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Could be late to the party but In observations this week I see Joey has the Monster 450 ride lined up next year, is Grant done? Is this a good or bad move by kawi?
"I know Savatgy now has a 450 ride with Monster Energy Kawasaki lined up for next year"
"Shifting gears and passing queers" GL
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Yea thats the jist of it. I think kawi is going to hire grant as a test rider for the 19 450. Thats what seems to be the case from grants mechanics insta story the other day. With joeys results this year, i dont see him doing any better than grant on a 450. But whatever kawi knows best i guess.
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Joey is on the way up and Josh is on the way out. Both great riders, but factories are always trying to keep something coming. They have Eli as the team leader and it will give Joey time to mature and progress.
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I think Kawi is throwing Savatgy a bone with a one year low salary or bonuses only deal. Maybe they think there is a potential upside since he will need to perform to get another similar or better deal. Beyond that, the second spot at Kawi is AC’s when he is ready.
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Kawis #2 choices have been disasters since picking weimer over pourcel. Theyve done squat. Grant was the most successful id say and hes also done squat lol.
Going back in time had kawi picked Pourcel i bet some titles would have looked very different.
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I think Grant is about done. I he hasn't raced much recently so I don't see why they would keep him anyways. Joey is a guy who can come in and get a bunch of top 10s and a few top 5s. He will be a good 2nd rider beside Tomac.
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Personally I'd lean more towards Wilson, Bogle or Seely (if he does return). But that's just my opinion.
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Yeah I don't know about picking Savatgy. There are champions without 450 rides. I hope he makes the best of it and turns things around. It's been a bad year for him.
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yz133rider wrote:
Kawis #2 choices have been disasters since picking weimer over pourcel. Theyve done squat. Grant was the most successful id say and hes also done squat lol.
Going back in time had kawi picked Pourcel i bet some titles would have looked very different.
Yeah, Pourcel probably would have been better. But Weimer wasn't bad at all. He nabbed several podiums for Kawi and was probably a hell of a lot cheaper than Pourcel
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I’d take the veteran grant over Savagty any day of the week. Joey is a head case, he’s the next Wilson.
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Savatgy has had a confusing season but if you look at his 250 career he's kind of like a Cole Seely but better outdoors. They have the same number of 250 SX wins, but Joey has multiple outdoor wins. And I think most of us would agree that Seely is a good second rider for Honda. Joey is perfect for a #2, on the 250 he's proven to be fairly durable. JG33 is a superb talent, but he has very limited runs of healthiness.
Weimer as Kawasaki's second rider had a pretty good year in 2012 and started out 2013 well before the injury bug really started to beat him down.
Old MXer turned Superfan.
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I want to think they probably got Joey on the cheap to sign him? Grant was a legit top 5 in both series when he's healthy. I cant see Joey doing much better than hill on the 450 but could be wrong. Just happy some of the 250 guys are finally moving up to the big class I suppose....
"Shifting gears and passing queers" GL
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hamncheeze wrote:
Savatgy has had a confusing season but if you look at his 250 career he's kind of like a Cole Seely but better outdoors. They have the same number of 250 SX wins, but Joey has multiple outdoor wins. And I think most of us would agree that Seely is a good second rider for Honda. Joey is perfect for a #2, on the 250 he's proven to be fairly durable. JG33 is a superb talent, but he has very limited runs of healthiness.
Weimer as Kawasaki's second rider had a pretty good year in 2012 and started out 2013 well before the injury bug really started to beat him down.
It's easy to imagine this season going a lot differently for Savatgy if his bike didn't break in moto 1 at Thunder Valley. (Of course, that also may have led to Zach Osborne not getting injured.)
Savatgy makes the podium close to half the time in Supercross and about 1/4 of the time in Motocross. He hasn't missed many races in his career. (Why didn't he race SX in 2014?) I would expect him to finish between 5th and 10th in the 450 SX points next year.
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Ya I think he deserves a shot he’s the only pc guy that’s came close to winning a championship a couple times. Seely had a similar 250 career without the mx wins joey has. I do think he needs a change in his program as this season hasn’t been too great but he’ll be a fine 2nd guy for kawi.
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Between Tomac and Savatgy that team is going to be in for some rough weekends. Obviously there are going to be some great ones as well. But if there are two riders who can leave you scratching your scratching your head after the race I'd say it's them.
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Forty wrote:
I'd do Grant another year if he's healthy.
Why? He's not a household name, he's not a champion, he's not going to battle for a championship, he has barely raced the last two years and most importantly he has no upside whatso ever. They can get Joey at a pretty low price and check out his potential on the 450. He's much younger than Grant and has the potential to go out and run inside the top 5.
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I can't argue with that -- I don't think he has finished a season on the 450 BUT when he's healthy he has the ability to run with the best and at this point in his career makes a great 2nd rider.
In spite of a career of ups and downs for Josh I would keep him on another year - way more talent than Joey...no offense to the Savatgy faithful.
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Congrats Joey...and Josh will be fine. So, who(so far) on 250’s will be 450 SX next year?
Hill, Osbourne, Savatgy? Man, I’d really like if AC and AP made the jump. Class needs more up and comers.
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Forty wrote:
I'd do Grant another year if he's healthy.
agn5009 wrote:
Why? He's not a household name, he's not a champion, he's not going to battle for a championship, he has barely raced the last two years and most importantly he has no upside whatso ever. They can get Joey at a pretty low price and check out his potential on the 450. He's much younger than Grant and has the potential to go out and run inside the top 5.
Good points....I just don't have that much faith in Savatgy right now and am not convinced he can bring what he needs to the 450 class.
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Forty wrote:
I can't argue with that -- I don't think he has finished a season on the 450 BUT when he's healthy he has the ability to run with the best and at this point in his career makes a great 2nd rider.
In spite of a career of ups and downs for Josh I would keep him on another year - way more talent than Joey...no offense to the Savatgy faithful.
What makes you think he has way more talent than Joey?
In 2016 alone, Savatgy won 3 SX and 3 MX races. Grant has 4 SX wins and 2 MX wins over his entire career (245 races).
