Is Factory Team Honda suffering from the Curse of the GOAT....Curse of the Bambino.

OW38B
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Edited Date/Time 9/4/2022 11:00am
Curse of the GOAT....Curse of the Bambino.


Finished listening to the Mike Lindsey interview of Ricky Carmichael the other day and how he felt that Honda "kicked him to the curb".

So that got me to thinking about the Honda "big boy" team since RC4 left and their Championships in the premier class.

Davi Milsaps, Ivan Tedasco, Ben Townley (was Factory Honda for two years and did he even race for them?), et al.

Many capable riders but for some reason, not close to winning a championship. That brings me to this year, Trey Canard a very capable rider but jeez if it was not for bad luck he would have no luck at all. Cole Seely, won a SX but now out again with an injury, Eli Tomec, fast as all get out but out for the rest of the season.

So last race at High Point, they had to pick up Freddie Noran off his pick up truck tailgate to put somebody in the Honda semi. I remember a time when Honda had 8 Factory riders on the team at the same time.

I know you are going to say "but, but, Tomac was killing them the first 2 1/4 races outdoors this year until he crashed!"

All that does is 100% prove my point that their is some "black cloud" hanging over Team Honda and the Curse of the Bambino.

Maybe RC went way back in the swamps and had a Voodoo woman put the bad Mojo on Team Honda?

We are talking about the Factory Honda MX Team.

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The Curse of the Bambino was a superstition evolving from the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period from 1918 to 2004. While some fans took the curse seriously, most used the expression in a tongue-in-cheek manner.[1] This misfortune began after the Red Sox sold star player Babe Ruth, sometimes called The Bambino, to the New York Yankees in the off-season of 1919–1920.[2] Before that point, the Red Sox had been one of the most successful professional baseball franchises, winning the first World Series and amassing five World Series titles.[3] After the sale they went without a title for decades, even while the Red Sox won four American League championships from 1946 to 1986, as the previously lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in North American professional sports.[4] The curse became a focal point of the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry over the years.
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7/8/2015 10:39am
Maybe they just suck and are still living on the accolades of the MC era... and only Ricky was good enough to win with them.
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7/8/2015 10:40am
...hey its only been a decade and half...since they have won...whats the rush...
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OW38B
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7/8/2015 10:40am
Maybe they just suck and are still living on the accolades of the MC era... and only Ricky was good enough to win with them.
Well there's that.....Unsure
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lostboy819
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7/8/2015 11:19am
Just to be fair, Honda also screwed McGrath,Decoster,and Kehoe to name a few.
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The Shop

rallendude
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7/8/2015 11:28am
...hey its only been a decade and half...since they have won...whats the rush...
Technically, it's only been a decade since RC won 24 motos in a row on a CRF450r. That's still a long time though.

As for accolades, they go way back to before MC ever started racing motocross. MC took over for Stanton, who battled his own team mate Bayle. Before that were RJ, O'mara, Dymond, Holland, and on before that.

They surely aren't what they once were as a Factory Race team, but no one else really is either.
7/8/2015 11:32am
...hey its only been a decade and half...since they have won...whats the rush...
rallendude wrote:
Technically, it's only been a decade since RC won 24 motos in a row on a CRF450r. That's still a long time though. As for accolades...
Technically, it's only been a decade since RC won 24 motos in a row on a CRF450r. That's still a long time though.

As for accolades, they go way back to before MC ever started racing motocross. MC took over for Stanton, who battled his own team mate Bayle. Before that were RJ, O'mara, Dymond, Holland, and on before that.

They surely aren't what they once were as a Factory Race team, but no one else really is either.
I realize they go all the way back... I'm saying that haven't really dominated since then, save for RC.

Even the little "boutique" brand KTM has been consistently shitting on them for awhile now.

Nothing will ever top the disappointment of the NS500R project though. probably the largest 2-wheeled fail, ever.
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Holigan
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7/8/2015 11:37am
Somebody at Honda figured out that winning on Sunday (or Saturday) does not create sales on Monday. They don't have to pay anyone a $3,000,000 base salary to get the sales they want.
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jasonv43
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7/8/2015 11:41am
The problem with Honda is Honda. If that makes any sense.
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JerseyFresh
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7/8/2015 11:48am
OW38B wrote:
Curse of the GOAT....Curse of the Bambino. Finished listening to the Mike Lindsey interview of Ricky Carmichael the other day and how he felt that Honda...
Curse of the GOAT....Curse of the Bambino.


Finished listening to the Mike Lindsey interview of Ricky Carmichael the other day and how he felt that Honda "kicked him to the curb".

So that got me to thinking about the Honda "big boy" team since RC4 left and their Championships in the premier class.

Davi Milsaps, Ivan Tedasco, Ben Townley (was Factory Honda for two years and did he even race for them?), et al.

Many capable riders but for some reason, not close to winning a championship. That brings me to this year, Trey Canard a very capable rider but jeez if it was not for bad luck he would have no luck at all. Cole Seely, won a SX but now out again with an injury, Eli Tomec, fast as all get out but out for the rest of the season.

So last race at High Point, they had to pick up Freddie Noran off his pick up truck tailgate to put somebody in the Honda semi. I remember a time when Honda had 8 Factory riders on the team at the same time.

I know you are going to say "but, but, Tomac was killing them the first 2 1/4 races outdoors this year until he crashed!"

All that does is 100% prove my point that their is some "black cloud" hanging over Team Honda and the Curse of the Bambino.

Maybe RC went way back in the swamps and had a Voodoo woman put the bad Mojo on Team Honda?

We are talking about the Factory Honda MX Team.

=============================================================================
The Curse of the Bambino was a superstition evolving from the failure of the Boston Red Sox baseball team to win the World Series in the 86-year period from 1918 to 2004. While some fans took the curse seriously, most used the expression in a tongue-in-cheek manner.[1] This misfortune began after the Red Sox sold star player Babe Ruth, sometimes called The Bambino, to the New York Yankees in the off-season of 1919–1920.[2] Before that point, the Red Sox had been one of the most successful professional baseball franchises, winning the first World Series and amassing five World Series titles.[3] After the sale they went without a title for decades, even while the Red Sox won four American League championships from 1946 to 1986, as the previously lackluster Yankees became one of the most successful franchises in North American professional sports.[4] The curse became a focal point of the Yankees–Red Sox rivalry over the years.
Tedesco was capable of a premier class title? Good wingman, but I don't think so.
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gt80rider
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7/8/2015 12:03pm
Honda lost their passion for being the best of the best a very long time ago....
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Cygnus
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7/8/2015 12:04pm
gt80rider wrote:
Honda lost their passion for being the best of the best a very long time ago....
When you out sell all competing brands combined it is easy to shoot yourself in The foot and not care.
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YZ125H1
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7/8/2015 12:09pm
I realize they go all the way back... I'm saying that haven't really dominated since then, save for RC. Even the little "boutique" brand KTM has...
I realize they go all the way back... I'm saying that haven't really dominated since then, save for RC.

Even the little "boutique" brand KTM has been consistently shitting on them for awhile now.

Nothing will ever top the disappointment of the NS500R project though. probably the largest 2-wheeled fail, ever.
Silly Honda thinking a 500cc 4 stroke could compete with 2 strokes. May be that's where their motto "The power of dreams" came from. That bike sure cost them a lot of wasted time and money. I think Japanese are still naive about how much of a threat KTM really is in the market.
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mgifracing
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7/8/2015 12:13pm
jasonv43 wrote:
The problem with Honda is Honda. If that makes any sense.
You nailed it sir.
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bigborefan
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7/8/2015 12:34pm Edited Date/Time 7/8/2015 12:34pm
The Red Menace.

I think Honda thought JS7 was gonna put a beat down on RC, but it didn't happen.

Probably motivated RC even more.
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Brtp4
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7/8/2015 12:45pm Edited Date/Time 1/22/2017 11:56am
Holigan wrote:
Somebody at Honda figured out that winning on Sunday (or Saturday) does not create sales on Monday. They don't have to pay anyone a $3,000,000 base...
Somebody at Honda figured out that winning on Sunday (or Saturday) does not create sales on Monday. They don't have to pay anyone a $3,000,000 base salary to get the sales they want.
This.

BP
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7/8/2015 1:41pm
Don't forget they thought the bike was the reason Rossi was winning Moto GP also .
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Markout
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7/8/2015 1:49pm
Maybe it's RC?... Kawasaki kicked him to the curb before Honda. I bet the guys that made those decisions were kicked to the curb shortly after...
7/8/2015 2:44pm
I realize they go all the way back... I'm saying that haven't really dominated since then, save for RC. Even the little "boutique" brand KTM has...
I realize they go all the way back... I'm saying that haven't really dominated since then, save for RC.

Even the little "boutique" brand KTM has been consistently shitting on them for awhile now.

Nothing will ever top the disappointment of the NS500R project though. probably the largest 2-wheeled fail, ever.
YZ125H1 wrote:
Silly Honda thinking a 500cc 4 stroke could compete with 2 strokes. May be that's where their motto "The power of dreams" came from. That bike...
Silly Honda thinking a 500cc 4 stroke could compete with 2 strokes. May be that's where their motto "The power of dreams" came from. That bike sure cost them a lot of wasted time and money. I think Japanese are still naive about how much of a threat KTM really is in the market.
Net profit Honda 4.19 billion
Net profit suzuki 1.27 billion
Net profit ktm 57 Million.
Ktm is absolutely zero threat to what these companies are trying to do
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davistld01
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7/8/2015 4:25pm
Small sport vs. gigantic corporation

I've worked for some huge companies (granted, none like Honda) in my time, and I've seen really talented people get "kicked to the curb" even when they seemed to have been loyal to that company, and seemed successful in always making the company look good. I was confused until someone wiser than me told me "Son, if you think for one minute this company loves you, appreciates you, or even gives the smallest shit about you personally...you are kidding yourself."

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Flatliner
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7/8/2015 4:46pm
Markout wrote:
Maybe it's RC?... Kawasaki kicked him to the curb before Honda. I bet the guys that made those decisions were kicked to the curb shortly after...
No kawi didn't. Rc didn't want to be on the old kx that wasn't getting much in the way of updates anymore, and Honda offered more money too.
YZ125H1
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7/8/2015 4:56pm
Net profit Honda 4.19 billion Net profit suzuki 1.27 billion Net profit ktm 57 Million. Ktm is absolutely zero threat to what these companies are trying...
Net profit Honda 4.19 billion
Net profit suzuki 1.27 billion
Net profit ktm 57 Million.
Ktm is absolutely zero threat to what these companies are trying to do
Post the sale numbers of mx bikes sold last year for the big 5.
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Sully
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7/8/2015 5:25pm
Net profit Honda 4.19 billion Net profit suzuki 1.27 billion Net profit ktm 57 Million. Ktm is absolutely zero threat to what these companies are trying...
Net profit Honda 4.19 billion
Net profit suzuki 1.27 billion
Net profit ktm 57 Million.
Ktm is absolutely zero threat to what these companies are trying to do
YZ125H1 wrote:
Post the sale numbers of mx bikes sold last year for the big 5.
Yup. There's no way Honda made $4 billion + just selling dirt bikes, that has to include auto sales, too.
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YZ125H1
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7/8/2015 5:55pm
Sully wrote:
Yup. There's no way Honda made $4 billion + just selling dirt bikes, that has to include auto sales, too.
Hard to compare sales from what I have researched. I don't think KTM breaks them down as much as the Japanese do. Honda doesn't put as much effort or money into mx/sx as they used to. They have bigger fish to fry IMO.
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Bultaco
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7/8/2015 5:58pm
Might as well quote KHI (Kawasaki Heavy Industries) as long as irrelevant sales numbers are being quoted. A few bullet trains, super tankers and heavy lifting helios should compare favorably to sedans and mini-vans.

The bigger sales question is why does Honda even care about making dirt bikes? It is such a small (compared to the big picture) part of their sales. However, if they do care, why are they not trying?
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7/8/2015 5:59pm
Bultaco wrote:
Might as well quote KHI (Kawasaki Heavy Industries) as long as irrelevant sales numbers are being quoted. A few bullet trains, super tankers and heavy lifting...
Might as well quote KHI (Kawasaki Heavy Industries) as long as irrelevant sales numbers are being quoted. A few bullet trains, super tankers and heavy lifting helios should compare favorably to sedans and mini-vans.

The bigger sales question is why does Honda even care about making dirt bikes? It is such a small (compared to the big picture) part of their sales. However, if they do care, why are they not trying?
I'm guessing profit is why they make dirt bikes
Sully
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7/8/2015 6:11pm
The Curse of Honda
Malherbe
Bailey
Chandler
Fonseca
Henry (although not on Honda at the time)
Magoo was on a Kawasaki when he had his crash.
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BobPA
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7/8/2015 6:12pm
Net profit Honda 4.19 billion Net profit suzuki 1.27 billion Net profit ktm 57 Million. Ktm is absolutely zero threat to what these companies are trying...
Net profit Honda 4.19 billion
Net profit suzuki 1.27 billion
Net profit ktm 57 Million.
Ktm is absolutely zero threat to what these companies are trying to do
Man do you hate KTM.

Did Decoster knock up your wife or something?
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