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A pulp mx network production. A cerebral and experienced look into the racing action from the week that was. This is Industry Seating with Jason Thomas. Presented by Guts Racing Works Connection Racerattos.com unmatched supplements, firepower parts, Grandstone boots and fly racing. Welcome to the Industry Seating podcast. My name is Jason Thomas. It is an off weekend for pro motocross. Doesn't mean there's not any racing going on as I record this. They are racing in Wamo, Belgium for mxgp which I'm typically there on a usual year. If you look back over the last few years I would have been there, I, this year I'm not and that was kind of my decision in the end. I, I could have gone for sure, but I really just wanted a break. I don't know if I needed a break. It's, you know, it's always kind of a subjective term, needed, but I just felt like I needed a weekend off and regroup a little bit because what happens is it's not just the weekend, right, to go to Wamo. I would have left on Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. So you get there in time to kind of make the rounds, go visit teams network a little bit. You're at the track on Friday meetings, just talking, catching up with people and this is like the networking GP of the year, which is a lot of the reason I was like torn on going or not. And then you go through the whole weekend, you know, Saturday, Sundays I'm on the Arrow Watt, you're at the track all day, both days. And then Monday you begin the journey home which is about, you know, a 18 hour journey from hotel to home. And then you get home Monday night and you're smoked. And then I would be back in the office throughout this coming week. So it's not just. So basically it's like a six day ordeal and you're jet lag and you're tired and there's this recovery period that would go on next week and I wouldn't feel like normal again until probably Wednesday or Thursday of this coming week. So really it's like a seven or eight or nine day thing before you're back to where you were before you left. And that, that was really the reason I didn't go. It's not that I didn't want to go to the race, not that I didn't want to go to Europe, it's not that I didn't want to see my friends over there and you know, join Paul Malin on the broadcast and all the, all those things. Are great. It was the, the, the cumulative toll that it takes on you when I already felt like I needed a week weekend off. So there we are. I am not there. I am actually on my way to Mexico instead. So that's a significant trade off. You could say, well, if you're that tired once you stay home, well, going to Mexico a little bit different, right? I'm not going to do much. I'm going to weigh in a pool. I'm going to do things I want to do, watch, read books, listen to books. Like whatever I feel like doing is what I'm going to do. Steve Mathis is actually there right now. I'm going to hopefully meet up with he and his wife for dinner. This is on, I'm recording this on Sunday, August 2nd, so that'll be fun. But the subject of this podcast, which I haven't even talked about yet, I've been giving you my wife update is we're going to talk about Silly Season a little bit. Kind of where we stand and some of these teams, there are going to be more questions and answers and that's okay. That's a part of Silly Season. That's why it's called Silly Season is because we don't have a clear picture and there's a lot of moving and shaking and jockeying for a position going on, which is the fun in talking about it. The what ifs and, and how can this all shake out? Because if it was all done, we would just have a 2027 team update, you know, like where, what's it going to look like? But we're not there. We, we are simply not there yet. Before we do that, I want to thank the sponsors of this podcast. They are fantastic companies. I'm going to be looking to expand the sponsor list a little bit for 27. We shall see how that goes. But Guts racing, go to gutsracing.com@gutsracing on Instagram for anything power sports, seat covers, graphics, anything on that front or application that you might need. Works Connection. Just so many great products over there. I always, you know, we talk about the Pro on start device a lot because I think it's the most prominent. It's the one that makes the biggest difference. It's the easily, most easily assembled one in the market and it's why factory Honda and Star Racing Yamaha use it because, because it's the best one. So check out works connection dot com. You get promo code jt23 over there to save yourself some money. Race-rentals.com trophy trucks side by sides. They have an academy. They can teach you how to drive both of those. They have a guys trips. You can do the Baja 500, the Baja 1000, the Mint 400. You can do lots of different things@race-rentals.com it is such a unique dynamic that they have going on and just great people too. They are based in Wickenburg, Arizona. So fly into Phoenix and they can handle the rest. Unmatched supplements. You might have seen my Instagram post this week. I've just been working out. I, you know, and. And Unmatched has what I consider to be the most, the cleanest and the most pure supplements in the game. That's why the owner, Chris started Unmatched. He was a part of another brand. He wanted something where he had more creative control and more cool quality. Control is probably a better word. And that's why he and Doug Miller created Unmatched supplements. So check out unmatched. Sups S.com promo code is JT10. Save yourself some money at checkout. Honestly, whatever your walk of life, there is something there that can help you. Sleep aids, protein stuff, hydration. They're expanding more and more. You're going to see new products coming out later this fall, but they have multivitamins like whatever you're looking for to enhance your life. Like I take everything, right? Like I'm creatine and all these things because I'm trying to be as fit as humanly possible and I'm traveling a lot and there's a lot of room for me to supplement because my lifestyle is pretty aggressive. Working out, traveling. I work a lot, right? So there's a. I'm asking a lot of my body to cover all these bases and also be super fit at the same time. So I need to supplement my diet with these things. But I think even for someone who's not even active or you're just, you don't even work out, you're just trying to be more healthy. There are lots of things here and unmatched that can help you. Grandson boots. Grandstoneshoes.com Go check them out. Sickest boots in the game. Like they're, they're shoes and boots and they have women's boots now. They have sneakers. Just unbelievable quality there, which is, you know, like you can go, you can go find boots like of this kind, a lot of different places. Like I just see it, I see ads for them on Instagram. Anytime I, anytime I go on the Grandstone website, I see, I get ads just because that's how the world works now search, you know, your cookies and whatever. And then I get hit with all these ads and I'm like, yeah, there's all, all kinds of stuff out there. But I'm telling you, the quality of Grandstone is simply unbelievable. Firepowerparts.com Firepower is a WPS company. I work very closely with the marketing side of Firepower. Work very closely with this. Probably massively understating it. Very involved with Firepower marketing. Let's say that fire racing and I, I've added prime food distributors in here. It's my buddy Nick Castellana and his family's company. If you've ever listened to Steve's show, we always talk about like our dear friend Nick with the meat stuff. This is that company. And I've just added on there because he takes care of me and I wanted to, I just wanted to add it because he didn't ask me to. I didn't get his permission to. I'm just doing it because I think that their product is insane and I'm just going to say I'm a part of it as more of a thank you than anything. Maybe he hits me up and says, hey, don't do that. I don't think he's going to. But if you, if you were ever in the market for high end steaks chicken, like they have the best, they don't even sell to like a, a Ruth's Chris, right? Like Ruth's Chris is pretty nice, man. You go there and steaks are like 80 bucks, 70 bucks. They won't even sell to them because they are not like the boutique high end steak place that they would sell to. So that gives you kind of an idea of the quality we're talking about. All, all I can tell you is if you ever tried one of their steaks once, you would understand what I'm talking about. It's hard for me to put it into words how good their stuff is without you trying it. And I'm not trying to sell you on it. Like they don't even really sell to retail so much. I'm just telling you it is on a level that I have never experienced before. Like their quality is that high and anytime I've ever had somebody try it, they're just like, oh my God, what is this? Where did you get it? It's like that. So if you have, if you ever have a chance, I think they smell sell to like Smith and Wolinsky. It's like the, one of the only chains but a lot of Manhattan Philadelphia one off high end restaurants, they're their supplier. So anyway, thank you to all the sponsors. Let's do this thing. We're going to start with the 450 class. You know what? Yeah, let's start with the 450 class because the 250 class is going to take longer and I'm just going to go team by team and kind of tell you how I see it. I'm first time, have a sip of coffee. Thank you for being patient with that. I know it probably doesn't sound great in your ear, but we're going to go team by team. And listen, this isn't a comprehensive. I didn't miss anything. I spent five hours going through details list. I spent 30 minutes thinking about this, writing it down. So if, if there are stuff, if there's stuff left out, if there are teams left out, like I didn't give an example. I didn't do like MX6 in the two video class. It's in my opinion it's a little early for teams like that. Listen, I live this life. I was on smaller teams. I know how this works. Deals get done late because usually the best riders are going to wait till all the factory spots are filled before they're going to go sign a contract with a satellite or second tier team. And I don't mean second tier like they're not trying, it's just level of equipment, level of funding, all those things. The top riders are never going to go sign a deal with them early because they don't want to rule themselves out of a factory possible deal. Like something came open and they get, get an offer and then they've already signed this deal with a team like a lesser team for a lesser money, lesser equipment. They're just not going to put themselves in that spot, if that makes sense. So some of the smaller teams I didn't add in and they will do. I'll do another show later with those smaller teams added in and I'm going to have to do my research because I don't know everything that's going on there. But I don't want you to think I'm just weaving them out like, just like I overlooked it. I'm not. It's on purpose because a lot of those deals aren't done yet. So anyway, Honda and these are in no particular order. I just whatever came to mind. Honda is easy. Jet and Hunter are done. You know, it's a really strange dynamic because jets contract has been. He's biking the second year of this Giga deal that he signed and I don't know this I kind of know, but it's, it's still speculation because it's not like I've asked and been told this or have like concrete proof of it, but it's what I believe. So I'm going to share it with you. I think that you haven't heard anything with Jet and Hunter's contracts because of the Lucas Myrtle ongoing saga. And the problem is, is that Lucas negotiated these deals on behalf of wmg. So there is some sort of legal issue with, for, for sure that like in my mind this is what I believe. It comes down to this. They don't want to announce it, they don't want to go public because then it becomes some sort of admissible in court and maybe that's the wrong phrasing but until this court case is settled, they don't want to come out with this thing because the last thing they want to do is have to pay Lucas Myrtle his commission on this contract via wmg. Right. So I believe that they're waiting for judgment and, and this case to be resolved where he is, you know, whatever he settles or you know, the Lawrences I think are hoping he's found guilty or however that. And then they don't have to pay or WMG doesn't have to pay or anyone doesn't have to pay Lucas Myrtle on these Honda contracts. That's what I believe. Now could I be wrong? Sure. Always. I don't believe I am. I think it's a small possible percentage that I am. But I'm always going to leave the door open to it because I, I'm not going to go ask Lars questions he can't answer. I don't feel like that's appropriate. I'm not Gotcha journalism. I'm not. This is, I'm not launching an investigation here. I feel very confident in the reason why we haven't heard about Hunter and Jets contracts. It just too logical. I've been around this too long, it makes too much sense. But they've been on these, you know, jets been on this big contract for over a year now and I don't know the number, you know, like what do I think it is? 3 to 4 million, something like that. A year? I don't know the number. I haven't been told a year. I'm just going off of, you know, being around the sport for a long time and kind of know what the deals are. It could be, it could be more, it could be four plus. Right. Like we've Seen deals like that in the past. Ricky's deal was 4.7. That was, you know, like that deal. And the L and M Yamaha deals with James and Chad were 5 million. That's. Those are the biggest deals in the history of the sport. I don't know if jets gotten to that number yet or not. It, you know, if he was at 4, it would be the most Honda's ever paid for a motocross guy. It's not inconceivable, you know, like you think about when Jet signed that contract. You know, I don't think he would get it right now because the, the optics have changed a little bit with, with his injury. But I do think it's somewhere in that number. Hunter, I think, got a deal done. I don't think he's in a contract year. He's definitely staying, if any, even if he is. But that all that stuff is so murky. We're not going to hear anything about it because of this Myrtle thing. But you got to think Hunter is now in that 2 million range, which is also on par with what Sexton was offered two years ago when he went to KTM. 2 million, ish. So I would guess Hunters around there, jets gonna be significantly more. But they're, they're done. They're locked in. They're not going anywhere. I don't see them going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Doesn't mean things can't change. I know Star was, Star was chasing Hunter a couple years ago. They were, they were hot and heavy. You know, in the end he stayed, which was obviously the right move, but, but he was, I don't know how aggressively he was shopping around. You could, you could argue that it was for leverage to get more money out of Honda. That happens a lot, right? Like if you're trying to get someone's number up, if you don't have a comparable offer to get leverage with, good luck, right? Like someone's only going to pay you. And this is just a life lesson. Not that I'm preaching to you, but you probably all know this. You're not, you're only worth what someone's willing to pay you, right? If someone, if you think you're worth X, like say you work your job and you think, hey, I'm, I'm worth 80 grand, I'm worth 150 grand. I don't know, I, you know, people get paid all sorts of different salaries and a lot of, you know, 10 or 15,000 people listening to this every week, payments are going to vary. Widely, maybe you think you're worth a hundred grand and you get paid 75. Okay. That's a pretty common thing. I have, I have experience with that type of thing with people I work with. Okay. They're making, you know, someone could be making 70 and they think they're worth 150. Okay. And I have to, I have to be the person that is navigating these waters, basically telling them like 150 is not going to happen. Like you're not going to get over double your salary. Like you're not. I understand you think you're worth that. That's not going to happen. And this isn't right now. This is in the past. So I don't want to say that this is like someone that works with, I work with right now. But this has happened over time. I've seen this situation and you know, I tell them I've had experience, I'm older than these people and I'm like, hey, if you think you're truly worth that, you need to find someone who's willing to pay you that. And are, are you going to be able to come back here and get that money? Probably not. But you could get a substantial raise. If you are valued here and someone's willing to pay you a lot more and they want to retain you, guess what, you're going to get paid more to stay here. So it's the same thing with Hunter. You know, he, I'm sure he wanted more money. He wasn't like the Hunter he is now. He was good. He wasn't really proven in the 450 class and I'm sure he wanted to get paid big. You know, he's watching his brother. He knows what his brother's deals are and he knows what like Sexton's deals are. But unless you have a really competitive offer or a lot more money, it's hard to get people off, you know, off the number that they're on. Like they think you're worth X. And then if you present them with the chance that you're going to leave, then things can change really quickly. So. Yeah, so Hunter, I don't see them, those guys leaving over the anytime soon. You know, maybe like the twilight of their career or something. They could, but I, they're so happy there. Like they, that is such a well oiled machine at Honda. You know, they're both making a ton of money now. I don't, I don't see that really going anywhere. So anyway, let's move on to Red Bull, KTM and Tomac is not signed yet. From what I know or what I've heard. I do think they're trying to get that done. I think it's going to be Supercross only. I feel very confident it would be Supercross only. He's said, he has said as much. I don't think he wants to race motocross next year. I would, I would say it would be Supercross and then playoffs would be, and then he'll do, you know, some WSX stuff, make a bunch of money doing that type of thing. I think that's the schedule he's kind of looking for and I do expect him to race, you know, if he stays healthy over the next three months, I, I think you'll see him racing Supercross. You know, if he gets hurt again, it gets really dicey. I don't know, I don't know if he has got another injury in him and come back. I, I, that's why I think he hasn't signed this contract yet is he's having, he's doing a little soul searching and that's speculation by me. Maybe it's the number, maybe he's, they're not there on the number yet or maybe he's doing a little soul searching about. I don't really want to get, keep getting hurt. That could be in there too. Prado's resigned to your deal, so he's definitely going to be there, you know, and then on. I don't know what they're going to do with Lucas Koonin. He wants to only race a450. If he had won this world championship in MXGP, which he's not going to now, he would have been ineligible to ride 250 Supercross. So now he is going to be eligible. And does that change the algebra on this? I don't know. I think it should, I don't think he should race a 450 in Supercross. I think he feels very strong. I know he feels very strongly that he doesn't want to race to 50 again. So that's going to be an interesting dynamic to watch play out in my mind. Him Racing a450 in Supercross is a, is a very troubling dynamic. It would go one of two, one of two ways, maybe both. He's gonna struggle on a results level. He's gonna get a lot of 10 to 20 and be battling guys that he doesn't believe he should be battling in Supercross. He's gonna get beaten soundly by guys like Savage and, you know, Christian Craig. And I very much believe that those guys will beat him badly and he's going to get frustrated and, or he's going to hurt himself and which is what I, you know, that's, that's what you're really worried about. The poor results in supercross is kind of so what? But poor results leads to frustration, to, Leads to riding over your head, leads to riding, trying too hard, taking risks you're not ready for, and then injury follows in short succession. That is the troubling aspect of this. So I think you put him in 250, you let him get his feet wet a little bit, you put him on a 450, a motocross, and then you, you know, off we go. You hope he doesn't hurt himself in supercross on a 250. But the simple fact is that 250s are. They handle much better. Things happen kind of in slow motion. You can get away with a lot more on a 250 than you can a 450. And if the results don't matter, all you're worried about is injury. And I'm telling you, I, I know firsthand more than most, a 450 in Supercross will bite you really fast when you have no experience. Really, really fast. And a 250, not that. Not you can't crash. Like, obviously you can crash. People crash on 250s all the time. But when things get a little Dicey on a 250, you can save it. The thing just handles so much better than a 450. A 450 has so much torque and there's so much more inertia that it'll just slap you down. Like, it, like, watch, watch 450s. When they get loose, you are on. You are on your way to the ground. It just happens all the time. So I think that he and Sasha should both ride two videos in supercross, even if it's only a few rounds. I would, I don't even, I'm not even saying put them in all the rounds. I'm just saying a few. Let them get their feet wet, let them learn, and then go get ready for pro motocross the rest of the spring. Like April, March and April on, they should be on motocross tracks getting ready to go chase championships. That, that is. I, I've said that here, I've said it other places. I'm a firm believer in it. So we'll see. We'll see. But that's Maybe Lucas is 450, maybe not just something to keep your eye on Kawasaki is, I would say, has the most uncertainty over there. March Banks is going to be back. I. I think he's proven enough. He's been great. You know, him qualifying, being really fast at Washougal was even more. I know he's injured, but, like, he's. He's doing the thing, man. Like, what more could you possibly ask for from that kid? He is doing everything you could ask for. He's not getting paid a lot, right? So maybe he gets a raise. His attitude is great. He tests endlessly for them. Like, he is the model employee, I think, for them, you know, like, not overpaid over delivering. And he's been kind of the shining bright spot for that team. So I have a lot of good things to say about Garrett Marchbanks and he's going to be there again. The second spot is where it all gets crazy. And could it. Could they do three? They could. They could do three. Is Sexton there or not? You know, has been one of the biggest topics of discussion in the entire sport and it should be because I don't believe he wants to be there. I feel very, very confident in saying he does not want to be there to the point of, like, I'm sure of him not wanting to be there. And I listen, if Cowie, you know, if Dan Fahey was listening to this, he might get very mad at that statement. That's not a. An opinionated statement by me. I don't care. I have no real strong feeling about the bike or the team or anything. I'm just telling you, I do not believe with strong amount of confidence that Chase Sexton wants to be a Cowie in 27 or beyond. Will he or won't he is a different topic. Because you're talking about legality, Is there a place to go? You know, like, I very much believe that if he left, he would be on a Yamaha. Is that Star? Is that a team like Partzilla on a Yamaha? I don't know. I think Star makes the most sense. But I've heard, I've been told that nothing will happen with Factory Yamaha involvement until he's out of his contract. They are not going to go tamper with him and engage in contract negotiations when he's under contract with Kawasaki. Out of respect, you know, I don't think there's any legal grounds for that, but just respectfully doing things the right way. I. I have been told and I've heard that they have no interest in engaging in that type of thing. If he was out and he and he basically was able to say, yeah, I'm getting out of my deal. Then I think it changes really fast, because I think for Yamaha, especially if they could have Monster picking up the tab for most of it, that's a really attractive enterprise, you know? And Sexton has not been easy to work with, but he can win races. And if you know anything about Bobby Reagan and that Yamaha team, they value winning above all else. They will do whatever it takes and put up with whatever shenanigans necessary to win full stop. And Sexton can win. He can say what you want about him. I actually really like Chase Sexton, but you can say what you want. You can say that, you know, he hasn't been happy anywhere. I've heard that from a lot of people. He hasn't been happy anywhere. And he complains about the bike too much. I've heard all those things, and I'm not even saying they're untrue. I don't. I don't know. Right. Like, it's all opinion, it's all subjective. But I can. I will tell you with a lot of emphasis that he can win in this class. And that is a precious thing, man, to win against the likes of Jet Hunter, Deags, Prado, Tomac. That is a precious thing. And you will find yourself on a factory team if you have that in your repertoire. And he does. He does. So what does Cowie do the keep Garrett? Do they take Malcolm Stewart on? I don't know. Maybe. And do they keep Sexton? I don't know. Maybe. R.J. was trying to go there at one point, but he couldn't wait for Sexton. He had this deal that we'll get to in his back pocket, and he was scared of the music stopping and him not having a seat. Right. Because that can happen. That's what Malcolm's looking at, too, is what if you wait and wait and wait and wait, and then Sexton's like, well, I can't get out of this deal. Like, legally, they're going to sue me and I'm going to have to pay millions to get out, and I can't. So we're just going to have to find a way to live with this. And then Callie's like, yeah, man, sorry. We have millions wrapped up in Sexton. We don't have room, so we're just going with our two. Sorry, you're. We don't have a deal for you. And then RJ or Malcolm or whatever is like, holy crap, now I have nothing. And if I do get something, it's going to be for like $0. That is, that's the risk. That is what they're worried about. That's why they would go not. Not all. Like, I don't want to sound like these other deals they signed or second tier or second option. They're not, but it makes them basically cross C off the list early as far as options. They're like, well, these guys really want me and they're offering me a deal right now versus, like, it's. It's like two in the hand verse, one in the bush, right? Like, if you have it, you just go with it because it's a sure thing. And maybe there's a great option that's a possibility, but it's. It's. If it's not a certainty, you can't, you can't take a risk like that. You're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars of risk, if not more like maybe half a million of risk if not. You know, it could be more than that even. You can't take chances like that. You simply cannot. Even though it might be a great opportunity, that is a really, really risky thing to do. And that's why I. I feel very confident in that. And I keep saying that I probably should change my phrasing, but I don't like to say I know because I'm not. I'm not first person in these things. I just trust what I hear. I've talked. I talk to these people first person, right. So I very much believe it. But I haven't been in the meetings or in the. So I don't want to act like I know without any sort of shadow of doubt, but I believe that that's why RJ signed Ducati deal, which we'll get to, because he was engaging Cowie at one point. He was talking to Cali, but he couldn't wait. Couldn't wait for it. So kind of COVID Cowie, March, Banks, maybe Malcolm, maybe Sexton. I don't know what they do if it's not that. I think it would just be Garrett and Malcolm, you know, if Sexton bails, it would just be Garrett, Malcolm, which is. That's a. That's a good team. Yamaha is, you know, we touched on briefly like, like, not necessarily on purpose, but DE is locked in. J Coop is locked in. I. I don't know how long Jcope will be there because Davies is moving up in 28. That's definitely happening. So Davies will be on a 450 at Star in 28. And do they put Sexton on the bike in 27. I. Who knows, right? Like, I know that Monster is going to have to help. I don't know how much money they have to spend. I. I've heard that Monster is very much on Sexton's team here as far as we will help this get facilitated wherever we need to send you. So that's great if that's true. That's great for Sexton. Gives him some security, gives him some. Some ammo. It's probably a bad word to use, but some backing to help a team fill in the gaps, to get him where he needs to be on. On a happiness level. And really, I've heard. I've heard people say this. It's like, why. Why do they care? Why would Monster help him? Or why do they, you know, like, they have Deegan. What? Well, like, look what Red Bull has. They got Prado and Jet and Hunter and Roxanne. Like, they have some serious horsepower over there. So Monster's trying to push back with a guy that can win. And. Oh, yeah, Tomac. Red Bull has Tomac. Right. So Monster kind of needs him. That's why I think they're going above and beyond, is because, like, man, we're up against it here on a Red Bull front. We need some pushback here. And Sexton is a guy. I'll go back to this. Sexton is a guy that can win. So they're going to keep Sexton, I think, at all costs and help him find a home where he can be his best self and win. So that helps Sexton out. But could it be Deegs, Jacob Sexton in 27? Yeah, it could be. I very much believe it could be. Sexton's just got to get some. He's got to get some ducks in a row on can he get out or not? And I don't know. I don't know what that looks like. I don't know how you go to Cowie and say, let me out. You know, I don't know. I. I can't imagine management is like, yeah, man, we let Prado out. Cool. That sucked. Yeah, we'll let Sexing out, too. I cannot imagine a world where that is an easy conversation. Think about if any of you work in a corporate environment or you. I'm sure you can empathize with this or sympathize or put yourself in these shoes. You don't have to work in a corporate environment. Just imagine if you're a manager of a team or company. You sign a world champion in 24, he leaves in 25, under really bad circumstances. Exits early, breaks contract. Well, I don't say breaks it. Exits contract early. That's a bad look because the team and the bike weren't working. Then Fast forward to 26, you sign another world champion, let's say supercross and motocross champion, one of the greatest riders in the sport. Multi year, multi million dollar deal. That's probably $8 million wrapped up in that deal. And now he wants to leave too. I'm sure you can imagine how bad that looks for everybody involved. Like somebody somewhere, somehow at Kawasaki Heavy Industries, which is the parent of the team, is got to be going, what is happening over there? And that looks bad for management. I believe it. I very much believe it does. How could you from the outside, if you're in Japan or you're higher up corporate at Cali and this like not your day to day is worrying about the team. How could you not look at that and go, guys, what is going on over there? Like what is, how, how, how is this happening two years in a row? This is not how we do things. Like Kawasaki is a treasured legacy, successful brand. Look at the winning that's gone on over there. This is a bad look if it happens again. So I don't know what the end game is there, but I, I promise you that's a really hard conversation to have. Suzuki Kenny stays for. Well, if Kenny races, he stays. We don't even know if he's racing, but for sure he would be there. Malcolm is on their short list of guys they would bring in. Does Nickel stay? Does Jason Anderson come back? So a lot of questions over at Suzuki. I don't know the answers for sure. First and foremost, they got to get Kenny signed. They got to get rocks and signed up again. That would be a huge, monumental loss if they couldn't keep Kenny under contract. So that would be, I think, the number one thing you got to get done. I feel like I'm missing something at Suzuki. Maybe I'm not. Anyway, Ducati RJ is going to be there. Do they keep Barcia? Do they keep Ferrandis? I don't know. I think one of them stays and it sounds like if Ferrandis doesn't get a deal there, he's retiring. So I don't know where they go with that. It sounded, it sounded like Barcia was kind of out from just listening, you know, I don't know that to be true. Just kind of listening, reading the tea leaves. So what does Ducati do for their second or third guy? Do they do three? Do they do two? Maybe there's something I have not heard about or I'm forgetting on the Ducati front, but I do believe RJ is going there for sure. And then what is, what do the other spots end up looking like? And if I, if I'm incomplete or missing some of these on the, on some of these teams, I apologize. Some of this stuff is still. It's really murky right now. It's not like they're. People are coming out and telling you at these things. You gotta like kind of really read between the lines on a lot of these things. Triumph 450. Jordan's there for sure. AP Aaron Plessinger, there is an, you know, newcomer that be cool for them. And then I gotta imagine they keep Harup. You know, he's easy to deal with. Done pretty well motocross. He's been really instrumental in developing the 450. I would think they keep him. I don't think that's an expensive enterprise. So we'll see. But I could see them going three 450s there. Maybe Harup is motocross only. Again, time will tell, but for sure. Jordan for sure. AP on the 450 Tedder and I'm kind of speeding through these because I, we need to get to 250. Tedder is going to be Cooper Webb and Justin Hill. They'll be doing Supercross only and then World Supercross on that team. On Huskies. Tedder will become a Husky team. So look for that. Actually Cooper Webb will be on a Husky later this year. He's going to do the first round on the Yamaha and then switch to the Husky when motocross is over and when he's not under contract anymore. So. Yeah, interesting. Good for Tedder. I think it's good for Husky and you know, like just for Cooper Webb. Did I say Justin Cooper? I, I apologize if I did, but for Cooper Webb. I don't know how I feel about this move. Time will tell. I think it gives him the flexibility he wants. He wants to live in North Carolina. He wants to race World Supercross. He doesn't want to race motocross. So that's the driver here. I just have no idea what this looks like on a results front. I don't know. I don't know. I'm. I'm trying to stay open minded but I'm also kind of like, eh, I don't know what this is going to be. So time will tell. We'll see. I'm gonna, I'm gonna remain open Minded and optimistic for for coupe. Quad Lock is the last 450 team. And do they keep Craig, do they keep Sachi? Don't know. I think they have a lot to sort through. They've been signing some 250 guys but I don't know like these, this 450 quad walk team is one of those teams where I don't want to lock myself into things because this is where it gets really murky and it's, I feel like August is too early to know exactly what they're going to be. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they do. But I know Savage is not signed. I don't think Christian Craig signed. Maybe he is, I don't know. But this is a kind of team where there's going to be some moving pieces that maybe they're going to be really opportunistic. Right. They're going to go off for guys stuff but a guy like Savage isn't going to want to sign a deal because he's going to wait. Maybe a cowie spot opens maybe. Maybe he's looking at Suzuki again going back to, you know, hep. Right. Like you don't know what's going to pop up and some of these big budget teams may have a huge deal for you and you don't want to lock yourself into something and then not be able to take advantage of something. That's, that's where it gets a little murky. So we'll, we'll, we'll watch out for something with Quad Lock but I have not heard that they're locked in 250 team or 250 class. Let's jump into this right away before we do Guts racing works connection race-rentals.com. you know, I'm just going to do sponsors, Unmatched supplements, Grandstone Boots, Firepower Parts, Prime Food distributors, Fly Racing. Thank you to all of them. The last time I mentioned them, I know you're not here to listen to sponsors but we got to get them in. They, they make this podcast possible. They pay for my equipment and production costs and all those things. Okay. 250 teams. Honda is going to be Chance and Joe, I, I really thought there was a chance, a chance that Chance wasn't going to be there. I very much believe they were considering Seth Hammaker at one time. Very strongly believe that. And then Mitch got aggressive with Seth and went and signed him and probably paid him the top end of the market, which he deserves. Won a lot of races. He was winning pro motocross before he got hurt. They Locked him down. That's probably a 350 to $400,000 deal for Seth that I, I feel very confident in that number. There's no way it's less than 300. I would bet it's not over 4. So 3 to 400 feels about right. That's kind of the 250 market. The upside of going to Honda or KTM though is you get to do your own gear deal. That's why the Honda and that's why those deals are coveted is because you get to make a lot more. Now is Honda going to pay 400k? No, they're going to pay probably 300 and then you're going to get another two to three to four for gear. So you see where the math, that's why those guys like those deals like Joe. I don't know what chance his Honda deal is but Joe's one of the highest paid, if not the highest paid, probably the highest paid 250 guy. Now the digs is gone because of the way that deal is structured. So it's a really coveted deal. It's a really great place to be on a financial level and also it's fact it's factory Honda. So of course it's a great place to be. But it is a significant difference going to Honda versus going to Cali because of you get to do your own goggle deal and boots deal and gear deal and helmet deal and personal sponsors and blah blah blah blah blah where Cowie, you know Seth is going to make 350 or more but that's it. Right now you're working off bonuses so yeah, just wanted to walk through kind of the difference there and it's a, it's a really big change and it was one driven by Myrtle, this was a Myrtle driven change. And I know Myrtle is a lot of drama and bad things in court cases and all but I'm, I don't care about any of that. I have no, in no part of any of that nor do I have a place or anything to talk about there. But he did drive a lot of these changes. He did open the door for some of these deals. He did Jaime's deal at Honda, he did Joe's deal at Honda, he did some of the KTM stuff like he has been actively involved in a lot of that stuff. So you can draw parallels back to, back to Myrtle. So credit where it's due. Not saying he, a lot of the things he did were right. I'm not. But facts are facts. So anyway Red Bull KTM similar. They can do their own gear deal. Sasha will be on a 250 for sure. Bomer is back there. He signed a multi year deal, so he will be back there. Well deserved. Great job of him coming back. Is Lucas on a 250? We don't know. And then Ryder D and Dax Bennett will be there also because they will be folded in from the Husky effort and be put back onto ktm. So for Ryder D, what an arc, right? He went from Gas Gas to Husky. Now KTM all Austria group, all money coming from the same place. But interesting developments, right? Like it proves that they want to keep Ryder. And looks he's crushing it now, so they should. But he's got to be like, man, what's going on here? Like every team I go to is folding and you know, like it hasn't punished him. Probably getting a raise if anything. But yeah, it has to be an interesting perspective he's had. But for like Bennett, man, you got to get it together here. Like you, you're not going to keep getting deals if you don't. And he's, he's had good rides here and there. Don't get me wrong, Supercross is pretty good, but there's a lot of kids that are kind of nipping at his heels for these types, types of deals and we're going to get to them shortly. A lot of young kids. Cowie is going to be Seth Levi and then what do they do? Do they keep Drew Adams? Do they keep Romano? Do they bring in a guy like Lux Turner? Do they bring in a guy like Casey Cochran? Do they bring in Enzo Temmerman who's done guest spots? Those are all really valid questions. They bring in Thrasher, right? Do they bring in Joke Swole? There's a lot of possibility here and I don't know none of that's done yet. So let's see what happens with these deals. But there's a lot of opportunity and a lot of possibilities at Cali. And Sky's the limit. They want to do five guys, right? So they have room there. And a lot of these guys are racing every single weekend for a spot. If you want to be on that team, every weekend is an audition. Every single week is an audition. And Mitch Payton loves to reward riders that stand up in the moment. That's why Romano got that spot, because he was willing to do whatever it took to get there. So we'll, we'll see. That's a, that's an evolving situation. That was very, very fluid. Yamaha, we Know how many riders they have, right? Davies is for sure there. He will stay there in 27, move to the 450 and 28. He's a long term play for them. Most men resigned, which is interesting. I did not see that coming. But I guess if you can win, which he almost won Spring Creek, he almost won Supercross races. I guess I get it. He's probably not super expensive. Pierce Brown I think is staying. I kind of get it. He can win, right? I don't think he's super expensive and he really like hasn't gotten to show his potential yet. I think they have to keep Manier. I think they're for sure keeping Carson Wood. He may be under contract. He's so young. Do they keep Dudney? Do they keep landing Gordon? I think so. Like they've shown a lot. You know, it's inconsistent, but I think they're going to keep all of them and I don't have a reason to think they won't. So I think they're going to keep all the young kids and they're probably getting, you know, 80 grand or something to be there. Not crazy expensive, but they're on the best team and on the best bikes in my opinion. Well, I don't know the best team, but I think they have the best bikes and they set themselves up for success. Manier has really overperformed. Like Manier is the, is the standout here. I could see him getting a nice raise. He's going to win races, I think in this class. He's really looking good. So good job. Caden Maneer, Triumph. This is an interesting one because the only kid they have signed and I'm, I'm not using kid as derogatory, it's just he is a kid is Deacon Denno and he's done well enough. He definitely should stay there. Good job for Deacon Deno. Do they bring in, like there's a lot of possibilities here. Do they go get Cochran? Do they go get Lux Turner? Do they go get Thrasher? And a lot of similar names, right? Like we know Swole was out, we know Forkner retired. Jordan Smith moved up. So what do they do for these other spots? Time will tell, but there's a lot of opportunity at Triumph for some of these kids to show up. And I keep saying these races are auditions because these spots are open. It's. There's a lot of different ways this can all play out and I'm not going to try to guess how they will. Same thing for Quad Walk, same thing for Phoenix Right. Quad walk signed McAdoo. He's for sure going there. But could Swole go there? Could Romano go there? Could Thrasher go there? Could Lux Turner go there? I don't know. I don't think Lux Turner would go there. I think he would either go factory or stay at Bar X Phoenix. Same thing. You know, I don't know what they do with Evan Ferry. I don't know what they do with Gavin Towers, but I know Thrasher once has been talking to them. I know Swole has been talking to them. So is that a landing spot for them? Don't know. Right. Like, these are all, like. It's musical chairs. Who goes where? You know, there's probably a lot of, like, what kind of bikes, what kind of money? You know, especially the top. The top guys, like the Thrashers that can win. He's probably got more options. Swole has been hurt so much. I don't know what that looks like. But Thrasher's been around for a minute, too, so there's a lot of things to consider. You know, Club MX is a little bit more stable, I think. You know, they signed Anstee. That was a big deal. But I think Yoder, Volen, Simonson and Shock all stay. They have. Seems like they have a pretty good list of riders there. I could see them staying and being comfortable with that. That makes a lot of sense. I don't think you're going to see any sort of crazy move, because they. I think they're. They're good with what they have, and they should be. That's a good lineup. Are they going to win races? I don't know. Could Anstee win? Yeah. Could Volwin win? Maybe. You know, I think Anstey's the guy that they're looking at to win a Supercross next year. Bar X will move to Husky. That's a big deal. They'll have, you know, race services, engines, and some factory parts. That's a huge upgrade. Well, it's a huge upgrade. I don't know how good their bikes are now. I think they're pretty good, but they're not factory level. They don't have factory Yamaha stuff. So this will be an upgrade. They'll move into the Husky shop, which is cool. It's at the KTM headquarters there. I got to do interviews last fall there. First time I ever went. The place is unbelievable, and they have a lot of spare room. They overbuilt this place immensely to have opportunities for this, to bring a team in in house. And they have a Race shop for them ready to go. That's empty. So that's a, that's a really cool thing for Bar X to be right in with ktm. You imagine the synergy and how good their bikes can be and how much the team can improve based off of that alone. So cool for Bar X. I could see them keeping the same thing. I think Parker Ross, Parker Ross is so easy to work with and I, I think he might have already been signed anyway. I think he may have a two year deal. So I think he would stay if not for sure. Turner is to me is the question because I know a lot of factory teams have been knocking on his door. You know, Mitch Triumph. I think a lot of these people are interested in Lux Turner because he has a lot of potential. Like he has the stuff to take it to the next level. I very much believe that. He's shown it led a lot of heat races. That race at the opening round of motocross was really good. So I could see him staying or I could see him taking a spot like PC or try them. Like I, I 100% could see that. But him getting factory equipment at Bar X maybe is enough leverage for them to, hey, why would you go? We, we can, we'll get you more money. Somehow I don't think they have a lot of budget, but you're going to get factory bikes now here and you know what this effort's like, so who knows, right? Like maybe if Mitch comes calling, I think you got to go, you know. But if it's a triumph, do you deal? I think it's 60, 40 one way or another, right? Like, I think he would not be sure what to do. But if, if Mitch, if Mitch gives you an offer, you got to take it. I think I very, I believe that wholeheartedly. You just have to take it and trust how good that team is and how committed to winning they are. I think that would be the best place for him. So we'll see. Let's, let's see what happens. But I think they would be wise to keep Dylan Schwartz. He's just rock solid. He's the best, one of the best outdoor guys they could get. He's a really hard worker and I think he's kind of no nonsense, no stress. And I know that Myron, one of the team owners there loves Dylan. So that makes a lot of sense. I could see Short staying, so I could see them having a very similar to look to 26. The last team I have on this list is AEO and you know they're getting help. I think maybe also on the husky thing thing too. So that would be huge. Mumford is signed. That's cool. So Mumford is turning in best results of his career. That's a really good easy story to get behind. And yeah, this, I mean AEO is just, it's a couple of stores, one in Phoenix, one in California but they do big business, don't get me wrong. But it's a, it's the prototypical dealership based team, right. And they've now gotten factory support and they're doing big things. So I have a lot of time for aeo. I believe in their effort. I, I like cheering for efforts like this because Jeremy, team owner put his money where his mouth is, right. And he's just grown it and turned it into something real that they're getting podiums and motos and I know it's come at great cost to him. I don't know but I would surmise that's how these things work and he, he believes in this wholeheartedly and he's putting his money where his mouth is, as I said. So it's cool to see a AO have success. When I was in the sales side of fly racing I, this was an account I worked with a lot and so I, I know firsthand kind of what this team is built around and yes, they're the real deal, man. They're the real deal now and they're getting real results. So that's it for this week. As these things evolve, we will do more shows. I would probably do another one like October when we have a clear picture. Maybe after, after the playoff round or maybe after motocross. I will do one in October sometime. So in. Anyway, thank you all for listening. Please check out the sponsors. They are very important to the show and couldn't do it without them. And we will talk to you soon. See you.