Muddy Waters MX

MediaZone closes Moto Channel

2008-10-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

Last week I got email notification that MediaZone is closing their Moto Channel. This is a big disappointment to me, as I just signed up for a 1-year subscription when I watched the MXdN on live video.

MediaZone will refund my subscription fee on a pro-rated basis, but the money isn't really the problem. I'm disappointed that what seemed to be a really good service for catching all the GPs has gone by the wayside.

I don't know anything about what motivated the closure, and the email gave no reason. But if you read my post on The right broadcast model for motocross you know I think full length video on the web is the right way forward for MX. [More...]

The right broadcast model for motocross

2008-10-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I got up early (too early, it turns out) to watch the MXdN live video feed via MediaZone. I really enjoyed it — well worth the $24.99 I paid for a year’s subscription that also buys me full coverage of the 2009 GP season and access to the archives for 2005–2008. If you want a recap of the coverage itself see Davey Coombs’ Racerhead #40 over at RacerX.

What I want to talk about is a realization I had while watching — that Internet video is the right medium for motocross. Not broadcast TV.

It’s no new idea that motocross is a niche sport. I think we all know this and, to my mind, it always will be. A big niche, perhaps, but a niche nonetheless. It’s a special sport. A different sport. It’s an extreme sport, but not a circus like Supercross. There is a history, a mind set, and a culture that are inherent in the way man and machine attack the terrain and the elements. There is an endurance aspect that simply doesn’t exist in other forms of closed course competition. It is not a complicated sport, yet it requires understanding.

None of this fits neatly into 1–hour, commercial-laden segments of American broadcast TV. The sport, at it’s core, does not match up well with normal, accepted TV practices for niche sports — 8 minutes of action punctuated by 1.5–2.5 minutes of commercials. Then repeat the cycle over and over. [More...]

Tim Ferry on training and racing until you're 40

2008-10-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

33-year-old Tim Ferry is not the oldest rider ever selected for a Motocross of Nations team (Stephan Everts was 33 when he rode his last event in 2006. He won both his motos although Belgium finished 2nd.) I'm sure he's not even the oldest to be on a winning team — the average age of riders was a lot older in the '60s, '70s and early '80s. But he may well be the oldest member of a winning team in the modern era.

Just before his trip to England for the 2008 MXoN (which Team USA won, again) the Factory Kawasaki rider and two-time MXoN winner was interviewed by Tim Cryster of RacerX Virtual Trainer. Ferry talks about his training regimen, how things have changed in the sport since he began his professional career in 1991, and what the future holds. The most interesting comment in Ferry's interview. [More...]

Live Nation sells Supercross with motor sports division

2008-10-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

No surprise here as Live Nation has sold off its entire motorsports division to Feld Entertainment in a deal valued at $205 million. The sale is the latest step in Live Nation's current corporate gin rummy hand — the predictable, cyclical business of first acquiring unrelated businesses to "leverage synergy for increased profits and growth" and then, a few years later, selling them off to "release pent up value for increased profits and growth." Funny, that. [More...]

2008-10-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

Late last week NASCAR announced it is acquiring the Grand-Am sports car racing series. This matters to professional motorcycle racing because Grand-Am is the racing series owned by Roger Edmondson and Jim France, the President and Chairman respectively of Daytona Motorsports Group which now owns AMA Pro Racing.

Last night Dave Despain had Edmondson on Wind Tunnel. The interview was via telephone and fairly short, as it was the last call of the program. Despain asked Edmondson two questions, the first about the NASCAR purchase, the second was (paraphrased), "Am I wrong to think the situation in professional motorcycle road racing is a disaster?" [More...]

DMG/AMA Pro Racing equal goat rodeo?

2008-10-30T19:45:00.000-07:00

The miserable impasse between AMA Pro Road Racing and the professional road racing community is steadily worsening. This is very unsettling. Not because it is affecting any of the other racing disciplines, but because it belies a deep-rooted management flaw at AMA Pro Racing.

The behavior of AMA Pro Racing toward the road race community looks a lot like the sort of corporate raider mentality personified by people like "Chainsaw" Al Dunlap. [More...]

Risking irrelevance - why too much youth focus is bad for pro MX

2008-08-15T15:32:00.000-07:00

The idea of raising the minimum age limit for Pro Motocross is being discussed a lot in the media and by the fans, particularly since an underage Jason Lawrence got into a bit of legal trouble. New outdoor MX director Davey Coombs has publicly stated his opinion that an 18-year-old age limit would be a good thing. Much of the discussion is focused on the idea that riders need to mature before being given the money and pressure of big pro contracts, which is true. But there is another aspect that needs to be considered.

The problem is relevance and the Olympics give us an interesting case study. It's been nice to have some sports distractions — the Olympics and the NFL preseason — during this two-week break in the Pro Motocross schedule. [More...]

FIM vs DMG - the battle for world domination

2008-08-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

Two things of note this past week in the world of motocross (three, I guess, but I'm not all that interested in who hired Chad Reed — it was obvious someone would) – Youthstream opens U.S. office in southern California, and CycleNews publishes an interview with FIM president Vito Ippolito confirming the FIM's intentions to grow a Supercross World championship (Cycle News Issue #32, Aug. 13, 2008, pg 7.)

Neither of these things is unexpected, but together they are an important warning — nature abhors a vacuum, particularly the vacuum created when the |AMA| sold off professional racing.

Under the AMA pro racing in every discipline except road race and SX was a goat rodeo and a national embarrassment. Getting out of the racing business was overwhelmingly the right thing to do. Selling most everything to Daytona Motorsports Group was the right choice. But that doesn't mean we didn't get some new and different problems in the bargain. [More...]

Italian police riding in formation - very cool old school precision

2008-08-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

This '60s-era video shows an Italian police squad riding in some very cool formations. Nice. [More...]

Impact sports increase bone density in aging athletes

2008-08-06T17:04:00.001-07:00

This 2007 article from Medical News Today, Impact Sports Increase Bone Strength In Senior Athletes, reports on a study conducted on 298 athletes at the 2005 Senior Olympics in Pittsburgh. Findings were reported at the 74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. [More...]

Tribute to motorcycle pioneer Don Jones

2008-08-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Motorcycle pioneer Don Jones passed away this past week. Terry Good, of MXWorksBikes.com, has posted this very nice Don Jones tribute page with a variety of personal photos that Don sent him several years ago. [More...]

Smart money says new AMA Pro Racing will get it right

2008-08-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

The entire professional road racing community has been up in arms since DMG (now officially AMA Pro Racing) began making their presence felt. The complaints have been long, loud, and many. [More...]

Mike Kidd chosen to lead AMA Pro Flat Track

2008-08-06T16:22:00.000-07:00

AMA Pro Racing (the new AMA Pro Racing) announced Thursday that long-time, old school flat track racer, former AMA Grand National Champion, race promoter, Motorcycle Hall of Fame member, and Texan Mike Kidd has been chosen to head the redevelopment of the national flat track program. [More...]

Two Stroke Militia

2008-08-06T16:19:00.000-07:00

Here's another helpful and entertaining site in the two-stroke wars — Two Stroke Militia. The site was apparently put together by three guys in the northeast — Jeff Conboy, Tim Weeks, and John Nicholas — and features some of the best analysis and commentary on the two-stroke situation that I've seen. [More...]

Cool paper dirt bike model - YZ450FM

2008-08-06T16:17:00.000-07:00

Here's another cool paper model — this time of the Yamaha YZ450FM. I don't know who created it, but it looks like it comes from Japan. [More...]

Davey Coombs wants to make outdoor MX cool again

2008-08-06T16:15:00.000-07:00

I just read the interview with Davey Coombs in the new Cycle News — Issue #29, July 23, 2008 — talking about MXSports, outdoor MX, Barber Motorsports Park, and the future of motocross and the outdoor series [More...]