Contracts ending in 2019

Unless they've signed recent extensions, it looks like at least Tomac, Roczen and Hill have contracts expiring at the end of 2019: https://racerxonline.com/2018/05/09/redux-450-contract-landscape

Here's my big shocker:

- Kawaski will sign AC92 to a three year deal as well as Joey to a two year deal, and will let Tomac walk.

- JGR signs ET3 to a three year deal.

- Roczen stays at Honda.

Tomac will stay kenny will stay hill probably gone at JGR

Kawi will never let Tomac go. He's a proven national championship winner.

bd wrote:

Here's my big shocker:

- Kawaski will sign AC92 to a three year deal as well as Joey to a two year deal, and will let Tomac walk.

- JGR signs ET3 to a three year deal.

- Roczen stays at Honda.

I can't see Kawi letting Tomac go. They may have only signed him back in 2015 but they wanted him for awhile before they did actually sign him. If you go on Reid Nordin's instagram you can find a picture of Tomac on a number 43 Kawasaki and based on the gear he is wearing in the photo I assume it was taken in 2012.

Marvin isn’t a spring chicken, I could see KTM getting involved with any available top riders.

Anyone know how Eli feels about the Kawi?

MOTO732 wrote:

Kawi will never let Tomac go. He's a proven national championship winner.

Kawi let RC and Stew go so letting Tomac go doesn’t sound that crazy.

So you fellas don’t think there will be a shakeup?

PRM31 wrote:

Marvin isn’t a spring chicken, I could see KTM getting involved with any available top riders.

If I were Roger DeCoster I would be all over Forkner like a cheap suit.

MOTO732 wrote:

Kawi will never let Tomac go. He's a proven national championship winner.

But he is a perennial SX bridesmaid.

I can't see Kawi letting Tomac go as well.

bd wrote:

Here's my big shocker:

- Kawaski will sign AC92 to a three year deal as well as Joey to a two year deal, and will let Tomac walk.

- JGR signs ET3 to a three year deal.

- Roczen stays at Honda.

Zero chance Tomac would leave Kawasaki for JGR.

JGR will be lucky to exist another year. No title sponsor, bleeding money like crazy, working on a fraction of manufacturer support that they were previously getting from Yamaha. After they destroy a few bikes at the nationals this summer watching Hill and Decotis getting 18th the guy writing the checks will start to question the red ink. It was a little different when Yamaha and AutoTrader would chip in $. There's a good reason RCH folded after one year of limited sponsorship.

Tomac likely re-signs with Kawasaki. Definitely will if he wins either the SX championship or the Motocross title for the 3rd straight year. If he moved Yamaha is full so Honda or KTM would be more likely.

Seely's contract ends this year.

DPR250R wrote:

Anyone know how Eli feels about the Kawi?

"Comfy"

Kenny is staying. Is contract for Moose Can up?

Also think about possibly one less team next season. Not a lot of return on investment lately for dirt bike sales.

My hot take.

Kawi signs Eli to a 3 year deal. They also kick joey and add AC for a 1 year deal. After AC’s deal is up they evaluate whether or not forkner would be a better fit. Somehow kawi works it out so when eli retires, they have forkner and AC on the team.

Joey goes to JGR and replaces hill or chad

Roczen stays at honda.

bd wrote:

Here's my big shocker:

- Kawaski will sign AC92 to a three year deal as well as Joey to a two year deal, and will let Tomac walk.

- JGR signs ET3 to a three year deal.

- Roczen stays at Honda.

jorgechavez wrote:

I can't see Kawi letting Tomac go. They may have only signed him back in 2015 but they wanted him for awhile before they did actually sign him. If you go on Reid Nordin's instagram you can find a picture of Tomac on a number 43 Kawasaki and based on the gear he is wearing in the photo I assume it was taken in 2012.

endurox wrote:

Kenny is staying. Is contract for Moose Can up?

Marvin's contract is up at the end of the year.

kb228 wrote:

My hot take.

Kawi signs Eli to a 3 year deal. They also kick joey and add AC for a 1 year deal. After AC’s deal is up they evaluate whether or not forkner would be a better fit. Somehow kawi works it out so when eli retires, they have forkner and AC on the team.

Joey goes to JGR and replaces hill or chad

Roczen stays at honda.

Savatgy has been good this year. 5 top 10 finishes, plus he probably would have had a 6th if his bike didn't die in Oakland. Crazy to think he could lose his spot.

If Forkner and Cianciarulo keep riding this well all year, it really seems like they should move up to 450. Too bad there aren't enough spots for all these guys.

Dungey was 20 for his first full season on 450's. Forkner and Cianciarulo are already older than that.

I would love to see marvin go back to mxgp for last few years of his career.

Hill to HEP Stamp it

Kawi's plan for Savatgy was to keep the seat warm for AC right? With Savatgy doing the best of the rookies its hard to see Kawi letting him go but who knows. And as much as I want to see AC on that green 450, I see Honda going after him hard. Seely will be out most likely and with AC and Roczens relationship, I can see that being a good fit.

kb228 wrote:

My hot take.

Kawi signs Eli to a 3 year deal. They also kick joey and add AC for a 1 year deal. After AC’s deal is up they evaluate whether or not forkner would be a better fit. Somehow kawi works it out so when eli retires, they have forkner and AC on the team.

Joey goes to JGR and replaces hill or chad

Roczen stays at honda.

Make Sence accept for 1 part , why would ac Agree to a one year deal , he has a little to much clout for a one year deal imo and would have to have better offers than that
I wonder if Kawasaki tries to keep all 3 , and then worry about Forkner when the time comes

Gukamonster wrote:

Zero chance Tomac would leave Kawasaki for JGR.

JGR will be lucky to exist another year. No title sponsor, bleeding money like crazy, working on a fraction of manufacturer support that they were previously getting from Yamaha. After they destroy a few bikes at the nationals this summer watching Hill and Decotis getting 18th the guy writing the checks will start to question the red ink. It was a little different when Yamaha and AutoTrader would chip in $. There's a good reason RCH folded after one year of limited sponsorship.

Tomac likely re-signs with Kawasaki. Definitely will if he wins either the SX championship or the Motocross title for the 3rd straight year. If he moved Yamaha is full so Honda or KTM would be more likely.

I highly doubt that JGR is going anywhere for money reasons. If they are taking an L on the motocross program they probably just use it to their advantage when the quarterly taxes are due. They are in motocross because they love motorsports. There shouldn't be any surprise expenses for the year so I'm sure they know where they are going to be at before the it even starts, bikes destroyed or not. The guy writing the checks will most likely question whether they need new riders or not before he questions any red ink. But I don't think Decotis or AMart will have any problems. Also, they are Suzuki's factory team right now so I don't know why you think it's a limited sponsorship. From what I understood they voluntarily went to Suzuki because Yamaha hired riders to recreate the factory team when JGR was supposed to be the premier team and wanted Webb riding for them. I'm sure the factory did pull some support from the team but what I'm saying is I don't think they'd go to Suzuki when it would also have less support than factory. I do agree that Tomac is going nowhere though.

I think we need to look at the (potential) open spots:

Honda - Would be logical that they would let Seely go with so many young guys with "potential"

KTM RM - Would like to fill in someone behind, or next to, Bagget. I would think they have had their fill of Benny Bloss unless he really shines outside this summer

JGR - Has probably seen enough of HIll. Chad was not supposed to be consistently outperforming him

Even if all of these assumptions are true there are only 3 spots open... with J-Mart, and AC or Joey filling 2 of them.

FuzzyLogic wrote:

I think we need to look at the (potential) open spots:

Honda - Would be logical that they would let Seely go with so many young guys with "potential"

KTM RM - Would like to fill in someone behind, or next to, Bagget. I would think they have had their fill of Benny Bloss unless he really shines outside this summer

JGR - Has probably seen enough of HIll. Chad was not supposed to be consistently outperforming him

Even if all of these assumptions are true there are only 3 spots open... with J-Mart, and AC or Joey filling 2 of them.

Jeremy Martin is signed with Geico through 2021: https://motocross.transworld.net/news/jeremy-martin-miss-2019-race-season/

Does that mean he will stay on 250's? If he "points out" of the 250 class next year, would he ride for Geico on a 450 in 2021?

kb228 wrote:

My hot take.

Kawi signs Eli to a 3 year deal. They also kick joey and add AC for a 1 year deal. After AC’s deal is up they evaluate whether or not forkner would be a better fit. Somehow kawi works it out so when eli retires, they have forkner and AC on the team.

Joey goes to JGR and replaces hill or chad

Roczen stays at honda.

Tarz483 wrote:

Make Sence accept for 1 part , why would ac Agree to a one year deal , he has a little to much clout for a one year deal imo and would have to have better offers than that
I wonder if Kawasaki tries to keep all 3 , and then worry about Forkner when the time comes

I say 1 year because AC hasnt proven himself like he should have in the 250 class. The 1 year will allow AC to shoot his shot and still allow kawi to sign forkner if it doesnt work out.

Please note, im a huge kawi fan, and eli ac and forkner are the guys i root for every time. Kawi has a tough choice between the 3 in the next few years. Joey hasnt done anything for kawi like the other 3 have. Thats why hes the odd one out even tho hes doing great as a rookie this year. Kawi is loyal to their riders and ac and forkner have been riding for kawi for a long time. Tomac has given kawi 2 titles and an ass load of 450 sx wins.

Believe me, i would love for kawi to field all 3 guys but someone is getting cut. I dont see them fielding 3 riders.

DPR250R wrote:

Anyone know how Eli feels about the Kawi?

When he was on the Whiskey Throttle Show he said he liked it much better than the Honda and said the CRF felt like a wild ride or something like that. But... I wouldn't expect him to say anything else while on camera. Haha.