A true world of sport..?
By TMX Archives on 11th Nov 10
The International Six Days Enduro turned into a Five Day event - was it a victim of staging world' events at any price?
THE news that the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) had to be cut short from six days to five on ‘safety and security' grounds, due to what the FIM described as "an incident a long way from the event” certainly justifies the ACU's decision to withdraw all its team entries from the 2010 event and there were in fact no British entries in Mexico. Which is a shame as some of our top riders' whole year is geared towards the ISDE.
T+MX was in full agreement with the decision to withdraw and we questioned exactly why the FIM sanctioned the event in Mexico where there was known to be plenty of unrest long before the event was due to run. Other countries and individuals obviously had similar misgivings and in reality, only France sent a full-on squad to the event.
There is no satisfaction (apart from the safety grounds obviously) in having to withdraw a team from an event. The situation should never have been allowed to arise in the first place. The ISDE is an event with a fantastic history and in fairness there have been other ‘dodgy' instances in the past, like the one just before World War Two broke out and British riders had to beat a hasty retreat. Ancient history now and I don't think any current FIM member was involved in that particular event - but you never know!
I have no idea why the prestigious ISDE was awarded to Mexico in a climate of unrest but the FIM appear to be on a mission to take events to central and south America. Various championships are often pencilled in to take place in various countries only to be erased before the season actually starts. The reason given for including them is of course genuine, if an event is a World Championship then in theory at least it should have events all over the world.
In real life though, for most people, it is simply not possible. FIM officials simply book a flight, a hotel, collect all their chitties and bang in an expenses claim. Simple, and good on ‘em. For Joe Competitor or even Joe Teamboss it is understandably not quite the same. Of course, if the FIM paid-out for everyone we would all be heading at a cool 650mph to San Francisco, Melbourne, Beijing or wherever every other weekend. This is of course without dialling in the possibility of becoming involved in political unrest, gang wars or whatever in less salubrious would-be venues.
In the case of trials, our world of reality is almost exclusively European. The factories involved are small, precariously funded in some cases, and based in Spain and Italy. The competing riders are also almost exclusively European. The successful ones almost exclusively from Barcelona! So guess what happens when the FIM try booking rounds in places like Columbia for instance. Who exactly is going to shell-out for what is in effect pure fantasy? The annual trip to Japan - where Honda and Yamaha used to make trials bikes - stretches most budgets to breaking point.
Trials is a strange World Championship animal in any case which is kept going, at the moment, almost exclusively on the back of the Youth and Junior series which in the main is funded by the Bank of Mum and Dad. Without these worthy willing victims the World Champs as they currently stand would simply collapse. Don't think a series with less than 15 riders would actually stack.
At the moment I must admit there does seem to be a never-ending supply of families willing to commit everything to give their kids a shot at the big-time. I admire this immensely but in the majority of cases the funds only stretch to one or two seasons. This is the same whether they are British, Spanish or whatever. If you like I could supply you with a long list of names which disappear after a couple of years in Youths and Juniors - and that includes former class Champions. And, remember, this is with a mainly European-based series. There is no way on earth that it would happen if events were genuinely world-wide with rounds in America, Africa, Australia, etc, etc.
Motocross and even Enduro are different inasmuch as they encompass much bigger factories, teams, sponsors and events. Even so, funds are not unlimited and the FIM and Youthstream are determined to stretch the MX series away from its European comfort zone much further afield.
Once again, nothing wrong with the theory, World Championship means World Championship and of course once again we are chasing the dream bestowed on us all by Bernie Ecclestone and his F1 circus. MotoGP has managed it, likewise World Superbike. Is there enough sponsorship cash left sloshing around, or spectator interest in various countries, to allow off-road sport to make the quantum leap to a truly global series?
If there is, and if anyone can pull-off the trick, then I guess it is Youthstream. Motocross is a major spectator sport but enduro and especially trials much less so...why try and force them to be something that they aren't?