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1457
Joined
5/31/2017
Location
Grass Valley, CA
US
NorCal 50+
8/21/2017 10:58pm
8/21/2017 10:58pm
Edited Date/Time
9/12/2021 5:21pm
There was a depressing series of comments from Watson, Matthes and Peronnard. tonight on the state of the sport. If something doesn't change quickly motocross is going to be a second stage sideshow at the County Fair. The only bright spot seems to be Alta, and maybe KTM. As far as wider sponsorship growth and mass appeal- it's dead and buried.
Feld has been promoting SX since 2003. Someone should graph the relative profit of 20 MX-related companies compared with Feld. (Good luck finding financial information about Feld). The other factor is unattainable racing costs for the average person and changing demographics.
I know this stuff has been debated to death but consider RCH won the freaking premier series last year and is folding up this year.
I hate to be a downer, but when a big topic on your favorite sports show is how the sport is collapsing, it's a drag.
Feld has been promoting SX since 2003. Someone should graph the relative profit of 20 MX-related companies compared with Feld. (Good luck finding financial information about Feld). The other factor is unattainable racing costs for the average person and changing demographics.
I know this stuff has been debated to death but consider RCH won the freaking premier series last year and is folding up this year.
I hate to be a downer, but when a big topic on your favorite sports show is how the sport is collapsing, it's a drag.
F1 might be back on track since Bernie is out and Ross Brawn is in charge of the regulations etc.
Who the fuck is going to be able to afford two or three kids racing these days and going forward?
The Shop
They have taken over where cigarette and alcohol companies were forced out.
A lot changed for me over the years of riding, it's love hate
The gadgeted web is killing the moto world - along with a lot of other formerly natural outside stuff.
How many neighborhoods still have all the kids bombing around on bicycles? Or even doing anything together outdoors?
But i was mainly talking about "bigger" sports. MX and SX is really small and offroad is even smaller.
Pro Guys can do the super rough gnarly tracks because they have works suspension, are in shape, practice several times a week, talet, etc. The companies and tracks are kept alive by the C class rider with no sponsorships yet no one seems to give a fuck about these riders. To me it seems that moto is becoming so expensive that its becoming the haves and have nots. Many times the "haves" are guys that grew up with bikes and just dont ride like they used to, this same group of people is buying from the one company that cares about them: KTM. Hardcore racers will disagree with me but C class and even D class are the only classes that are packed every practice and race that I have been to this year. I think the C/D class rider has become alienated to the point that they just dont want to ride motocross, they will put their money where they get more bang for their buck: GNCC.
I did a hare scramble this year and was blown away with the number of riders in every class and how inclusive it was. Doesnt matter if you have jeans and a XR200 or a sponsorship with Husky everyone is treated the same. That being said I dont know what it is about moto but it isnt welcoming at all, from the tracks, class structure, cost, peoples attitudes, etc. For some reason people on the fence just dont want to ride moto like they used to which directly translates to people not buying gear/parts etc that are MOTO related. Most of it translates to off road, hopefully you understand the point I am trying to make. Disagree with me all you want but I have rode pretty much every weekend the last two years in Michigan D14(one of the best districts for motocross) and C /D class(morelands) is always packed yet they design the tracks for A/B class riders. IMO take the GNCC approach where everyone is welcome, change the attitude so that its OK to bring a roached out 125 to the track, make the tracks so that the roached out 125 rider can have fun still, and try to sell a day of fun to the guy that can ride a bike and doesnt make 80 grand a year or the guy that does make 80 grand a year but has kids, a brand new KTM, and doesnt want to get hurt. Its like moto only wants to work with the moto crowd, not the "dirt bike" crowd. Hell make a XR100 class for adults to have fun, whatever it takes to get people in the gate and on 2 wheels.
I can agree that the privateers life is slowly dying with the increasing cost to race, however that has always been a all risk no rewards situation outside of a few people who have gotten factory rides from it.
Pit Row
It's no wonder off road racing is growing exponentially. We actually have a promoter around here who is trying different stuff like cutting the classes down and running 10 minute timed motos. It's a start.
And where does a beginner race when the C class is made up of 22 year guys who raced since they were 6 years old and scrub the 80 foot table tops? Enforce the C class rules so that beginner's have a place to race.
They are they only one's willing to pay enough money to sponsor. You should be worshiping them for keeping our sport on life support.
The AMA amateur class system certainly doesn't help things. There is no reason that a local Sunday race should have 20 plus races. This leads to long race days with short motos. $35 is a lot to pay for 2 4 lap motos. Plus, it eats up so much time. Drop a bunch of the nonsense classes and you'll get fuller gates, longer motos, and shorter days.
Every time I go to one of these facilities and see how much money is invested, it just blows my mind. And of course when I look at these wide open spaces with full lighting, turf fields etc, (oh and by the way they have it all set up for indoor practice/play during the winter as well, in buildings big enough for an indoor motocross track) I visualize how cool it would be to build a MX track there instead!
The culture around here is so big into baseball, basketball and football it's amazing to go to local tracks and still see 10 - 20 kids riding motocross. IMO...
Motocross is good, imo. Jenny Taft would be a nice addition. But the thing killing motocross is them blocking all of the fucking viewing areas at the tracks. At Budds creek alot of the best viewing spots near the track were blocked off for WPS hospitality, or similar dealer invited guests suites. They were damn near empty! the folks in there were watching the race on TV if they were even watching. total bullshit. I ended up jumping over a fence to watch the 2nd motos.
As others have already said..Race days.. too many classes so that Jr.. has a chance to be a winner. Ticked off all the others so no one hardly shows up to race days anymore. And all those classes for Jr.? Empty now too.
Most tracks have ditched racing and only open for practice days.
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