Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125892
Roger DeCoster Gerrit Wolsink to the races we ll ahead of time so t ha t a promoter may usc your name for advertising purposes? RO: Usually I do all my contracts abou t six months ahead of time. In the National Championship events we are not free to go or not to go unless we arc injured or something. Usu ally some promoters will take some ad vantage o f th e situati on and give you the minimum since you must be there an yhow. You see if yo u d o n't pl ace in th e top three in the National grad in g list then yo u a re not eligible to co ntes t th e World Championships fo r y o ur co u n try . CN : That's an inter esting p oint that I want to get back to . Pierre, y o u' ve been exposed to ra cing on both sid es of th e ocean.what are your feelings ? PK : Like Roger says , yo u a rrange yo ur co ntracts so metimes six months ahead and that 's wh at I kind of did mvself, I had a manager in Europe for awh ile but I w asn 't reall y satisfied with him because I found o ut that t here were a lot o f wa ys for th o se gu ys t o make easy money orr the rider. I began to d o m y o w n negotiat ing; it hurt me sometimes but , I think, most t imes it helped me. Somet imes though it is good to have a manager be cause he will be friends with the promoter and co u ld get yo u m ore than b y y o ur own bargaining . RO : A certain rider ca n be worth much RO: For m e I like th e Euro pean sys tem better bec au se I think it 's safer as far as racing. When yo u ha ve a bi g prize (in th e US ) but no guara n te e , the ride rs more or b e a crowd draw to on e p romoter more than to another . If yo u are popular in one area you ma y not command a following in another . Local riders, if they are very go od o r very hot at a c ertain tim e, ca'!' com mand a goo d crowd. CN: Does the FIM ever ent er into th e negotiations? PK: No . It would be very h ard fo r th e FIM to govern it because there ar e many. m any events o n any gi ve n weekend all o ver Europe. For th e FlI\I to ge t all the National Federations together would take to o much w ork t o realize. eN : Do y ou feel the start money sy stem versus the large purse syste m is b etter o r worse? "In Europe th ey would m ak e y ou race of buildings ! zf they co uld work them in to th e course. " seem to risk much more and ride: tha t mu ch harder to w in. In Euro pe, certain ride rs ra ce good in the cham pio ns hip races but take it easy in o ther races . There's good and bad in both syste ms . CN : How ab o u t yo u , Jim ? Would yo u rath er ge t your money in front or race fo r it ? JW: I t h in k the wa y we have it here is going to make better riders because yo u h ave to 1(0 fas t in o rd er to mak e en o ug h m oney to get to th e next race . 1 think it 's safe. Of co urse, there are tim es when yo u have to deal with " crazy" rid ers lik e in th e bi g bu ck s even ts but, if yo u a voi d th em fo r the first few lap s, th ey t end to take care of th emselves. If yo u're a smart rider you stay away from them a nd be ca re fu l. CN : J ohn , wh at 's yo ur view from th e AMA end ? J\. : I agree with Rog er's view in m an y respects; the re are good po ints fo r bo t h sys te ms . I te nd t o t hin k that o ur guys would tak e adv a n tag e o f a bad da y wh en they co uld collect t heir sta rt mone y a nd sort of sit back and wa tch the race be cause it w ould be easier. One thing t o rea lize is th at I d oubt if we are Brad Lackey going to see any dra m a ti c in crease s in purse mo ney in the near fu ture . No w, if we are going to start t o pa y sta rt mon ey th er e is o nly o ne b asic place for those doll ar s to co me from a nd t ha t's th e p ur ses we 'rc paying now. I d on 't b elieve the good rid ers or ev en the po or riders _ arc will ing to see th e purse s reduc ed in orde r to pay a few guys d ecent sta rt money o r to pay every o ne a minimum amo unt to co ve r so me e x pe nses . PK: I think if th ey change th e structure in Am erica to start money tha t it wo uld . really hurt moto cro ss. JW : I thin k t ha t th e purses sh ould have more mo ney toward s the top spo ts . JL: T he reaso n fo r the p rize mo ney d istrib utio n is, fran kly . in years past if yo u lo ok ed o n t he res u lts , th e Americans began to show aro un d fifth, sixth , seve n th place a nd they balanced uu t the field - so t he pri ze mu ney was purposely ma de heavy thro ugh th e middle so our guys would go ho me w ith so m e of it . X o w our guys are win ning oc casiuna lly. Jimmy wo n lI o ust o n last year - and they are finishing in th e top th ree. They're findi ng out wh a t has been a fact righ t alo ng ; it 's not th at swee t financi ally to wi n a Trans·A~IA . We st ill owe to the th eorv that we wa nt to pay as man y guys as po ssib le, We pay 20 places : it ma y o nly ad d up t o o n ly S I40 for last place but at least it's someth ing. PK: Which is fair I think, because norm ally the t op 10 riders have som e ty pe of fa ct o ry sponsors hi p . 'f yo u want to keep interest in the race s, the privateers o r se mi sponsor ed guy s mu st mak e so me money for their expe nse s or th ey won' t sho w up next week. CN: A grad ing sy st em o f riders was m ention ed befor e . Co uld so me o ne ex p lain it? RD : Sin ce so man y riders wan t to ride in the G Ps it is nece ssary to ha ve a sys te m fo r ch oo sin g the rid er s. You must fin ish in the top 3 in yo ur cla ss in the Na ti onal Cham pions hi p in o rder to be allowed t o co mp ete in th e G l's fo r t he fo llowing season . It is tha t simple. CN: Is it the sa me in Sweden, llakan ? r Pierre Karsmakers IIA: Yes, I must also fin ish in the top thr ee in the Sw edi sh N a tion al Championships. A]: We must rid e in th e Nationals as well as an y team (Mo tocro ss or Trophee de s Nations) th at we are chosen for. IIA: I think it is a good th in g. CN: We d on't re all y h ave anyth ing to co m pare to th at sin ce the AMA doesn 't d ire ct riders to event s th at they must rid e. J L: We do n' t mak e o u r gu ys ride a ny w he re . I thin k what the y are doing in Europe is n ice , but it wouldn't work her e . We 'v e go t a n awfu lly b ig country he re and I do n' t see wh ere th e idea wo uld be p ra ct ical. RO : A lso , yo u don' t have as man y rid e rs wanting to go t o the GP s as we do in Belgium . JL : Tha t 's tr ue. If o ur two GP riders U im Pomer o y and Brad Lackey ) were to race in the US, t hey would definitely be a mo ng t he top riders in o ur National ChampionshIps. Thei r ability- would pla ce them at the top, b ut if we had five or six rid ers wh o wanted to go to Europe th en we migh t have a pr oblem. And I don't know wh at th e a ns we r would be . I th in k we co uld m ak e the p roper d ecisio n fo r a co uple of gu ys, maybe th ree , m a yb e four, b ut a fte r that it would be h ard to d ecide. You 've got to weed th em o u t a nd sen d o n ly the very best t o represen t us. An oth er point is th at th e Euro pean riders have a pretty ex clu sive cl u b a nd have to go through a rigo rous pro cedure befo re y ou ca n eve n app ly fo r an in tern ational lice nse . CN: J u st wh at is the procedure for a d va nc e m en t so th at a rider can co m pe t e in a G P? G RO UI': If yo u a re int erest ed in co m pet ing y ou sta rt o u t as a Junior (ex pla ined as a person who buys a bike a nd im med ia t ely thi nk s o f himself as a world bea ter) . If yo u a rc good a nd finis h in th e top three in th at class 's stand ings fo r th e ye a r, th en yo u will move up to Seni or sta t us . T here the pro cedure is about the sa m e w ith the (Continued on page 28) 7