Motocross Performance Magazine Canadian Motocross news leader
Another week down and another week head-scratching, battling, and laughing through the days!!
I love the couch (the wife would call that an understatement at this time of the year). I enjoy watching sports mainly, but I will dabble in other shows to kill time. At the same time, I enjoy being busy. I love the crap out of my family and my kids. Seeing them grow, learn, cry, laugh, fight, etc. I do enjoy it all deep down, but I do love some “family social distancing,” for lack of a better term. Some may look at that like I’m a bad dad, and for sure, at times, I’m a “father failure.” But failing is part of taking on that job. If you haven’t failed as a dad yet, are you truly a dad? That alone time in my birthday suit sitting on the couch mowing chips and dip with a side of cookies, ice cream, drinking a stiff cocktail, while sports fill my TV with zero F’s to give – I love it. It’s an attractive feeling for sure. Finding balance is tricky. My middle child, Ryley, stuffed too much TP in the toilet and flooded our downstairs bathroom just last week. My blood had risen to the clouds. Not even 24 hrs later, he goes into a story on who he wants to come to his birthday and explains about each kid why he wants them to come. It was hilarious and so cute all in one. My blood rage dropped, and thus, I was balanced again. To sum this opening rant off, find the balance between selfishness and family. You do need both. Don’t hide your birthday suit!!
I have a smidge of a rant here. I’m not a fan of our Canadian teams hiring outside of Canada for staff. I have never been and never will. I have always shared not being a fan of hiring US riders for our series, but I have changed my tune a little over the years because the pot is small in Canada, and arguably most racers that have come from the US to the North have brought value their team and sponsors. Honestly, there haven’t been too many important US riders that haven’t worked out decently for quite some time in our pro series. But, back to my original thought: why do teams hire staff from the US when there are many more options available to them in Canada? This isn’t to say the staff aren’t decent people – I converse with them regularly, we’ve traveled other series’ together, we know each other. This rant is not a personal shot at them at all, but rather my opinion on why I don’t like this type of hire/employment (and I’m sure some will twist this, but who gives a shit. I explained what I meant). The Canadian market is small. We have overreached in the budget for years for our share of bikes sales, spectator interest, and overall interest in our sport. It’s not oblivious at all. It’s simple data. I believe our teams spend too much money in Canada to go racing. My opinion comes from an outsider looking in. I have no clue what these staff get paid, and that’s none of my business. From what I saw looking under some of the tents, the amount of money spent on suspension and motors, to me, is over the moon expensive for a Canadian team. Yes, others spend silly amounts on this as well, but most of our factory teams spend their money in Canada when it comes to suspension. I know some can argue that sharing products is better, support is more, etc., and they may have a leg to stand on, but in terms of how I see the team spending, it happens with a very American mentality. Forever, the US racing mentality has been a win at all costs. This mentality will never change, and that’s ok, but in my honest opinion, this is not the way it should be in Canada.
We are smaller, have less money, and have fewer eyes on our series. Teams should spend money, and teams should make money, but it should be spent in a realistic reflection of the market and with the common sense that Canadian racing delivers. This opinion is not a, “f%^$ these guys, or they suck, or they’re slimy and cheating the team out of money, or they’re pulling the wool over the eyes of the team owner” opinion. Not at all. But it has been proven for years in Canada, by GDR and MX101, that we can win titles on mediocre budgets. Well, “mediocre” compared to US budgets and the US mentally. And maybe since some of these guys have taken over, the budget has come down a lot, and of course, the loss of title sponsors is always a decent size hit – and that changes budgets and spending habits considerably.
Of course, opinions are like assholes; we all have them, but I believe that Canadians taking these roles would better suit these programs. I have a few names I would even throw in there: Keylan Meston, Steve Beatie, Kyle Thompson, Kourtney Lloyd, Tyler Medaglia, Steve Simms, to name a few. I have more, but this is my opinion, and as always, I have loads of them. For the first time in many years, we can make some serious changes in our sport with the growth of people beginning to race dirtbikes. Canadian Motocross needs to stay Canadian: simple, funded with a smart budget, realistic according to our fans and following, and most of all, appreciated. We are spoiled to a degree with salaries for our racers, TV shows that go LIVE, and the ability to do what you love for a paycheck. It all needs to be relative, and as I see it, the time is now to make changes for the longevity of the goals for everyone.
That’s it for this week. I could go into how Cole Thompson did and more on A1, but it’s already old news if you are as passionate about the sport as I am. I read everything I can, listen to it all, so for me to blather on about it more would likely bore you. My goal at the end of the FLOOD is to make ya think about the “what if’s.” I’m constantly just a guy thinking about this in my home and work lives. Like, “What if I switched out cookies and ice cream and instead went full cake day for my birthday suit sports days?”
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