Kit Palmer | October 6, 2021
Cycle News Observation Check
COLUMN
Moving Day
So, October 1 has come and gone. It’s generally a big day in the motocross world, at least in this country. It tends to be the day when factory motocross/supercross contracts run out, and new ones begin, when riders/teams are free to legally announce their new signees and reveal their future endeavors. Often, we already know what these signings and endeavors will be, just like this year—probably more so than most.
A few of the major but anticipated and non-surprising announcements indeed came through on October 1. So much for secrets.
Secrets are hard to keep in this industry, like the one about Ricky Carmichael switching from green to red in 2001, which had to be one of the worst-kept secrets of all time and the most controversial rider/team changes in motocross history. We all knew that one was coming months in advance, but that still didn’t soften the blow for Kawasaki fans who went off the deep end when that news became official.
No such controversy this year, but Eli Tomac going from green to blue still seems to be a bit odd, despite knowing this was coming for months now. When you think about it, however, it’s not all that unusual for an elite veteran superstar to make a team change late in their career after being associated with one brand/team for a long time like Tomac is doing. A few notable ones in motocross from the past that quickly come to my mind are Mark Barnett, Suzuki to Kawasaki; Bob Hannah, Yamaha to Honda (then Suzuki); Jeremy McGrath, Yamaha to KTM, and Chad Reed, Yamaha to privateer Yamaha to Suzuki (to Kawasaki to Honda). And all of them had at least limited success after making their big change in their later years, except for McGrath at KTM, of course.
Sometimes these late-career changes are forced, where the older star riders/athletes generally aren’t cheap anymore and want long-term contracts. They must go. As good as they might be, oftentimes they get the boot to make room for up-and-coming stars that the team has eyes on, like in Kawasaki’s case, Austin Forkner, who still has a few more years of grooming. But in Tomac’s case, things seemed at the surface amicable between him and Kawasaki. I’m sure Tomac just wanted a change of scenery, and I’m sure Kawasaki is looking into the future, even though they hired a veteran rider in Jason Anderson to take his place. Still, you know Kawasaki has a long-term plan in place, and Anderson is a part of that plan and for Kawasaki, he’s the ideal guy for now. Maybe by the time Anderson is ready to retire, Forkner will be ready to step in.
Tomac’s decision to go to Yamaha had to have been tough on Tomac but also must have been put at ease when he saw Ferrandis win the opening round of the Nationals at Pala on the YZ450F this season in his first outdoor race on a 450. I happened to be standing near Ferrandis when he greeted one of his team members seconds after taking the checkered flag, and the first thing Ferrandis said to him was, “See, I told you if you built me a good motorcycle, I would win.” Still, as good as the Yamaha might be, it’s still not a Kawasaki, a bike Tomac is very familiar with. So, it will be interesting to see how Tomac adapts to the Yamaha with its “backward” motor, not to mention his new team and him no longer being on top of the totem pole anymore.
Anderson’s move to Kawasaki is interesting, as well. Like Tomac, he, too, probably just needs a change of scenery; after all, he’s been with the same primary team throughout his professional racing career. Anderson has always said having fun was a significant part of his racing and success. Now that the Rockstar/Husqvarna squad has a taste of winning championships ever since Anderson gave the team its first Supercross title in 2018, and that his original team manager Bobby Hewitt is no longer there, maybe the environment he experienced at his “old” team just isn’t there anymore, the kind of environment he feels he needs to win another championship.
However, not all anticipated announcements have been made yet, like the one from Red Bull KTM heralding the arrival of former Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha Team rider Aaron Plessinger. All we know for sure is that he is no longer with Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha. He recently thanked the team via social media, saying, “So honored to have been a part of this amazing team for so long… I can’t thank these guys enough.” Definitely sounds like they are finished.
He did not reveal, however, what his future is, but he did say that we will know in a few more days “…we have something good in store.”
Well, I do hope it is something “good,” and I do hope we are surprised at least once this off-season. Plessinger and Triumph, perhaps? CN
