Baitfree.news has written before about the difficulty and pressure that is to be a top-level motorcycle racer. It would be naive to imagine that only racers are under such pressures to perform. Of course, all top-level athletes have to perform in order to reach the highest level of their respective sports, and to remain there. And I also know that some do not even make money doing this (think Olympic curling).
However, few can argue the relative risks in each sport are proportionately distributed. Even one of the most dangerous and most popular games out there, American football, with its aim at maiming others, does not have the same risk potential motorcycle racing. A sport where the only thing protecting the rider from a 200 mph crash is a thin layer of animal hide, a helmet and some plastic bits around the back, elbows and knees. While at the top level, the top earners of each can earn millions of dollars annually, there is little for the rest in the sport of motorcycle racing. If the gap in risk is disproportionate, the gap in overall earnings is even more so. Motorcycle racing is the best example of the 1% of the top 1%. Meaning, about 1% of motorcycle racers ever make it as a profession. And even when that is your profession, and you have made it as a professional motorcycle racer, only the top 1% of professional motorcycle racers can command a top salary.
In most organized sports, at least those that tend to result in participants actually being able to make a living from them, there is a ladder to be climbed. Everyone starts as an amateur, learns and builds, moves on to more competitive programs or events, and so on. Specially in the US, if you choose one of the main sports, like, football, basketball, baseball or even tennis, there is a path which usually takes you through college and if you do not make it as a professional, as most do not, you have something to fall back on (though I am well aware of the pressures put on college athletes to focus on sports rather than school).
Motorcycle racing is not like this. There isn’t any college, fewer make it as a professional, and those that do, tend to not have lengthy careers and/or earn enough money to make it worth it. Everyone knows this, but there has seldom been any proof. The reason is that people who do not make it, are quickly disposed and recycled with new talent. And even, if said people choose to speak out, nobody believes them. People entering the sport rationalize it by criticizing them, rather than paying attention to what they are saying and looking at the reality. And if you are wondering “what about the ex-racers that write books after their careers?“. Well, the answer is simply, if an ex-racer was successful enough to write a book, you can bet any money that he (motorcycle racing is dominated by men), has an “ambassador-type” relationship with a company or manufacturer in the sport and he will not bad-mouth them, or the sport.
That is until recently, when universally-respected ex-MotoGP racer, Anthony West, released a statement about his experiences in the sport. West began racing in the World Championship in 1998 as a wild-card rider, and full-time in 1999. Before Casey Stoner came along, a fellow Australian, West was the pride of the Ozzies. West raced as a privateer, factory-supported teams, and even full-factory teams. To a long-time follower of the sport, when a seasoned racer like West speaks, you listen.
I quit. I’m done. These corrupt people are out of control and out to destroy me. I raced in Brazil a championship That was a NOT FIM affiliated. Now they invent there own rules like they have control over me racing there. They already stopped me from racing there by going to Kawasaki japan and making them stop my sponsorship in Brazil. I hate life as it is and I was trying to do my best to come back broke. Kicked out of home from my dad. I have no money. And can’t get a decent job as all I have done in my life was waste my time racing motorcycles. What a loser I am! Here is some advice to everyone dont think you will ever make it racing by working hard. If you want win. Pay for it $. They let Marc Marquez win a Moto2 championship buy cheating with his ecu. When Tom luthi’s team went to complain they said keep quite Spain needs a new champion. You have to accept 2nd place or less. Or you won’t be racing here again next year.
Anthony West – https://www.facebook.com/antwest13/posts/2761494947230414
They let Rossi win all his 500cc championship by giving him special tires made for the tracks they were on. They used the helicopters tires in from the factory only for Rossi. So he could win races. Everything you see is fake and controlled. Don’t believe anything you see. They control who wins races and who doesn’t. I’m so fucking angry 😡 I have a 100 other story’s like this. I give up. I planned on coming back racing in September but I can’t take this shit from FIM anymore. It’s destroyed my life to the point I wish I was dead. I hate life. Fuck you again FIM. @fimlive #fim#fuckfim @fim_oceania
Of course, the knee-jerk reaction for some, may be that he’s just upset or a sore loser. Fair enough. But if you take a moment, you can see there may be some truth here. He calls out the two best riders in the modern history of the sport, Rossi on his way out and Marquez at his current peak, and reveals that while yes, they are good and talented, they also had a lot of support from the system to get them there.
So what is it all for? In Spain and Italy (Spain in particular), they literally have assembly lines of ‘tweens waiting to take the next spot in a junior team. A junior team, running the Spanish junior championships (not the MotoGP junior championship) on a pre-Moto3 bike, can command 30,000€ to 40,000€ payment to join. Joining the MotoGP championship, which is primarily based out of Spain with a visit or two to France or Portugal, will cost the rider 120,000€. What do you get in return for your investment? The bike? No. Preferential treatment? No. Faster bikes? No (those are extra). Hell, you even need to pay for repairs. Those prices only include transportation, maintenance, technical support and incidentals, not crashes, those are pay-as-you-go.
What you get is what West shared with everyone, a waste of a fortune. The money spent on a single racing season, if invested in the stock market and left there for a decade, would probably allow most people in the world to retire. And to those thinking; but you could make it to the top! In the MotoGP world championship there are ~24 full-time riders. Half of them have an actual salary. Their starting salary is around 50,000€ per year to perhaps 500,000€. Of that half, the more famous make millions of euros per year, Marquez, Rossi, Dovi, and Vinales. The other half, they either ride for free, supporting themselves through personal sponsors, or they pay for the ride. Like Anthony West said: “Here is some advice to everyone dont think you will ever make it racing by working hard.”
