Shayne King....whinge......yawn

[ali-s]

Well the uk would be happy to win anything, so safe to leave them out

he he he - mind you they did kick our butt at the mxon - but then i spose everbody did really, and they wern't too shabby at the isde either, and on a tangent how did the dutch get fourth !!!! nutters, i know they've got a lot of sand but it's flatter than a witches tit - fair play, must be all the heineken.

[DrewBroadley]

I would be a top rider if I had a bike.... :P

In all seriousness, I'm trying to give the sport good exposure in this country (check out the latest Racer-X march edition, managed to get photos in there of us kiwis!)

I tried to up the mini and junior motocross (Dirtstar) and am covering them as a priority to the big boys (they are swamped with photographers).

I have limited resources, but if anyone knows of a way to use my photos to help promote the sport (without ripping me off), then I'm all for it!

[scott411]

I would be a top rider if I had a bike.... :P

In all seriousness, I'm trying to give the sport good exposure in this country (check out the latest Racer-X march edition, managed to get photos in there of us kiwis!)

I tried to up the mini and junior motocross (Dirtstar) and am covering them as a priority to the big boys (they are swamped with photographers).

I have limited resources, but if anyone knows of a way to use my photos to help promote the sport (without ripping me off), then I'm all for it!

and we are gratfull for your efforts,
thanks

[DrewBroadley]

I'm definitely not asking for thanks, but i'm just stating my personal goals for the sport and if anyone else has any ideas.

I hope magazines like ADB and Stroke really push the NZ side a bit more, it feels like they are an aussie magazine with a page or two about nz so they can claim they are australasian.

All I can say, is there is an audience out there (Taupo, 2006.. wow) willing to come spectate. Now it's just figuring out ways to do it, or hiring half naked starter girls that's going to do it.

[Katoomer]

You photo guys are an important part of the sport if we are going to get to the next level. I personally think that MX is the strrongest its ever been and am a little surprised at SKs comments. Take this years Summercross ,the open class was full of good riders and the 125/250 class 60 + needed to run Qualifying to get 40 at the gate. Tokoroa SX had the biggest field of top riders I have seen there last night.
Next week at Woodville we will see Coppins go up against Hurley ,Broxy ,Cooper maybe + plenty of other fast guys so whats the prob with that.

[ali-s]

Interesting to read Mr. Coppins column in the latest issue of ADB with the headline "MX in OZ & NZ booming" with a glowing summer report of his recent stint back here racing and checking out the scene - rock on sicko's.

[Coyote]

My brother just bought King's old MX gear off trademe. Looks awesome! The bright orange suit should look interesting on a Kawasaki. He's ripped off the Honda stickers of course...

[slowpoke]

hes right, the top end of nz mx is very sick at the moment, yet the junior scene is very strong,
150 riders and less than 1000 paying spectators at the motocross nationals, he has a fucken point,

good old kiwi knocking machine, screw anyone for having a opinion right,

Yep, compare say Spain with it's huge base of 125cc road race juniors feeding into world championship 125, 250 and MotoGP classes. There is a never ending stream of the lil' buggers, all raising the bar for each other, and many competing for world championships.

We seem to have a similar fantastic base of juniors and up and comers at the grass roots level but it's not translating into riders progressing on to the world stage.

As for Shayne not doing anything about it, I don't think you'll find him all talk and no action. But at the end of the day the skill set he has built up over the years is all to do with being freaky fast on a motorcycle.....being an effective promoter or organiser requires a completely different set of abilities.

[ali-s]

Yep, compare say Spain with it's huge base of 125cc road race juniors

and it's population of 40 million compared to our 4 million - i've said it before on this thread - i ain't knockin' anyone - for a population less than that of north madrid i think we're doing bloody good - long may it continue - i'm not whinging (Josh ain't either, none of the riders i chat too are either)
just riding

[slowpoke]

and it's population of 40 million compared to our 4 million - i've said it before on this thread - i ain't knockin' anyone - for a population less than that of north madrid i think we're doing bloody good - long may it continue - i'm not whinging (Josh ain't either, none of the riders i chat too are either)
just riding

But divide the number of Spanish up and comers by 10 and there are still hundreds of the lil' fuckers, haha. Somehow they have created a system that churns out world class riders with monotonous regularity.
We can't compete with their facilities on the road race scene, but MX wise there is no reason we shouldn't have a similar, albeit smaller, steady stream of riders flowing onto the world stage.

[telliman]

we;re still to far away from that world class competition!!
the opportunitys are few and far between for the top talent we produce.
not enough funding for minority sports in this country.
in saying that though, hamish dobbyn is the next big thing to come from here.
will coppins ever go to the states???

[Danger]

Read recently that after he won the World Championship last year that he would see out his two year contract at Yamaha this year then ride a year in the States. Unfortunatley he did not win his Championship last year so its all up in the air how much longer he has to keep trying. So who knows? I would be surprised to see him do more than a year if at all in the USA.

[ali-s]

We can't compete with their facilities on the road race scene, but MX wise there is no reason we shouldn't have a similar, albeit smaller, steady stream of riders flowing onto the world stage.

Good point, although mx wise we have already got more talent on the world stage than say spain if you take copps etc and then compare populations. Having said that I think we should be looking at the Belgian system - like the Spanish/Italian road race scene the Belgy's can't stop producing world class mx talent (don't forget Steve Ramon is actually the current world champ) so there's hope for us yet and as Telliman says more funding wouldn't go amiss. Also would love to see Josh take on Bubba at an AMA outdoor sometime in the near future although i fear it could well be a
for our lad....