel , then Monster Mountain British in Wales, that will be a stretch for me , and i only have to get there, and not even ride. Huge cost, loads of time, easier for the Euro guys, but even so, its a crazy schedule.
In perspective doing a season of Dutch Nationals, Dutch Masters and 1 round of MXGP / MX OPEN set you back €60.000 Euro's and I'm talking 450 class now, 250 class today without heavy tuning is similar, but who's riding a stocker in the top 10? So you can add €20,000 for the ''feeder'' class.
It obviously depends on where you are located and the standards you have, but the bare minimum you need to attend a GP and cover all costs is €2.500 approximately. More realistically is between €3.500 and €4.500 depending on the distance.
It's such a time consuming thing that a friend who can wrench for free isn't always there. If you do A GP in Sweden / Finland it costs you 8 / 10 days of bike prep, travel and the actual racing at minimum. Barely no one can take off and work for free like that
+ if we keep the focus on being from the Netherlands as an example. One of those examples is Karssemakers. Legit rider with potential to break into the 10 occasionally. He actually proved this quite some times, but what does he gain from this while doing these results as a privateer? In the AMA series, we have a few sattelite/privateer teams picking up these kind of talents, trying to develop them into consistent top 10 riders and top 5, until a team like PC, Star or any other factory team picks them up. He now has the opportunity to prove himself once more via Dixon Kawi, one of the last remaining private teams in the paddock. And IF he has a breakthrough year, what team would pick him? He is getting closer to the ridiculous age rule.
McAdoo is a prime example of that path. In Europe, he would have stranded after two years of GPs and his dream would be gone. Now he got the opportunity via MotoConcepts, rode his way into factory teams and has a great earning career in the 250 class. Mind that he is now 28 years old. He would be out of the MX2 class for 5 years now. How many riders equally as talented as McAdoo have we seen being forced to the AMA series (Anstie), or worse, thrown into the wolves in the MXGP class > back to a privateer team > Europe GP's only and ultimately choose the path of doing a few National races, a few GPs or go to the French Beach racing championship?
Don't get me wrong Rym, I understand why you're wondering about this and how you explain your question, but my opinion is that a lot of riders and the people that financially support them don't see the benefit of doing a few GP's. The leap to get your rider into a team that does the full calendar is way too big. It's already difficult for an EMX125/250 top 3 contender to find a spot, imagine being a privateer.
The age rule killed this, along with doing 5-6 fly away races.
PhilG, Rocketship Thanks for the input. I think it actually alligns with the point i was trying to make: Yes Infront should help but it isnt just Infront that is solving it.
The number of ~3k for a GP after spending 60k allready at your nationals as Rocketship mentions simply isnt going to be covered by Infront. Add in the logistics issue.
Imo for the gps to get back to Entry levels it used to be there is much more needed then some money by infront. Change is needed from all industry parties
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