Rapid ReaXtion: The Loyalty Card
Tuesday, August 28, 2012 | 5:15 PM
For over 28 years, Rocky Mountain ATV/MC has been the trusted source for off-road and racing enthusiasts who demand high quality riding gear, low prices and unmatched customer service. Get fast, free shipping on orders over $99 and free apparel exchanges.
Tweet
Advertisement | Advertise with Us
Share
Comment
Email
Print"You're usually only as good as your last race in this sport," says Grant Langston.
Indeed, you rarely see much loyalty from riders to teams or teams to riders in motocross. But recent news this off-season skews differently. Last week, we learned of three riders who have had rough seasons, only to still be re-signed by their current teams for another run in 2013. Michael Byrne missed all of Monster Energy Supercross with a broken neck, then broke his leg while leading at Unadilla. But right before that, Byrner was re-signed by Team BTOSports.com, and the team will have a spot waiting for him when he gets back. Today, he's going in for surgery, but at least he doesn't have to worry about employment next year.
Les Smith hasn't had a great season, either, and he, too, broke his leg at Unadilla. But then his Langston-Witt Motorsports team announced they had re-signed Les, broken leg and all. Finally Christian Craig, finishing up a third injury-ravaged season for Lucas Oil Troy Lee Designs Honda, was also just re-signed.
Loyalty? You bet.
It's a great trend to see in one of the most cut-throat of professional sports. Motocrossers don't get five-year max money guaranteed deals, in fact, most riders only get one-year deals, and that means one injury or one bad season in general can ruin everything they've worked for to this point. In the case of Byrne, Craig and Smith, another chance awaits.
Says TLD Team Manager Tyler Keefe of Craig: "It's tough because he's only raced a handful of times, but if he has a solid off-season, he could really be a contender. His potential and the speed he shows is what you want in a rider."
Craig was slated to start racing for TLD in 2010, but an engine problem sent him over the bars while testing, resulting in a broken back. He was out for the whole season, and at first no one was sure if he would ever race again. But the team stuck with him through the process. Racer X's David Pingree was managing the team at the time. "I knew it would really be big for him if we could tell him not to worry about having a ride," says Ping. "I remember being hurt and in the hospital, I was riding for Pro Circuit at the time, and Mitch [Payton] came in to say I didn't need to worry about not having a ride when I healed up. It's such a load off of your shoulders. You're already stressed out about being hurt, you don't want to have to start worrying about losing your ride for next season."
"You have one bad year and it seems almost like your career is done," says Langston. "I had one bad year in 2004 and it was almost like I was done. But Mitch [Payton] worked with me. I talked to him and he was like, 'Yeah, you want to do something? You're my guy.' There's not a lot of people like that in our sport, but I think it's starting to change."
Craig was even kept on a small salary throughout the 2010 season, and then came into 2011 ready to pay dividends. "Tyla Rattray came in like a bowling ball and took out three of my guys," says Keefe. Craig broke his leg in the crash, and wouldn't return until the outdoors, where he jumped to a 450. He logged some strong rides, but at Southwick he washed out in a turn and broke his navicular. His first surgery on the wrist did not go well, which pushed him back all the way until RedBud this year before he was finally feeling 100 percent. Since returning to racing, after nearly a year off, he's generated just one top-ten finish. But when he's gotten a start, he's shown he still packs great speed."
So much so that Langston's team was actually looking into signing Craig as Smith's teammate next year. It appeared Craig was set to sign, and Keefe expected to lose him. But at Unadilla, Craig had a change of heart and decided to go back to TLD, for less money than Langston-Witt was offering. Loyalty appears to have two sides.
Christian Craig (right) will be back with Lucas Oil Troy Lee Designs next season.
Simon Cudby photo
Meanwhile, Les Smith sits 20th in 450 MX points, and is now on the shelf for the rest of the season with a broken leg. He also finished 12th in Lites East SX points. But for Langston, sticking with him was quite simple. "There's a lot of reasons," says Langston. "One is that we ran into some bike issues this year, which is expected since we're a first year team. We maybe held him from his maximum potential. Second, he did all we asked, he put in 100 percent, he never complained or bitched about anything, and he tried as hard as he could. And we think he can be better. The poor kid was Mr. Replacement Rider for a few years on different teams. But this year, any time anyone asked him about his future, all he said was that he wanted to keep riding for us. That means a lot to us, if gives you confidence that he's going to keep putting in that effort. And his results started to get better, and he got his best result ever a few weeks ago with a seventh. And I think he can be there all of the time."
Craig, Byrne and Smith have been through plenty of ups and downs during their careers, but they were in the right place at the right time when it happened.
Did you like this article?
Check out HIGH/LOW
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
Each of the five major manufacturers had its ups and downs during the 2013 Monster Energy Supercross campaign. Page 118.
Look for the verified symbol 
Impulse Studios
I thought Smith was having a great year, all things considered. What about Honda sticking with Canard?
Seeing Christian Craig bang holeshots like he has against 450's makes me want to believe in him. All the other injury stuff isn't so great but, that's the nature of the beast.
Byrne practically rode over my buddy while he was K.O.'ed at Starwest.......no respect for the #26 here.
I would like to see the Langston-Witt group do well. G.L. seems like a truly nice person and that counts for something to some people.
I'm glad to see it too. I sure as heck would've re-signed Bryne, and not just for that almost-moto-winning ride, but that clinched it.
Jake 511:Canard resigned for 2 years.
Now that Roger and Ryan are gone only truly NOT nice people ride or work with Suzuki.....just ask Carsbad.....lol give it a rest...Craig can run with the big dogs and deserves all the help he can get and I'm glad even the evil Suzuki rider who "practically" ran over someone gets a ride........not really knowing a guy and judging him still counts for something to some people..........
It's good to see and it's also good to see it go both ways. When you see a guy like Wardy stick with Kawasaki for his entire career, I'm sure it wasn't because they always were the highest bidder. I'm really hoping RV has some of that same thinking in him that will have him with Kawasaki from beginning to end. There's more to life than just the bottom line, biggest bucks payday. I think that is something RC learned after his run with Honda and how little loyalty they showed him in spite of the titles he earned them (and would have continued to earn them).
good to see Byrner resigned! There's no doubt that he still have the want and the potential, and that was evident at Unadilla. Bring on 2013!
Loyalty is a expensive luxury. I understand why some teams change riders - they need some good press and excitement to give sponsors access to their target demographic. Pro Circuit partnering with Monster(oddly enough owned by Hansen Natural) has turned into a lot of successful sympathetic advertizing up on the podium for Monster, which associates Monster with action sport success, equaling sales. Hard to lure a fully funded advertizer with sidelined riders or riders that don't generate much buzz, although a sportswear and lifestyle company like TLD can spin that nicely (as in something like this article).
I love this sport!
Great that Christain stayed with Troy after he stayed with him.Shows what kind person he is and it will earn him respect, even from Grant.If he can stay healthy and get his endurance up he can be a consistent front runner later in the moto.Good luck team TLD and LWR and BBR
@AGMAN
Funny how that works. James the lawn dart Stewart fires Larry Brooks and puts L&M out of business, goes to JGR for a long term deal quits after the one crash filled supercross
season. James is the definition of un loyality. But Suzuki hires him any way??? I hope Suzuki has a huge budget for parts because they are going to need them!
@tonewall...some people say Roger D. is not so nice. Guess it depends on which side of his fence you sit. Me - I have no opinion of the man...never actually met him...he did blow me off one time though - no not like that!
BK-R - Honda didn't want RC after his ACL repair - and after all he did with for them...same thing with MC same thing with Valentino Rossi they have had the greatest champions of all time and treat them like...well not so good. Their corporate structure in motorsport leans toward "it is our equipment that makes riders great" - not the other way around. Volumes could be written on this subject.
@AGMAN @mit12 Yeah James will always have a team because he is fast and brings exposure to his sponsors (good and bad but exposure non the less) take this litmus test if you will... the next time there is an article on JS7 look at how long the comments section becomes - and then compare it to anyone else - love im or hate him the kid generates the buzz - not to mention he can win (or crash out of!) any race he enters. - That sells man...
Honda is getting wiser, as they saw the benefit in re-signing Trey, he is fast and extremely popular and dropping him would have reflected bad on them... Trey is very loyal too and wanted to stay red.. His options coming off injury were probably limited and Honda probably signed him at a bargain price...so it was a win win for both parties..
Smaller companies such as BTO benefit from having the biggest name available, the added plus of loyalty, even shines the apple more for them in the market place..
Plus loyalty is easier for all of us to a degree, most of us still favor our first brand motorcycle..Change can be good, but there is always some thing to be said for the comfort that familiarity brings ....just like slipping on an old pair of levi's..it just feels right...
Burner is one of my favorite riders, doesn't run his mouth and has talent to spare. Very happy he's staying in the sport with BTO.
@ tonewall, maybe YOU should give it a rest. Yeah, yeah, we get it. You're the defender of all things Suzuki. Do you draw a paycheck from them for your undying servitude? You weren't there yet, you have an opinion of something you know NOTHING about and yet, at the same time, know #26 SO well..........sometimes better to be thought a fool than to post and remove all doubt.
If you keep this up, the teacher is going to make you sit in the corner and you're going to have to see the counseler about this unhealthy obsession over all my posts.