MXGP Question?

There are only so many factory rides.......probably about the same number of riders on the line for the 'fly away' races. YS aspires to be like F1, they are steadily working towards that goal it seems.

I thought that was the count for how many spectators that were there......

it looked very busy round the edges of the track, Malin said they had to queue for ages to get in... should they be going there with 20 rider entries... no... is it a huge market for the manufacturers.. yes.. IMO i will take this over Qatar, at least it was a decent track.. and good racing too.

Watch the next round in the Czech Republic, the classes will be a lot fuller, don't let the fly away races put you off watching/following the GPs.

My lad is going to Loket, its a great GP, i was planning to go too, but work is a bit mental, so will do Lommel and maybe Assen .

Unlike the us nationals they try to eliminate 20+ lappers just to make it look like a big field.

LOL, that's complete BS. I think 4700 is closer to reality.

Yeah, no way there's a crowd attendance of 47K. I don't think any MXGP race even draws remotely close to that.

Its only like this on the asia rounds. To expensive for the smaller teams to go. Watch the next race at Loket or lommel the grid will be full again. Europe rounds are completely different

Look in the background, couldn't find a picture with more spectators on it... I'd say 2000-3000 people maximum.

Yeah these fly away races are a joke when it comes to riders lining up. It’s pretty much only the factory and supported teams that make the trip over for these. It’s pretty much the same if a AMA national would be held in Europe. The next rounds should be pretty much full gates again.

2006 MXON at Matterley was 60k people, ain't no way in hell was there 47k this weekend.
Iconic picture.

This weekend actually was pretty busy. There was traffic getting in and there was a lot of spectators around the track. The reason it doesn't look too many is that the track area was absolutely massive! It certainly wasn't 47k but it was definitely a good number of people for a first time event... much better than Pangkal Pinang and probably better than any of the recent USGPs we've had.
They definitely need to fund more teams/riders to go though because with the injuries and illnesses the MX2 was too low. MXGP was just about okay, especially the top 15

Luongo needs to bring the Team and Rider attendance levels up for fly aways. It certainly is not a good look.

At least to the levels he seems to want to aspire to - MotoGP and WSBK grids - of 22 / 24(?) contracted Riders.

But that would take him giving realistic travel assistance. To all Teams and Riders.

I thought I might see a few more Australian riders there, but I can understand OZ Teams and riders not wanting to blow probably a minimum of 10 / 15 grand on a race. And, probably a shit load more than that.

As for the spectator attendance: Boys, I was there - I just got back through the front door. And, as a whole weekend tally, I think that's fairly accurate (with the usual fudge / BS factor all promoters inevitably indulge in). The main Race Day was pretty packed.You blokes that watched on screens, need to have a squizz at the stand set ups they had, and the reasonable amount of people by the fences ( and those who set up their own viewing points behind and above the big sheet walls put up - I love seeing enterprising people). Though, the bits I've watched on the replays on the plane back, really didn't show the spectating areas much. Next year, they should get many more spectators. Pankal Pinang had good attendances, both last year and this year, too.

Some who always seem to want to slag the GPs, might want to have a real look at the amount of spectators at some US Nationals. It's generally not a heaving mass of spectators either. I stayed up and watched the first Motos in my swanky Semarang hotel bungalo, and numbers didn't look too impressive at RedBud.. But, it's sure to be massive at the MXDN. My 'sugar momma' is making noises about us going to the MXDN, after watching the 1st Motos with me, so I'm pretty bloody happy with her. She's got a bottomless pit of money - I haven't. She's a keeper.

The only MX events that get mega spectators nowadays is the MXDN (and some GPs and some US Nationals), and, of course, The Circus that is SX. Stadiums in big cities, that are easy to get too, are (relatively) easy sells. But heck, I see a lot of empty seats even at many of those events. People are electing to stay at home and watch them on their big screens, more and more. And I'm one of them, I have to admit.

Rider attendance - as I've pointed out before, in the 500cc Carlsbad years (and the later, RD promoted ones), and the Undadilla 250GPs (I forget the other US 250 GP venue) , there was never a big attendance of GP riders, either. Costs, Cost - they always have. And they cost a hell of a lot, these days.

But, Luongo doesn't give a fuck - he gets his megabucks from the Local / State / Province / Canton / National Governments / War-Drug Lords, for the flyaways, so he has full pockets, Rider and Team attendance, be buggered.

He's a effing cancer on Our Sport. And, from things I've read recently, it appears he's getting it locked down to himself, well past the year 2026, that his contract was up to. Farrrrrrrrrck.

I be there also. If you (or everyone here) need to know something about Loket GP (hotel, price, food, camping, girls), im open to help you.

Price of food, camping and girls?

Well in defense of Luongo the MX2 numbers looked pretty bad due to circumstances as well.
Iker Laranaga got hurt last week, Jacobi got hurt in qualifying, and Pootjes got hurt in warmup, whereas Lawrence simply did not show up (bike was in indo afaik). That's 4 guys out before the start yesterday even though money was spend on those entries but they could not race. Include those 4 and you'd have 17 regulars at the start, and thats excluding regulars like Beaton, Fernandez and Sanaye who i would think would have made the trip if not injured.

Anyway if you want it solved the easiest way is to change the calender and have the overseas races at the start of the season (and we just ignore rain season ;-) ). No injuries yet, all regulars still have budget and want to go because hopes are still high. 24 non-local guys made the trip to Argentina in MX2 at the start of this season.

If Youthstream/FIM would ever spend money on this subject i actually would prefer that they spend it on getting some quality wild card riders from the region of the GP. So in the asian rounds add in some australian and japanese guys who can actually compete for points. Get rid of the 15 seconds a lap slower guys and spend some money on guys who can ride. Like we saw last season from caleb ward, jed beaton, Melross, Aaron Tanti, Chihiro Notsuka and Jay Wilson. Imo adds more then paying so that Euro guys that are outside top 15 can make the trip.

all cheap

Sure you didn't read it wrong? 4700 might be right. A zero more or less doesn't matter

It does matter. For Luongo

Maybe they take the population of the nearest town as well?