Why can’t MXGP fill the gates in MX1 and MX2?

1000 euro entry and zero euro prize money. 

Tell me this - would you rather have 25 riders and only 2-3 lappers by the end of the race, or 40 riders on the gate and 17-18 lappers at the end of the race?

Anyone who thinks filling a 40 rider gate in an elite series is a point of superiority is kidding themselves.

I like it. Feels way more prestige. Imagine MotoGP or Formula 1 your neighbour is gonna race just because he is from that place lol

Nobody cares who finishes outside of the top 20 anyways

because they don't pay quaiflying money or prize money anymore, 

when it was 1200 swiss francs to qualify for a GP the local pros had a decent reason to try,  

Yes, that, plus the fact that Luongo and Co Should give decent, nay, Full support for Fly Away Races.

But, they've ( and , yes, I know InFront  'have' it now, but the Luongo's still have much more than their fingers in the 'pie') been pocketing  the Monster ( and other) money for many years, and not directing any of it to the Racers / Teams.

I can't recall the exact numbers, but quite few years ago, they (tried to) set grid limits of something like 28 / 32 riders, in the 2 classes. I think they were different each class.

But, I think Teams / Manufacturers /  National federations stepped in and nixed it?

And / or, they realized that why restrict entries by rules? - for the times they do get a lot of entries, they'd get more money.

Also. when they have EMX classes, the entry fees, more than make up for lower entry levels in the WC classes. 

The Loungo's are are Parasites on World Championships Motocross, and have been for decades now. 

Exactly, except that 17-18 is often on the low side. 

You mean the top 10...

I think modern moto should adapt. The global standard should be 30 gates. 31-40th place riders bring nothing to the table as long as we have a fragmented industry.

Like mentioned above its time to adapt to a maximum of 30 gates so that awful look of the many empty gates gets away.

And bring in a rule that you have to get within a maximum time based on the fastest time set in time practice, because now how many of the not factory riders are getting lapped more than 1 time during a 30 minute moto on the "highest level". Okay on really though conditions i get it like a mud race or deep sand but now almost every moto several riders are getting lapped more than one time and are just riding around in the middle off the race line even when they clearly shown a blue flag that they are about to get lapped. 

I get it that the good local riders wants to participate in their home GP but when you are seconds off during time practice then somebody has to cut it and just don't let them be part off the racing, i may get down votes for this but its just what it is. Back in the day you sometimes had 50, 60 riders trying to quallify and only the fastest 40 could give it a go, now we only have the factory guys and guys that can afford to pay to race but for me i think that is the biggest problem. Now you pay your spot at a non factory team or just privateer and you can race the weekend/season no matter how fast or good you are.

I like the idea of getting toward a F1 or MotoGP format with only 20 to 25-30 gates/riders but then it need to be the best that can meet a standard otherwise i have no problem with only getting 14-15 entry's sometimes (like south-africa), in the end only the top 10 to 15 counts....

Pro Motocross gates are full but lets be realistic, only the top 20-25 are racing, the rest are surviving. 

I'm sure that if there is no EMX250 there will be more riders in MX2, but to be honest i'm not so sure that would actually get us 40 riders at all EU races. 

The current riders in EMX250 ride for a championship position and go to races that are far away (like to South of Spain if you are from Scandinavia) because missing one or two races kills that position. But if they move over to MX2 they will not ride for a championship position because they will not ride the overseas anyway. 

That makes it much easier to say hey lets skip Portugal, south of Spain, Sardegna and Latvia and save 5 to 7,5k in diesel, entry fees, toll and ferry costs, while also not spend 8 to 10 days in a van and not having to find a mechanic to take that many days of work to join you. 

Its what we saw when EMX open went from i think 6 rounds to just 1. Almost all of the regular riders did not show up to do 6 or more GPs the season after that.

Thats true for some part, but i read so many times on here lets drop EMX250 class this is the solution for MX2 empty gates.

Lets be honest on the weekends that there is no EMX250 class how many of the riders try to race MX2 class ? Like 5 or somewhat and this are almost all riders that are riding for a factory supported team of a big privateer team and have layed out a career trajectory to end up on a factory team anyway somewhere between 2 to 3 years...

I mean teams like VHR yamaha, BUD racing, SS24, etc... are racing EMX250 because they tried MX2 or MXGP in the past and just stepped back because they got the oportunity to run a sort off development team for the brands, when there is no EMX250 anymore who is going to fund the team/riders to compete with in MX2 ? 

I think for the EMX250 class they just have to work out an age limit just like they did with MX2, lets say 18 years old or a championship tittle i think would be better than the maximum of 23 that they run now. Also i think the maximum off rounds should be reduced to a maximum of 8 race's for both EMX125 and EMX250 this would also create more room for more WMX race's as i think they should have a minimum of 10 to 12 GP's for their championship. And i think they have to adjust the format to all free and time practice and qualifying on the saturday program and all moto's on sunday and not for the additional classes have one moto on saturday and one on sunday as that is just bullshit in my opinion...

It's really sad to see how MXGP has been destroyed. Once the most prestigious series in the world to now looking like a local district race. All because of mismanagement. You can't make excuses for this or not see it. And nothing against the riders or teams here, they are the victims. 

Have you attended MXGPs in person? Because i don't understand how anyone could be of that kind of opinion if they have attended races like Lommel, Arnhem, Trentino, Foxhills etc.

Each of these countries MXGP visits has full gates in their national series. It’s not for a lack of racers the gates are empty, it’s by design. 

Only for 30 seconds does the sport look stupid when the gate is half full during the start procedure. 

Like many have said, there are winners, competitors, and survivors in MXGP and AMA. The survivors are slowly saying screw it, I’d rather take the weekend off and stick to my national series where they are winners and competitors. 

"when there is no EMX250 anymore who is going to fund the team/riders to compete with in MX2 ? "
The same as today: The riders. For the majority they only have a ride because their parents fund it.
 

Would the EU be better off having Loretta Lynns type events for the EMX250 / AMs? perhaps 2 / 3 week long championships per year.

I hope this is sarcasm 😂

They don’t want to. 

Saying that 25-30 riders on the gate is fine because "it would only be lappers anyway" completely misses the point. There's a lot of riders who are world class who can't afford to do the series. National series all over Europe have riders who could score points but don't/can't go.

The MXGP and MX2 classes could have 40 quality riders on the gate if it wasn't so prohibitively expensive to take part. Instead we get 15-20 quality riders and a mixed-meat of local riders having a moment of glory. With points going down to 20th you're getting guys 20 seconds off the pace scoring points at some races just for turning up. That's not "prestigious" 🙄

Kind of funny that some think the solution to the MXGP participation issue is to reduce the amount of people allowed to race rather than create some incentive for riders to want to race. Lappers only seem to be an issue when they do the fly away races and allow ~10 local guys who don’t belong anywhere near a professional race to lineup.

I seem to remember a race from a couple years ago that only had about 20 guys, which included the local club riders or whatever they are, so even if they went to a 30 man gate they wouldn’t always fill those up either.

I dont find any problem on current MXGP lineup. Who finished 31 place last AMA round? Would MXGP of Sweden been better if there were more riders on gate.. I dont think so. EMX races could have 40 gates but MXGP 30 is plenty.. 

Sweden would've been better if there were more quality riders rather than just "more riders". That's the issue - nobody wants to see more mediocre locals, but there has to be a way to stop talent falling through the gaps. Right now there are guys sticking to national series who could be on the start line and pushing for points. Talented riders fighting for the last points would be better than a plodder coasting round and collecting points just for being there, and the guys from 20th-40th would be fighting to get to the points.

In an ideal world there wouldn't be room for fee-paying mobile chicanes.

Some country’s travel to get everything in and out is crazy expensive so the smaller teams or riders simple do not go.

Watching on TV I agree with you and hate when a lapper messes up a race for the leaders(more so in SX than MX) but when spectating in person there are often great battles in the pack that make it interesting to watch while waiting for the leaders to come back around

naaaah... the whole "because locals are all lappers in the end" is BS. 
both classes have what? 6 to 8 guys who can ACTUALLY win races and fight for the title?.. then why have more than these 6 to 8 competing?
naah. MX is a people's sport. imagine how cool to qualify 40th to a race where you shared the grid with herlings, kay, coenen, gasjer.
F1 has 20 cars FOR WHAT? let only those 3 top teams compete then... lol

I understand you guys logics and "it is what it is", but naaah, we should always want to see 40 riders entering, even if they are all lappers in the end.
the fee for locals could be reduced tho, no doubt on that

The idea that fewer riders is better in motocross is nonsense to me. If the gates were full I doubt there would be many saying that 20 would be better. Just an elitist excuse to justify the current situation. "But it only matters for the first 20 seconds." And that first 20 seconds is a hell of a lot better with 40! If I'm at the race it sure makes a difference too, for the whole moto! MXGP qualifying races would matter too if there were 40. The only reason they matter now is they turned them into points races. The 'qualifying' element is nonsense.

Part of the allure to motocross is that 'regular' guys can line up with the best. On occasion they do well too! We are already cutting the field way down to get to 40. There were 40 in the LCQs at Unadilla! One of my greatest memories of attending a national was a local guy leading nearly all of the first moto before getting caught by Bob Hannah. 

It seems the powers that be at MXGP would prefer to have only 20 riders, all on 'official' teams. I just don't agree, at all, with that concept for motocross. Go to a MotoGP race, and as soon as the field goes by there is silence for a minute or two until they come back. I don't want that to be the fan experience for motocross. Motocross is an accessible sport with predominantly production equipment that is competitive and available. Let them race!

Amen. 40 riders with start devices on grates going into the first turn is too many. Too many crashes on the first lap. Too many lappers. Tell me a story about the time you watched a great battle for 38th place?

I don't know what the right number is, but it's time to rethink this. A reduced number of gates based on statistics of the decades of data we have to eliminate the riders slower than 110% of the fastest qualifier would be all positives. Start with cutting 10%, down to 36 gates. Why not?

If you're concerned with the privateers, then there should be a B-main, like... a support class...

"Tell me a story about the time you watched a great battle for 38th place?"

Its not about WE watching the thing mate. You know you can find infinite stories of people racing hard agaisnt the 37th rider, having the time of their lives.
 

it doesnt matter, the guy who finished 31th in last AMA round is still thinking about that. either he loved or he understood he needs to become a better rider, whatever. Its not about us watching on TV, its a people's sport