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/498661
IN THE WIND P24 MILLSAPS LET GO O n April 16, 2015, Kawasaki Motors Corp., USA, put out a press release stating the following: "Monster Energy Ka- wasaki has terminated its agree- ment with Davi Millsaps effective immediately. Unfortunately this means our factory race team will not be competing at the fi- nal three rounds of the Mon- ster Energy Supercross season but we will be cheering on our 250SX support team Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki as well as TwoTwo Motorsports' Chad Reed and Josh Grant in the 450SX class. With Wil Hahn continuing to recover from his injury, we are working hard on our motocross program and the factory team is looking forward to getting back to the track for the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross season opener at Hangtown on May 16." The statement was simple and direct, but vague. The following day, Millsaps released his own statement: "Al- though my results have not been what I had hoped for up to this point, I have continued to give my best effort and have fulfilled all of my contractual obligations. I am aware that there is much speculation regarding my termi- nation. While I am not at liberty to discuss details, I can say without equivocation that I have not violated any AMA or FIM rule or regulation. At this point I am evaluating my options, both pro- fessional and legal. I apologize to my fans, sponsors and fellow competitors for the confusion this has caused. I want to espe- cially thank Monster Energy for continuing to stand behind me. I look forward to resolving this and getting back to racing. See you soon." Any time there is legal ac- tion at play, it's common for statements from both sides to be vague, and any time it's high profile like this, it leads to rampant speculation as to what caused the rift. Well, with a lot of effort, over the weekend at the Santa Clara Supercross—despite the fact that neither any Kawasaki repre- sentative nor Millsaps were will- ing to speak on the record about the incident—a couple journalists were able to put their heads and sources together to explain what went down between Kawasaki and Davi Millsaps: Sources close to the situation have indicated that a member of the Monster Energy Kawa- saki MX/SX racing team found something in Millsaps' personal locker that constitutes a violation of the WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) anti-doping code, and as a result terminated Millsaps' contract with the team. There have been two WADA tests during the 2015 Monster Energy/AMA Supercross Cham- pionship, and Millsaps wasn't tested either time, which means The Monster Energy Kawasaki Team ended its relationship with Davi Millsaps.