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10/14/2009
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Lenexa, KS
US
Edited Date/Time
1/26/2012 12:34am
does albee have anything in the works for 2011? after a year in the gp's i would think he would come back here a lot stronger mentally. he got to experience a lot last year and i would think that would do nothing but help out.
hopefully he can find a spot on good team and do both series. someone get this dude a ride also!!!
hopefully he can find a spot on good team and do both series. someone get this dude a ride also!!!
The Shop
I'm just curious what Martin Honda expected out of Albee. Did they really expect to take this young kid that barely cracked the top 10 consistently in the states and was battling various injuries to just step into the GP's and battle for wins and podiums? That makes no sense and a team like Martin Honda should know better than that.. In fact before they hired Albee I read a report that said Martin was looking for a young American to hire that they could groom. Is one season their idea of grooming a kid? What's even more weird was Albee actually did better than what Martin did in 09 w/ DeRuever and Stribjos (sp?). Albee 17th in Championship.. De Ruever and Strijbos 19th and 24th in 2009. Granted they battled injuries but so did Albee. M
Martin Honda rant over.
It sounded to me in the Genova podcast that he and DV both were pretty sold on Albee. So hopefully that translates into us seeing him at motoconcepts. Also if Albee doesn't have an agent yet he should hire Matthes. Or at least call Matthes and thank him because Matthes spent a good 5-10 min selling Genova on the Albee signing. FTR I agree with Matthes and think Albee would be a good fit for motoconcepts and for Albee a great stepping stone to get back on track in the states. Wherever Albee ends up I think he'll give the team their monies worth. Albee is a kid that fights for every position and IMO is never intimidated.
Also if MX doesn't work out IMO Albee has a great career in the MX broadcasting field. He , and Paul Malin , made a great broadcast team for the GP's and youthstream obviously took note because they also had Albee doing the Des Nations TV w/ Malin.
This year they seem to have more money since they were the heavy favourites to land Townley before Mitch commited to have a 450F rider. If you had the money I think you'd go after Townley and not Albee. Not sure who's going to ride for Martin now though...
Also i was really surprised in his podcast that he said he was really homesick, couldn't get motivated and went through a big dip morally quite early on. To me it sounded like he did the job the rest of the year but the heart wasn't there. Even though at the end of the podcast he said now he would mind going back I think it's too much risk for a Euro team to take him on board now.
That said props to Leib for going back next year and changing country. Read his blog and sounds like a good guy that's really embracing the experience.
I don't blame Martin for going after more established racers that can get immediate results for them. Shit, we know that's the name of the game. My issue is why not just sign a guy to a 1 year deal and then resign him for 2 if he does well. Instead of signing him to a 2 year and then ,like always in this sport, act like a contract means nothing and fire him. It's amazing ,how in this sport, teams get away w/that so much. It's a win win for the teams and a fcked spot for the riders. They have a rider sign a two year deal. If he does well they have him under , what they'll say, is a binding and legal contract. If he does bad the contract now doesn't mean shit and they find a loop hole to duck out of it.
At some point there has to be some kind of (I hate to use this scary word) union that protects the riders. The OEM's , promoters , sponsors and teams have all the power in this sport and they all have each others backs it seems. Who has the riders backs in situations like contract breaches and non payment of monies owed. It seems to me at times nobody has the riders backs. Unless that rider is rich and surrounded by lawyers and agents they're stuck having to deal w/the BS by themselves and they just say fck it and move on.
Pit Row
I feel for Vuillemin-hired to do a job, but not given the authority to hire the best person for the job.
Hopefully Jimmy will get on a Valli Yamaha, and show Genova to let DV pick the riders for the job he was hired to do.
Martin Honda has a lot of experience with foreign riders (since the 90's they have had Albertson, Demaria, DeReuver, Dymond, Jorgensen, Leuret, Manneh, Mills, Parker, Paulin, Pichon and Strijbos) and they have had their fair shares of success and disappointments. Also, Paolo Martin signed up both Cairoli and Paulin before they became who they are now and helped them winning the European championship, so it is fair to say that he is very knowledgeable when it comes to "reading" the riders: I guess he realized that Albee was not into the GPs, and he was right.
In any case, based on what Albee himself said in the podcast with Matthes, it seems both the rider and the team came to the conclusion that it just was not a good fit. And when that is the case, regardless of what the contract says (btw, who actually knows whether it was a 1 year contract with an option for the 2nd year or a straight 2-year contract?), the parties are better off parting ways.
I like Jimmy because you can tell from his actions (doing the Nationals as a privateer in 08, scrambling to get the ride with Valli in '09 and moving to Europe to race the GPs) that he really likes what he does and I hope we get the chance to see him ready to go at A1.
@Albee702
I love tryouts when the faster rider doesn't get the job... Don't waste my time!
Matthes replied to Albees tweet with.
From pulpmx
@Albee702 Hrd that yesterday, as u know speed doesn't mean everything in this sport. Hey, it could be nascar or indycar I was pushing for u!
I'm not sure what Genova sees in Friese that nobody else sees but it was obvious to me in the pulpmx podcast with him that he really thought Friese would shine on the 450. Maybe Genova is just a loyal guy that has really taken a liking to Friese personally and wants to give him a good shot. It's Genovas money so he can spend it on who he wants I guess. Personally I don't see Friese ever being a factor in a 450 main event unless you consider taking someone out a factor.. Heck to be totally honest I'm not sure he'll make many main events.
Maybe Vince ends up being a bunch better on a 450 than on a 250f? I don't know, it could happen. Loyalty in the sport is also cool to see because there isn't much of it going around.
But at the same time , like Albee said, why even waste Albees time if you're already knowing you're hiring Friese. And if what I heard , that Friese was 2 sec a lap off Albee is true, it quite obvious that Genova had no intentions , other than to humor DV and maybe even Matthes, in hiring anyone other than Friese.
That all being said was it really a waste of time for Albee? I'm sure a few other teams with possible spots open I'm sure heard that Albee was barely off Kyle's time and slightly faster than T. Hahns time and because of that Albee could end up somewhere because of that ,as he put it waste of time , tryout.
I think Albee needs to refrain from bad mouthing Motoconcepts on twitter and think of the tryout in a optimistic view that maybe some other team took notice.
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