Some you win, some you lose
By TMX Archives on 9th Jul 09
Sometimes it is greener on the other side of the fence, for some. JD takes a look at the David Knight and Marvin Musquin affairs...
DON'T know which is the best story, David Knight's defection from BMW and subsequent switch to Kawasaki – or the Marvin Musquin saga where the week-long KTM – Honda? KTM – Honda? KTM – Honda? deliberations ended with him riding NEITHER in Sunday's MX Grand Prix. Lots of dark political manoeuvring there and no doubt there will be lots more to come.
The Knighter affair is much easier to tackle. The BMW should really have been a dream deal for David. Big prestigious factory keen to chuck money at a new project, best rider in the world, what's to go wrong? Plenty, obviously.
The plain fact, clear for all to see, is that for whatever reason the radical BMW and Knighter just didn't get on together. Solution – part company and move on. And move-on Knighter did by catching a plane to America, getting hold of a Kawasaki KX450F and promptly winning a tough GNCC round by some five-minutes.
The message instantly echoed around the world and on his return he was straight-away talking to Kawasaki Europe with the conclusion being he will be operating out of Paul Bird's Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team's brand new workshops in Penrith, Cumbria.
So that's Knighter sorted, the future's green, and wherever he turns up to ride he will once again be the main threat to whoever else is on the cards.
Musquin's problem is nowhere near as easy to sort out or even to understand. To me, no-one comes out of the story so far with much to commend them.
Anything that ends up in court also ends up costing some, or most likely, all parties a lot of money. Too late, the whole sorry saga has gone legal – and the first loser is Musquin himself as he never even got to ride either bike in last weekend's MXGP – and his hard-won World Championship lead was slashed.
No doubt there will be further twists and turns in this particular plot and T+MX will attempt to keep readers fully up-to-speed!
The root of the problem, as is almost always the case (although not in Knighter's – his being the exception that proves the rule!) is money, or lack of it.
And predictions are that Musquin won't be the only rider looking for brass come the end of the season. The hard fact is that these are hard times indeed.
Motocross is by no means the only sport affected, our tarmac-scraping cousins have got problems of their own with even the mighty MotoGP paddock scratching for cash. In times of need even they seem to be turning to riders who can bring hard dosh (rather than simple raw talent) to the table.
This of course is nothing new and there are always going to be individuals in a position to ‘buy' themselves rides. This is a fact of life, but is perhaps a little more noticeable in lean times – like now – which tends to accentuate the haves from the have-nots!
All of which is something that the majority of T+MX riders don't have a problem with as we are all used to paying for our own sport.
"Welcome to the real world!” is a phrase that springs to mind, maybe because we now hear it so often...
nYou can read in Trials Torque this week the news that the Scottish Six Days Trial committee is looking at moving the famous trial outside Fort William in future. For over 30-years the start has been in the West End car-park – except for when it took a turn in the east end of town, near the station, in the mid 1980s, which was not a popular option and the trial switched back to the lochside just as soon as it could.
Heading out of town is certainly a big move but it's one that you can certainly make a strong case for. Nothing is sacrosanct and things move on and one of the problems with the West End now is that with the arrival of the big factory trucks, there is precious little parking left for competitors and none whatsoever for spectators. You have to park in town and then walk to the parc ferme. Not a problem on a nice day but not much fun when its chucking it down, as it can do in the Highlands on occasion. Like almost every day this year!
If the out-of-town venue chosen offers better facilities than the West End, why not make the move? Sure, we'd miss the dramatic back-drop of Loch Linnhe and the mountains beyond but in reality they don't help you much when you're hanging-on to an awning that's threatening to be blown up and over Ben Nevis.
But if there was an option, with a covered area and the chance of plenty of parking for everyone surely it's worth a look..?
No doubt a lot of people will have an opinion on this, which is good as the committee wants to hear that view...