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And a question mark at the end of your title would go a long way.
Top pet peeve is when people hear something on a podcast and then come on here and act like they have inside information. It’s public info, stop it.
The Shop
What about KTM, they're in the business of selling 250's and 450's. They're probably not going to be too stoked about not having a presence in the lites class.
Husky run Hampshire West, Mosiman East with Bailey as "pinch hitter"
Pit Row
Are they paying the pinch hitters anything in your scenario? Or do these guys just train all day on their own dime and don't race? There is also the slight problem with the Husky scenario in that Covington and Swoll have contracts.
For all the riders that have passed through here this is a pretty far cry from 2011-2013 with just 2 riders on factory KTM 250s, Marvin and Kenny. So again, how is all of this development working out?? I mean for Troy it's fine, they have a bigger team with more support than they ever had with Honda, but how about from KTM's side?? They could easily go smaller and sign 2 premiere riders and roll the dice hoping they stay healthy.
All the talk about spening more money on less riders. Which 2 riders now are KTM supposed to go for which are can't miss prospects? There's no RC, Stewart, or Alessi coming out of LL's at the moment. Every single rider has a question mark on their head. It makes more sense to cast the net wide. Every manufacturer has a bit of a speculative crack at multiple riders each year, TLD have just been unlucky and none of them have hit so far.
If there's no pathway from amateurs to Pro, then they're not going to get any amateur guns, which trickles down into bike sales.
They're in the market of selling all of their bikes, not just the 450's. And im not sure how Bloss/Bogle running 10-15 in the 450 class is better exposure than podiums and wins in the 250 class.
You need a development pathway, its just the way of the world these days. Theyre selling bikes from 50cc all the way through to 450cc. They offer a one brand for life option, if you take away the support right at the transition period they will lose a lot of good riders, and will have to pay over the market value to buy them back once theyre good.
Pierce Brown doesn't pound sand, but maybe he shouldn't come into the pros with the full ride either. This is the missing link IMO. All these kids need to start out on a lower program and EARN the factory ride by succeeding at PROFESSIONAL SX and MX. Having these guaranteed deals as far back as 12 or 13 years old is so misguided. So maybe Pierce Brown starts out racing West region on a KTM Orange Brigade supported privateer team or 2nd tier team a la Rock River. Look at Hartranft, he's applied himself well on a smaller team and he's getting his shot and at this point he's proven. He comes on to the KTM team knowing he's already top-10 capable and fully believes he can do better with this shot. The kids coming up in the silver spoon program, it's a razorblade. Either flourish like Barcia, Tomac, AC, Forkner or you are shit. All it takes is 1-2 bad races and an injury and the rider goes from can't miss to flop and no matter what he starts to hear it.....read it. Then he comes back and flounders some more. Sound familiar? This is literally what we are seeing: Zach Bell, Matt Bisceglia, Tristan Charbonneau, Chris Alldredge, Sean Cantrell, Jordan Bailey, Mitchell Falk.
Anyway let's see in 5 years where Hartranft ends up, and where Drake ends up.
Looks like he got the Macadoo and Hartnranft situation right, I wonder if Oldenburg will end up there though?
Either way hopefully TLD can turn their luck around once Mcelrath is gone, tbh I can’t see greener pastures for him on Yamaha though.
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