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Various tweets including PulpMX’s Steve Matthes saying Kerr was denied his license. https://twitter.com/pulpmx/status/1212920814091165696?s=21
Is it true? Any hope for him to still get in? Lame!
Is it true? Any hope for him to still get in? Lame!
EDIT: He just liked my comment that we need to setup a petition to get him in. Not saying that confirms anything, but it does suggest someone should get something going for #prA1 !
That said, if The King's influence can't get you in, I'm pretty damn sure a 2000 person online easy-to-fake petition will do fuck all.
BUMMER!
If Cooper Webb wanted to race a UCI downhill event, could he just sign up and try to qualify? I'd be interested to know.
changing topics (sort of), i'd love it if there were open qualifiers before world cup DH races. tuesday open practice for punters, weds open qualifiers, top 3 get a chance to qualify with the existing pros. why not?
Enduro is a different story, where a guy like Cooper with the right email could get into an event.
Its all silly IMO, its clear watching him ride the SX track he can dangle. He won't be the worst rider in practice. He won't be dangerous during practice. That, plus an industry of backing should get him in the day show IMO. Its not like there are 100 guys trying to qualify.
**Oh and on that end, there are ways to game the UCI point system too, one reason you still see 150+ trying to qualify at times.
https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/6726404/
The rules are probably slightly different now, but back in my day there were 6-7 spots available at any World Cup round, and those spots went to elite men, women, and juniors, with a preference for juniors and women. That meant if you didn't have points and you petitioned as an elite man to race at Snowshoe or Windham or MSA, you're probably not getting a spot, because those races are close and cheap and lots of women and juniors probably also petitioned. I raced 4 World Cups with no points because I petitioned to race far away in expensive places like Norway or Austria. One time I was awarded a spot at MSA, which was awesome. If you qualify wearing "The Jersey," you get UCI points, and eventually you can earn enough points to earn your spot.
In UCI downhill it's way easier to get into a World Cup as a European, in part because there are more European UCI races and thus more UCI points available, but mostly because there are more countries and thus more National Federation spots available. America is one country with 7 spots on it's federation team, but Europe has 44 countries and each of them gets 6-7 spots. That's why Leogang or Maribor are typically so crowded and competitive, and why you'll often see good racers on factory teams not qualify at Leogang or Maribor. In 2011 there were 257 elite men trying to qualify for 80 spots at Leogang.
Seems like Bernard is getting a similar experience from FIM, and it makes sense that the battle to get in would be easier for a Briton than an American. Motocross and supercross are both psycho competitive here in America, but there are probably open spots and(or) easier access for riders from other FIM countries. Those are the rules. Seems like the mid-pack riders are salty that the rules aren't fair. Guess what? They're not. If the haters got Bernard's plan 86'd, that's a bummer.
Also there will never be open qualifiers at a UCI event. That's a nice thought but the UCI and Redbull do not care about equal opportunity or the health of the sport, they care about elite competition and consistent/familiar faces for TV.
In all seriousness though, if this is something he really wants he'll surely sort his shit out and give it another go next year. And I honestly hope he gets his chance. He's a talented human being, it'd be lovely to see him share the love with other sports fans.
They use the AMA rules for Supercross and Motocross. FIM is attached to SX purely to make it a "WORLD" title and they brought WADA in.
He knew that he needed to hold an FIM world motocross championship license to get an AMA pro license as an overseas racer or as someone that doesnt qualify through the SX futures program. He didnt have one. Thats no salt, no foiled plans, no needing to know the right people, he just didnt have the right credentials or the right qualifications
The rules are fair. You can talk to anyone in the pits at a supercross, especially the guys in the back that all spent years traveling to get those pro licenses just like so many of the regulars at the world cups. Its a different system but a fairly strict system none the less.
Also, no FOKKING WAY WOULD I NOT FIND A RACE over the weekend. If I had the insider support he's been gifted, I'd get my butt to the closest local track and sign up ASAP. My entire body would explode if I didn't get into a start gate that weekend.
Am I the only one that thinks that? I mean..."Got this bad ass bike. Got all this training in. Got all my fitness in. I gotta find a start gate!!!"
Bernard...you gotta race somewhere and you need to race ASAP!!!
There is a dollar amount you can charge people to try and qualify for a WC that would *easily* pay for this. There are economies of scale working to your advantage here. Timing equipment already brought in, course already taped and setup, etc etc.
Literally all you'd be paying for is people's time, which at (say) $150/pop would be easy to justify if say, 50 people try to qualify (7,500). At an average of 300/day (paying Marshalls, timers etc) that is 25 people. You probably only need 15 with the remainder going to random venue expenses.
It pencils.
I really wanted him to have a shot to qualify because I was curious how his skills would translate. That said, the more I think about this the more the AMA made the right call.
Bernard shouldn't give up, he 100% should race a few outdoors and do whatever he needs to do to get a shot. He needs to get into the gate and see what racing in traffic is like.
...or maybe he could go the hard enduro route and try and qualify for erzberg or undertake romaniacs
EDIT: Actually, I raced the Telluride WC way back in the day as a junior as part of the MSC series. You couldn't qualify for the big show or anything but the fact is this "dual race" type of thing has been run before with great success.
Like...none? Geez. If that's true, this really was a farce from the very beginning.
There's no route for a pro supercross racer to show up at Mte. Saint Anne without a single race result in pro class someplace under their belt. Not sure there is a route for anyone to show up to anything that is of an elite level that doesn't have a race result somewhere back down the line.
Post a reply to: Kerr Denied License, won’t race A1 - Tweets; anyone confirm?