Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• John Lancione Jim Weinert Have you ever wondered what fo reign mo tocross ride rs thought of ou r tracks, o ur o rganization and o ur large purses? Or wh y, in Europe , a rider 'is p aid mo ney to show up to race but can win very little ? So did we. So , in order to get so me insigh t into the wo rld of p rofessio nal motocross, Cycle News decided to assem b le a few of the b est riders we could Ill y our hands on and sit down and rap. Our star cast of conversatio nalists was led by none other 6 CN: Why t um professional ? There are many other occupations that are less demand ing a n d conceivably more rewarding. RD: I find motocross a fantastic life . You can ma ke yo ur living by doing yo ur hobb y. It 's th at way in almo st all kinds o f sport , If it's yo ur favorite thing and yo u can ma ke yo ur living a t i t , wha t mo re can you want? Cl':: T hat so unds great,b ut t here is still a b usiness end to the sport , Wha t about that? RO: Those are usuall y th e things th at you like leas t about racin g. Th e eas iest part o f it is Su nday and the race. It's the nices t part. There are other t h ings. like people yo u mus t be nice to ev en when yo u don ' t feel like being n ice or times when yo u want to b e alone be fore th e start and people as k fo r a utographs , tha t are wh at mu st b e do ne . They are thi ngs th at co me with rac ing. CN : Europe is the ce nt er of motocross, yet at presen t th e bi ke market is hea vily cen tered in the U.S . ODes th at m ea n that in th e fut ure tha t there will be a sw itch from Euro pe to America becau se o f business factors? PK : I hope not. Motocross will always be Hakan Andersson C OSS tha n "Super R ef" John "Ligh t Brow n" Lancio ne, who acted as a spark to set the fi res burn ing, Past World Champions R oger DeCoste r and Hakan Ander sson w ere present as we ll as 1972 Trans,AMA Champ io n Ak e J onss on. Pierre Karsmak ers, the well spoken Dutch man who has been bo th Dutch and A meric an Natio nal Champio n, rounded ou t the f oreign co ntingent. Th e rema ining two slots w ere fi lled by past and present Open Natio nal Champio ns Brad Lack ey and Jimm y Wein ert. better in Europe even if the J ap anese manufacturers put a lot more e ffo rt int o the co untries th at h ave a bigger m ar ket. I thin k motocross is a sp ort th a t will alw ay s b e th ere ; even if th ere is not a lo t of money to b e made. RO : I like rac ing and that 's t he bast e reason I'm here. I could make fairly good m one y racin g in Europe or elsewhere . Of co urse for th e fact ory it is more interest ing to have t heir ride rs here be cause al most 80% of the world bi ke market (mo tocross) is here in Am eri ca. If I said that I wanted to race in South Africa o r som ewhere th e factory would send me a bike and spare parts but they wo uldn' t put as much effo rt into it as they w ould racing here. J L: I don 't b elieve we co uld ever a p p r oac h th e c o l o r of Euro pean moto cros s. There are just a lot o f things t h a t make a European moto cross "s pecial" th at could no t exist her e . CN : It seems t hat a fo reign rider can 't mak e that much money b y racin g th e Tr a n s- A jd A s e r ies o r a ny o t her inte rnat ional eve n t for that matter since our govern men t get s a 30 % cut o ff t he top for tax purposes. (T his is also true in AMA ·FIM sanctioned road races wh ere foreign co mpet ito rs arc racing.) Could yo u e xp lain a lit tl e about it J ohn ? JL : I don't co mp letely agree with this tax th ing. The A.\IA withholds th e 30 % and then t h e rider can file a tax return list ing his expenses and possibly lIet b ack a go od deal of th e money withheld . In a case like Roger or Hakan or Ake wh o I doub t have too man y real e x pe n ses ( fo r ta x purposes ) tha t percen ta ge is pretty we ll go ne . T he re is also so me co n tro versy as to wh ether th at money ac t ua lly has to b e withheld at a ll if yo u are emp loyed b y a fo reign co rpo rat io n and work here . BL: I think if th e purses wer e a lot high er and the y took t he 30% no one would be co mp laining. JL : No matter how m uch you make; if so meo ne tak es 30 % of it , it 's st ill 30%, PK: Ro ger , don'tyou have to pay taxes in Belgium ? RO : Yes, but no t o n your gross inco me , Cl':: Brad, d o t hey ca tch you for a pie ce o f th e purse money t hat you get in th e GPs ? BL: No, but yo u don't ge t away with any t h ing. It always see ms to cost you so me money eve n if you pla c e go od in a race . Th ey pay you in the curren cy o f Ake Jonsson the co un try so t ha t yo u rea lly have to spend it there b efore yo u leav e. CN: Purse st ruct ures arc a lot different in Eur ope th an here. You mak e a very l a r ge portion of yo ur money for appearin g wi th a sm all purse while here we must race to mak e any money. RD: T he amo unt o f money yo u get is dependent upon past performance and als o if you are an up and co m ing rider. If you have a "name ," It depends up o n yo ursel f to ge t th e money t ho ugh , if yo u arc good and do not ask for anything yo u will not get anything . In Belgiu m the promoters hav e gotteri together and made a grading list to put a price on every rider ; they p ut you into d ifferent catego ries and th ey stick to th at list. CN: Then if yo u have a good reputation and a re a go od barg ainer you should get good start money ? RO: Some riders have a manager or a fin ancial sec retary who does the actual bargaining for th e rider ; some of them will take care of 15 or 2 0 riders . In the beginning it is very difficult to get any mo ney be cause every b ody wants to start the race . You d on't make any money at tho se early rac es until you have a reputat ion . CN : What ab o ut you Brad ? You were a full time GP rid er th is yea r. BL : I waite d too long to get my en tries in at the be ginning of the seaso n. At the ea rl y i n terna tio na l races everybody wants to rid e to get in sh ape for the GP season and it's pretty hard to get a start if you're not a kno wn rid er . Sometimes not even the top riders get a spot be cause th ere arc a lot of Belgians (t he mo tocross season for international races usually starts in Belgium) rid ing and they only take 20 other riders. I finally got entered in a few and I had a manager d oin g my work; I mad e about $I 00 start money . T he thing is that if you d on't place well then your money won't go up . I guess during the last part of th e seas on when I was finishing in t he top 10 that I was getting a good deal more b ut still not getting ri ch . CN: Must you make yo ur co rnmit m er-:

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