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Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 11:09am
in a MX Magazine interview, GL talks about his 2011 changes for MXGP and Monster Energy being the new official sponsor of the series. He states that in that deal, the US Monster Energy riders and teams will have to race USGPs.
He says 2 USGPs next in 2011, maybe a 3rd one with the help of Monster Energy. says that he met with 7 race promoters at Glen Helen. Says that they would probably concentrate on having GPs on the West Coast first because, as he says, there is a "cultural rivalry" between East and West coasts and the West Coast promoters feel a bit left out.
Regarding the world travel for the teams with races in Australia and the US, he states that for sure small teams won't afford it but that's fine as it will make space for local riders. He states that actually 30 riders per class would be enough for him, 20 that would do the full calendar and 10 per local race.
http://www.motoverte.com/site/les-reformes-de-luongo-53819.html
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My own opinion, is keeping those GPs on the West coast won't bring you crowds, if they are interested in crowds.
PC and Kawi will have to send some riders (I hope for their championship hunt that they don't have to send all riders, and not the guys fighting for the title, especially if it's a close AMA Nationals series next year).
West coast promoters feel a bit left over? We have 2 races on the South west, 1 in central West, 1 in North West, 2 Central-ish (CO and TX), 2 in the Midwest (although HP cld be considered Midwest too as it's closer to Columbus than Boston). And 4 (or 5 with HP) along the Eastern shores. Pretty spread out.
I think it's cool that GP riders come to the US and we see them battle it out, but I don't see the need of having 2 or 3 or 4 ersatz of MXdNs, we have one MXdN and that is traditionally the race where nations and series, collide and go for World Domination bragging rights. It's cool to have 1 USGP, for sure, but a "USGP series" seems a bit overkill.
And let's forget the lack of interest or crowd presence is not new and just a GH thing, the last one in the late 90s at Bud Creeks where Windham was one of the only few AMA riders who attended, already had a very low crowd attendance and interest. It's not the 70s and the 80s anymore. Things have evolved too much since.
He says 2 USGPs next in 2011, maybe a 3rd one with the help of Monster Energy. says that he met with 7 race promoters at Glen Helen. Says that they would probably concentrate on having GPs on the West Coast first because, as he says, there is a "cultural rivalry" between East and West coasts and the West Coast promoters feel a bit left out.
Regarding the world travel for the teams with races in Australia and the US, he states that for sure small teams won't afford it but that's fine as it will make space for local riders. He states that actually 30 riders per class would be enough for him, 20 that would do the full calendar and 10 per local race.
http://www.motoverte.com/site/les-reformes-de-luongo-53819.html
----------------------------------------------------
My own opinion, is keeping those GPs on the West coast won't bring you crowds, if they are interested in crowds.
PC and Kawi will have to send some riders (I hope for their championship hunt that they don't have to send all riders, and not the guys fighting for the title, especially if it's a close AMA Nationals series next year).
West coast promoters feel a bit left over? We have 2 races on the South west, 1 in central West, 1 in North West, 2 Central-ish (CO and TX), 2 in the Midwest (although HP cld be considered Midwest too as it's closer to Columbus than Boston). And 4 (or 5 with HP) along the Eastern shores. Pretty spread out.
I think it's cool that GP riders come to the US and we see them battle it out, but I don't see the need of having 2 or 3 or 4 ersatz of MXdNs, we have one MXdN and that is traditionally the race where nations and series, collide and go for World Domination bragging rights. It's cool to have 1 USGP, for sure, but a "USGP series" seems a bit overkill.
And let's forget the lack of interest or crowd presence is not new and just a GH thing, the last one in the late 90s at Bud Creeks where Windham was one of the only few AMA riders who attended, already had a very low crowd attendance and interest. It's not the 70s and the 80s anymore. Things have evolved too much since.
Left out? All USGP's will be at Glen Helen?
I wonder if ALL monster riders would have to race or if he is just using the word all loosely
The Shop
Edit: That's funny. I didn't see down south or 500 guys post before I typed my comment.
What's wrong with that?
Monster has interest in having US riders doing the USGP's.
What's wrong with that?
I don't understand the problem.
Pit Row
You guys complain that the World Championship isn't a real World Championship because it doesn't visit many countries outside of Europe and most notably, America. Yet when steps are made to try and widen its appeal by incorporating America you whine and complain about that too.
I thought Youthstream was on to something when they decided to postpone the beginning of the GPs in order to make the schedule of the 2 World Championships (SX and MX) compatible. I also thought that that having a GP in Australia and, more importantly, in Brazil, were steps in the right direction because that is where the growth will be in terms of bike sales and growth of the purchasing power for the members of the 14 to 34 y/o market segment.
However, the schedule of SX and GPs for 2011 seems unsustainable for any motocross rider and team personnel, both physically and financially. Racing on the 4 corners of the US and the World from the beginning of January until the mid October seems just too demanding to me: when are the riders and teams supposed to recover, train and test? It's one thing if you are a tennis or golf pro traveling with your coach and significant other, but we are talking about riders, their entourage (as small as it may be) and team personnel!
Also, Chad Reed's SX series runs from mid-October through the beginning of December. Why would YS want to force the Aussie riders to choose between their local series and the GPs? No wonder Chad Reed was so bitter! ;-)
I think YS would benefit from reducing the GPs from 15 to 12 and running the series between the end of May until the end of September. The GPs would not conflict with either of the other Monster-sponsored series and teams / riders would really be in the position of choosing the series they prefer to race.
Most importantly, this would foster competition between the promoters to improve the exposure of their own series without stepping on each other toes, something the sport does NOT need and can NOT afford.
It was also Monster's decision to pull out of the nats and not SX.
geezus.....there's billions of people in China, Russia once had a great MotoCross tradition,
a Japanese GP would be a great thing see, but this guy is foaming at the mouth for 5 American events.
Someone should let him know there already is an American series.
I'd like to see the guy get off his fixation with the US, MXSports and America
and get back to running races around the world.
That's what he should to be doing.
I'm not sure who's idea it was, but from a marketing perspective, it's brilliant.
It's the cola wars all over again.
I am not sure you were seen in a December 21st meeting on all this, although you seem to be talking as if you were, or maybe just made to believe what you were told.
Monster Energy didn't "drop" the AMA Nationals, Rockstar was just a higher bidder for very obvious market share reasons. Alike their strong push in various motorsports and action sports, from series support to athletes and team support, Rockstar made an offer Monster was a bit bummed and wasn't able to match at that time and MX Sports decide to move on with them.
Why don't you call Eric Johnson and ask him directly instead of getting (or making up) your info from the wrong sources. Or just the source you need to believe right now?!
What about Youtshtream when Red Bull decided not to renew their contract due to more funds needed for F1 next year, do you think they had the strong hand in the Monster negotiations? LOL!
I love line-up's (or is it Steve's) comments, "they go with the biggest numbers"... LOL. In the US, I think it's pretty obvious where those are
www.racerxonline.com/article/watch-red-bud-recap-video.aspx#ooid=plZjdqMTpH_NA-Cac5LdIb539T5Xgq0h
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