Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
“I can’t imagine him happy on anything” - I don’t get this train of thought. It’s proven the Ktm was having major shock issues and kawi are miles off the mark with their race bike and team personal.
I worked for exactly 1 in my whole career and they were based in Finland. 1st time I ever heard about work/life balance being emphasized as good for the whole company. Really different perspective on life. Very few people I ran into had a bad attitude in my 10 years working there.
Did Chase complain about the motor quitting mid air?
yes I believe I heard that. and others saying the bike was sputtering at times on the track. I also remember Eli frying his clutch a couple years ago. I don't follow all this as closely as many here do so wondering if motor complaints were as numerous as chassis from riders last couple years.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Matthes just put out a good Renthal Reaction.
He thinks KTM like I do, Yamaha, Quadlock or HEP.
Reckons Kenny is holding out to sign with HEP due to Sexton ie extra dollars.
I seem to think that Fahie has a contract of employment.
Provided he’s fulfilling his contract, he’ll remain in the job until his contract expires.,
Did it?
Did it not?
I'm genuinely asking mate, I haven't looked into it too deeply.
Quick google says there's no official statement, if that's the case given Sextons weirdness of crashes and decision making on the track in the past few years I wouldn't rule out rider error.
kawi cut out mid air thunder valley this year. Causing chases current injury. Some folks believe he brake tapped and forgot to pull in the clutch.
In 5 seasons, the team's record is 9 main event wins, 7 of which came for Anderson in 2022, 22 podiums, 10 of which came from JA in 2022. And two high-profile riders leaving 3-year contracts after 1 season, back-to-back.
If Fahie were at any other job, he'd be let go. The only thing he is fulfilling in his contract is showing up.
Fahie has a ‘custom’ contract with Kawasaki—-as in, a specific term of years? I doubt it. He is likely an at-will employee and can be terminated at any time either with/without cause.
Despite what any of us surmise, the bosses in Japan think he’s worthy of keeping his position… for now.. we won’t ever know why.
is he employed by Kawasaki "motor division", or something like Kawasaki Heavy Industries?
"At-Will employee" is a meaningless term for corporations. They still have to be fair and show they performance manage employees consistently.
Regardless, maybe he should not be fired, but they definitely need to find a better role for him. Like Albrecht with JGR.....how many years did that team fail to perform yet somehow he stayed in the manager role. Makes no sense.
My original point is that Fahie most likely is not on a term of years personal service contract, contrary to a racer. But, maybe he is…? Regardless, one would have to be naive to believe that Kawasaki is not versed in exactly how to process an employee out of the organization.
The Albrecht-JGR situation was unique in the loyalty of the relationship between the parties, imo.
Just Let Jason (headgame) Anderson Back on The Kawasaki!!! He is a Racer & It would be Cool To See Him & Mookie on the Same Team!!!
Funny how there’s talk of Japanese control in this topic, yet when it comes to MXdN every year, it’s American budgets and orders that rule……
Pit Row
I figured it was over when Fahie blamed Chase for the bike failure at Thunder Valley. I knew Chase was out of there, I couldn't believe he would talk shit like that on his rider. Fahie should be sent packing. He's a nobody in this sport.
Prado complained about the engine last year. Engine affects handling too so you can’t entirely separate them.
That is what i have also said all along. It was over then and there. Zero chance that Sexton was going to work under that management for a second more.
An engine tuned to be ridden high in the rev range, with the resulting wound up chassis, like Anderson ran, was never going to work for Prado, who’s very precise and lugs the engine around.
Sexton, who’s also not a revver, would have benefited from the engine development that Jorge forced Kawi to do, but obviously it still wasn’t enough.
Favorite fun fact is Prado forced them to develop and develop the engine and even after all they did, twisteds setting was better immediately lol.
So imagine how far off they were before Prado drug them by the balls to make improvements.
I find this incredibly hard to believe.
It’s not like Kawasaki is new to engine building, or tuning, or mapping, or don’t understand power curves.
I’d moreso believe that K weren’t willing to change it rather than didn’t know what to do.
While it is hard to believe, there must be some truth to it; remember Mitch said they got hold of it and made a 20% improvement (can’t remember exact figure) straight away? That shouldn’t be possible with a factory engine, unless it’s way off the mark.
And yet as cpr says, it’s true. And it’s obvious at this point.
It's not hard to believe if you know Kawasaki history. I'm referring to when Scott Russell was competing in World Superbike. That program was run by Rob Muzzy, with Muzzy built engines. The following year, the team was required to run factory engines and was not allowed to make any engine changes. (Reportedly the engines were sealed). Russell said several times that it didn't make power like the Muzzy built engines.
We are learning that in this sport, where there’s smoke there sure is some fire!
So now that it's done, I'm curious when sexton camp first communicated to the team that he wasn't coming back? In hindsight, I don't know how much I believe that kawasaki would have had jcoop ride the bike and then signed Malcolm if they really thought chase was coming back. So if they knew months ago they needed to fill that spot, and did, why wait so long to release chase? It's either they really wanted him back and were hoping maybe there would be chance he'd ride the new bike and change his mind, or they just wanted to limit his chances of landing in a better spot and going on to success like prado. I'm guessing it's the latter.
Or all the contractual terms are finicky and it took some time with lawyers and meetings and emails to get all the approvals done?
Post a reply to: Sexton leaving Kawasaki?