Jesse Wentland draws the line

Ya, that's really going to help his career......not. Here's a novel concept, sometimes when you think you've tried hard enough and that you deserved more, yet you weren't successful. The reality is you should have tried harder. It's a tough pill to swallow sometimes and yes I know, there's always going to be someone who hasn't worked as hard and probably isn't as deserving. That's life. This is a tough lesson in life for Jesse, but giving up isn't the answer. It just proves the people that didn't believe in you were right.

Weston Peick says 'Sup?

Sad to say, but I will not be competing in anymore Feld or MXSports organized events. Until these organizations decide to offer us racers what we deserve. Until a union is formed and every rider sticks together on the situation. Everyone complains about how unfair the pay outs are, how expensive it is for privateers, how jacked around you get in the sport, so many promises and false hopes. Its all risk and no reward with the sport for a majority of racers lined up on the gate. Im done feeding these people my money, blood, sweat and tears. Im done begging for opportunities with teams and sponsors. Ive felt that ive put in countless good races to get a chance/ try out ride with a factory team. No greater opportunities have come my way and the sport is not going to change overnight so I've decided to move on from professional racing for now. Love or hate what I have to say. Its the truth, and almost every privateer or small team rider will agree with me. Just a reminder to every racer We are the show we control the future of the sport. Without us on the line there is no show for 60,000 plus fans to watch. Why should some one else make money off us risking our lives.

A post shared by Jesse Wentland (@j__wentland) on Jan 22, 2018 at 7:15pm PST

I guess he is announcing his retirement?

2017 250 East 13th
2016 250 East 19th
2015 450 26th
2014 450 21st
2013 250 27th
2013 250 East 39th
2012 450 51st

Results don't lie. I wouldn't consider that factory material.

TbonesPop wrote:

Ya, that's really going to help his career......not. Here's a novel concept, sometimes when you think you've tried hard enough and that you deserved more, yet you weren't successful. The reality is you should have tried harder. It's a tough pill to swallow sometimes and yes I know, there's always going to be someone who hasn't worked as hard and probably isn't as deserving. That's life. This is a tough lesson in life for Jesse, but giving up isn't the answer. It just proves the people that didn't believe in you were right.

Weston Peick says 'Sup?

Everything you said right there is true. Like you said, him giving up is just proof to the teams that they made the right decision. He has some valid points about the payout. Feld makes a killing, it wouldnt hurt them to double the payout. It blows my mind that the last place 250 rider only makes $250 or $450 or whatever it is. The best racers in the country, making the main event on a 250, yet only make $250 bucks at the end of the day. Something needs to be done about the pro payout.

I don't completely disagree with what he is saying.

He has put in top 10 rides. I realize not consistently, but isn't it way easier to be consistent when you have the stability that a factory ride offers, i.e. a bike prepared for you, enough money coming in to focus solely on training and racing.

TbonesPop wrote:

Ya, that's really going to help his career......not. Here's a novel concept, sometimes when you think you've tried hard enough and that you deserved more, yet you weren't successful. The reality is you should have tried harder. It's a tough pill to swallow sometimes and yes I know, there's always going to be someone who hasn't worked as hard and probably isn't as deserving. That's life. This is a tough lesson in life for Jesse, but giving up isn't the answer. It just proves the people that didn't believe in you were right.

Weston Peick says 'Sup?

mxjon454 wrote:

Everything you said right there is true. Like you said, him giving up is just proof to the teams that they made the right decision. He has some valid points about the payout. Feld makes a killing, it wouldnt hurt them to double the payout. It blows my mind that the last place 250 rider only makes $250 or $450 or whatever it is. The best racers in the country, making the main event on a 250, yet only make $250 bucks at the end of the day. Something needs to be done about the pro payout.

And I completely agree the payout sucks. But is doubling or tripling it going to even make a dent in the disparity? I jsut know that giving up on what you love isn't the answer if you really love it. I don't blame Jesse. I think he needs better advice and direction. When I look back and reflect at key moments in my career (and it's not over), I learned a lot more from my failures than I did my successes. The biggest thing I learned, was to not give up when I failed. Doesn't mean you don't "regroup", but you don't give up. It can come off as a hard lesson, but it's necessary. Also, don't focus on what others get compared to you. You can't control what other people get. I know this sounds "preachy", I'd just like to help these young men. I see a lot of young adults getting bad advice all the time, and it frustrates me. He's a talented kid. I wish I had an ounce of his talent.

2 top 10 finishes in a regional series almost 2 years ago, no other top 10s......

Not sure if that's factory worthy or not, but it certainly wouldn't seem like a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination. And not exactly sure why that is the fault of Feld or MXSports.

I would imagine that MX/SX is actually quite a bit like stick and ball sports. A guy can be a legend in his hometown, a hero when he heads off and performs well in college, but goes undrafted and can't make a single team when he tries to make it in the pros.

A good portion of those not making it can accept that they just weren't able to perform at that level competitively. Another good portion also looks for any and all scapegoats for why they aren't legendary, like they were in their hometown........

Um guys, this is not about his inability to "make it...." Jesus people, show some intelligence.

MX/SX is autocratic, and the Union talk has been around for a long time, including such spodes as Chad Reed... it's about a lot of money coming in, and most of it being siphoned off by the promoters. Oh wait, just like the American economy...

I have been hearing about unions since the early 90's. Its not going to happen unless the top 10 or so protest and that will never happen.

C.Worthy wrote:

2017 250 East 13th
2016 250 East 19th
2015 450 26th
2014 450 21st
2013 250 27th
2013 250 East 39th
2012 450 51st

Results don't lie. I wouldn't consider that factory material.

I was going to ask when he ever reached the podium and put in ride that would have earned a factory ride.... I figured it was never.. I don’t completely disagree with certain things he said, but I think he’s going about it wrong and just ruined anything he might have had in the future.

I'm sorry but as an adult you should have better grammar than that. Especially if you're going to be a bleeding heart case.

To actually address his points, my issue is no one made him risk his life and limbs for this. It was his career choice and you know early on what your chances are of making it in this sport. The payouts have ALWAYS been crummy, and from the very beginning only the elite could make a living worth mentioning off it. We've been over the union thing a hundred times, as currently structured it's legally impossible to form a riders union. Even if there was, the riders with factory contracts are not going to stand beside their broke brothers based solely on the principle of it all.

But it also begs the question, what if there was a union? Would you really expect the payouts to raise significantly? If they did would it even be enough? I'm no expect at math but I can tell you crap X 2 is just slightly more crap. As it sits if a privateer makes every main at all 17 rounds and finishes dead last he makes almost exactly $24,000 from purse money. If that got raised to $50,000 (which is slightly more than crap X 2) would it really make that big a difference? Would that keep Jesse around? Or would he still see the top 5 making multi-millions and think this whole thing is unfair because he's only making 50k? This is the plight of low-income America. You look at the 1% and think well maybe if I just had a little more I'd be happy. Then you realize doubling your wages still doesn't work because you still make dog shit. The cycle continues in an endless spiral until we all go full retard.

The danger or reality of the Union that the privateer wont like?

If the teams/riders (that matter) ever got organized, they're going to form a "teams association" like in F1 or MotoGP and look after the 1-20th place guys. Everyone else will (and should) be sent back down to the amateur ranks.

There is plenty of money in the sport. He's right about that.

But there isnt enough to pay out night show guys so they can make a living.

The money should go to 10 elite teams so they can field the best 20 riders in the world for "the show". Pretty much just like MotoGP.

I feel for the privateer but to some degree they need to appreciate that this sport is still stuck in the stone ages and allows them to even enter into PRO events.

Jabroni wrote:

The danger or reality of the Union that the privateer wont like?

If the teams/riders (that matter) ever got organized, they're going to form a "teams association" like in F1 or MotoGP and look after the 1-20th place guys. Everyone else will (and should) be sent back down to the amateur ranks.

There is plenty of money in the sport. He's right about that.

But there isnt enough to pay out night show guys so they can make a living.

The money should go to 10 elite teams so they can field the best 20 riders in the world for "the show". Pretty much just like MotoGP.

I feel for the privateer but to some degree they need to appreciate that this sport is still stuck in the stone ages and allows them to even enter into PRO events.

Yeah. And to be fair, that is a system that i would like to see. That is a way to make everything more stable and better for all parties involved. Luongo/YS are trying to do that in the GPs(with not a lot of success but MotoGP is nailing it at the moment).

There would still be a series like US AX, UK AX, German SX, French SX, Australian SX etc where the "less skilled" riders could make a living.

I think his intentions are good and in the right place. But let's be serious....kinda career suicide to be honest.

Oh boy....I’m sure the sport is going to fold without Wentland on the line.

Those 60k fans are not in the stands to see the Wentlands of the world. The best riders are the ones getting the factory rides. This is the way it is now and it’s not going o change. The promoters are not making money off the privateers....they are making it off of the top 20, and most of those guys are doing fairly well with their sponsorships. If you don’t make it to your ultimate goal and are not happy then moving on is the best thing to do

Just ride in the woods bro

Shawn142 wrote:

I'm sorry but as an adult you should have better grammar than that. Especially if you're going to be a bleeding heart case.

To actually address his points, my issue is no one made him risk his life and limbs for this. It was his career choice and you know early on what your chances are of making it in this sport. The payouts have ALWAYS been crummy, and from the very beginning only the elite could make a living worth mentioning off it. We've been over the union thing a hundred times, as currently structured it's legally impossible to form a riders union. Even if there was, the riders with factory contracts are not going to stand beside their broke brothers based solely on the principle of it all.

But it also begs the question, what if there was a union? Would you really expect the payouts to raise significantly? If they did would it even be enough? I'm no expect at math but I can tell you crap X 2 is just slightly more crap. As it sits if a privateer makes every main at all 17 rounds and finishes dead last he makes almost exactly $24,000 from purse money. If that got raised to $50,000 (which is slightly more than crap X 2) would it really make that big a difference? Would that keep Jesse around? Or would he still see the top 5 making multi-millions and think this whole thing is unfair because he's only making 50k? This is the plight of low-income America. You look at the 1% and think well maybe if I just had a little more I'd be happy. Then you realize doubling your wages still doesn't work because you still make dog shit. The cycle continues in an endless spiral until we all go full retard.

If you make $24,000 a year and then all of a sudden double that, you don't think that will make a difference? Come on man.

I guess he could team up with Jeff Alessi.

Jabroni wrote:

The danger or reality of the Union that the privateer wont like?

If the teams/riders (that matter) ever got organized, they're going to form a "teams association" like in F1 or MotoGP and look after the 1-20th place guys. Everyone else will (and should) be sent back down to the amateur ranks.

There is plenty of money in the sport. He's right about that.

But there isnt enough to pay out night show guys so they can make a living.

The money should go to 10 elite teams so they can field the best 20 riders in the world for "the show". Pretty much just like MotoGP.

I feel for the privateer but to some degree they need to appreciate that this sport is still stuck in the stone ages and allows them to even enter into PRO events.

Motofinne wrote:

Yeah. And to be fair, that is a system that i would like to see. That is a way to make everything more stable and better for all parties involved. Luongo/YS are trying to do that in the GPs(with not a lot of success but MotoGP is nailing it at the moment).

There would still be a series like US AX, UK AX, German SX, French SX, Australian SX etc where the "less skilled" riders could make a living.

I strongly disagree. Motocross is a niche sport and will never be a commercially attractive option for TV and OEM's to drop millions on advertising on like Motogp and F1 are.
Luongo is just making costs higher with race entry fees, a system of permanent teams, has killed the commercial viability of the 125cc-250c class with his age rules, forces riders to be nr. 20+ in a class, etc. etc.
And after all these years there is no commercial growth, no increase in media exposure, less sponsors, fans have to buy online acces to watch races, factory teams dropping out and no living for just a select few.

I don't see how this is better compared to the era where we had 30+ gp's a year (2 -3 classes), races were free on tv, privateers actually made a living for 10 years (see guys like Peter Iven) and oem's actually had sponsors.

Jabroni wrote:

The danger or reality of the Union that the privateer wont like?

If the teams/riders (that matter) ever got organized, they're going to form a "teams association" like in F1 or MotoGP and look after the 1-20th place guys. Everyone else will (and should) be sent back down to the amateur ranks.

There is plenty of money in the sport. He's right about that.

But there isnt enough to pay out night show guys so they can make a living.

The money should go to 10 elite teams so they can field the best 20 riders in the world for "the show". Pretty much just like MotoGP.

I feel for the privateer but to some degree they need to appreciate that this sport is still stuck in the stone ages and allows them to even enter into PRO events.

Motofinne wrote:

Yeah. And to be fair, that is a system that i would like to see. That is a way to make everything more stable and better for all parties involved. Luongo/YS are trying to do that in the GPs(with not a lot of success but MotoGP is nailing it at the moment).

There would still be a series like US AX, UK AX, German SX, French SX, Australian SX etc where the "less skilled" riders could make a living.

roninho wrote:

I strongly disagree. Motocross is a niche sport and will never be a commercially attractive option for TV and OEM's to drop millions on advertising on like Motogp and F1 are.
Luongo is just making costs higher with race entry fees, a system of permanent teams, has killed the commercial viability of the 125cc-250c class with his age rules, forces riders to be nr. 20+ in a class, etc. etc.
And after all these years there is no commercial growth, no increase in media exposure, less sponsors, fans have to buy online acces to watch races, factory teams dropping out and no living for just a select few.

I don't see how this is better compared to the era where we had 30+ gp's a year (2 -3 classes), races were free on tv, privateers actually made a living for 10 years (see guys like Peter Iven) and oem's actually had sponsors.

Yeah it's not working out for YS like i mentioned. Like you say, motocross is a niche sport. But SX and FELD has a way, way bigger opportunity to make that model work.

Good on him, but I hate to say it's not going to have an impact.

For every privateer that does this, there will be XX amount of guys behind him happy to fill his spot at the gate on the pro SX level. Look at all these guys dog-fighting in AX for even less money that would gladly step up if they know they can get into the night show.

The only way this will ever go anywhere is if there is a big enough strike that Feld can't put together a competitive gate. With all of the factory, semi-factory, and non-factory teams with paying sponsors even if the privateers all stand up and rebel, those paying teams would still be able to put on a show.

The ones with the platform to make a union happen aren't interested because they are making the money, the ones who want a union don't have the platform to make it happen.
Not sold on the idea of a union but it would be good to see something happen with regards to coverage in the event of a life changing injury.

Motofinne wrote:

Yeah it's not working out for YS like i mentioned. Like you say, motocross is a niche sport. But SX and FELD has a way, way bigger opportunity to make that model work.

The funny thing is that the discussion is about increasing payouts of a couple of hundred bucks to the privateer and that is not possible nor necessary according to most, and that we should in stead focus on the Motogp model.

However Motogp pays 2/3rds of the costs for the privateer teams. A 2 rider team costs 7.5 million euro and Dorna (Motogp) pays 5 million. Linkie

They even pay 10% of a topteam budget in moto2 and moto3, and actively fund talented riders. Why do they support these teams? Because they know they need more then just the OEM teams and need marketable (right country) talents for the long term health of their serie.

The reality is that F1 and Motogp operate on a model based on tv revenue and tv exposure. The exposure attracts the OEMS, sponsors and host countries. And that income is divided between the series organizer and the teams.

This is a model that will never work for Motocross nor Supercross since it is a niche sport and the exposure will not achieved and serious tv revenue will even be harder.

Thelen20 wrote:

Sad to say, but I will not be competing in anymore Feld or MXSports organized events. Until these organizations decide to offer us racers what we deserve. Until a union is formed and every rider sticks together on the situation. Everyone complains about how unfair the pay outs are, how expensive it is for privateers, how jacked around you get in the sport, so many promises and false hopes. Its all risk and no reward with the sport for a majority of racers lined up on the gate. Im done feeding these people my money, blood, sweat and tears. Im done begging for opportunities with teams and sponsors. Ive felt that ive put in countless good races to get a chance/ try out ride with a factory team. No greater opportunities have come my way and the sport is not going to change overnight so I've decided to move on from professional racing for now. Love or hate what I have to say. Its the truth, and almost every privateer or small team rider will agree with me. Just a reminder to every racer We are the show we control the future of the sport. Without us on the line there is no show for 60,000 plus fans to watch. Why should some one else make money off us risking our lives.

A post shared by Jesse Wentland (@j__wentland) on Jan 22, 2018 at 7:15pm PST

Exactly why id never want my kid to try and be a pro racer. But this dude sounds like a typical millennial..

Jabroni wrote:

The danger or reality of the Union that the privateer wont like?

If the teams/riders (that matter) ever got organized, they're going to form a "teams association" like in F1 or MotoGP and look after the 1-20th place guys. Everyone else will (and should) be sent back down to the amateur ranks.

There is plenty of money in the sport. He's right about that.

But there isnt enough to pay out night show guys so they can make a living.

The money should go to 10 elite teams so they can field the best 20 riders in the world for "the show". Pretty much just like MotoGP.

I feel for the privateer but to some degree they need to appreciate that this sport is still stuck in the stone ages and allows them to even enter into PRO events.

That sounds good in theory but wouldnt work in Supercross as the attrition rate due to injury with top level riders is so high, Its not like there is a huge amount of elite talent that can fill in when the injuries inevitably happen.

How often do Formula 1 teams lose 5 -10 of the best drivers at different times of the year, it never happens! The majority of the stars of the sport are always there (except the rare exception when there is a catastrophic crash)

Thelen20 wrote:

Sad to say, but I will not be competing in anymore Feld or MXSports organized events. Until these organizations decide to offer us racers what we deserve. Until a union is formed and every rider sticks together on the situation. Everyone complains about how unfair the pay outs are, how expensive it is for privateers, how jacked around you get in the sport, so many promises and false hopes. Its all risk and no reward with the sport for a majority of racers lined up on the gate. Im done feeding these people my money, blood, sweat and tears. Im done begging for opportunities with teams and sponsors. Ive felt that ive put in countless good races to get a chance/ try out ride with a factory team. No greater opportunities have come my way and the sport is not going to change overnight so I've decided to move on from professional racing for now. Love or hate what I have to say. Its the truth, and almost every privateer or small team rider will agree with me. Just a reminder to every racer We are the show we control the future of the sport. Without us on the line there is no show for 60,000 plus fans to watch. Why should some one else make money off us risking our lives.

A post shared by Jesse Wentland (@j__wentland) on Jan 22, 2018 at 7:15pm PST

Indymxer wrote:

Exactly why id never want my kid to try and be a pro racer. But this dude sounds like a typical millennial..

If a kid wants to make money at sport, he should perfect his skills at golf and ride those silly motorcross bikes in his spare time.

This guy has paved the way with no followers...fools I tell ya!

Sounds like he needs a safe space.

I think it’s funny that these guys are able to live their dream and passion every day, and make as much if not more than myself annually. I think it would be good for a lot of these people who complain to work for 6 months at a “crappy” dead end job and see how bad racing sucks, privateer or not. And spare me the “risking my life” stuff, you knew what you signed up for and you know that everyone else deals with the same risks, yet you don’t see them complaining.

I get the argument of the situation, but stomping your feet and crying about the circumstances is not how it will get fixed.

A lot of my friends/local competitors are/were privateers, and it IS hard when you compare it to a full factory ride. However, they actually ENJOYED the struggle and were thankful to be at the races (almost) every weekend. Most of them now have either received a college degree pursuing a more beneficial career path, are making decent money holding riding schools for kids, or are making top 15 in the mains on FULL privateer effort.

But yeah, let me hear more about how hard and dangerous your life is, please....