AMA National promoter and owner of the leading Motocross magazine in America (RacerX) Davey Coombs is very much a motocross fan first, and then a businessman. Growing up in a motocross family it was little surprise that his future would be built on the important element of working hard and loving what you do.
Coombs worked his way up from cleaning up garbage at the race tracks, to becoming a professional racer himself. It was his love of the sport that brought him to start up his own magazine, and continue the work his father Dave Coombs had done in promoting AMA Motocross events.
This weekend Coombs will head to the small village of Arco in Italy for the fourth round of the FIM Motocross World Championship. He’s visited Europe many times before as far back as in 1992, but there is something special about his latest trip.
We caught up with Mr. Coombs and asked him about what excites him the most about visiting the GP scene in 2015.
Davey, I know you love the GP scene, and have visited many times before, but there must be a special buzz about coming to Italy this weekend?
I have always been a fan, but I missed the glory days when Brad Lackey and Danny Laporte were racing. The closest I got was in 1992 when I went over and saw Trampas Parker, Donny Schmit, Bobby Moore, Mike Healey and Micky Dymond. It was much different back then, it was a bigger world and the world is such a small place now and we get to watch everything on mxgp.tv, so going over this time doesn’t seem like such a big adventure as in the 90’s, but then you add in Villopoto and it turns the whole thing around. The chance to see Ryan up against Antonio that is going to be a pretty special experience.
Going by the first three rounds RV has had good moments and bad moments. The first three tracks probably suited him more than many ahead of him will. What can we take out of those first three rounds?
I don’t think you can read too much into those early tracks or the results. I think those first three tracks were pretty foreign to everyone. Just because they had lights on in Qatar doesn’t mean it suits the Supercross guy and I think everyone just wanted to get out of Thailand in one piece. I haven’t seen a track yet that is anything like we have in the states and maybe that will come later. Ryan hasn’t raced outdoors in a couple of years and I don’t know if any tracks suits him or doesn’t. I am thinking he might have more trouble when he gets to Lommel, or maybe Valkenswaard. Simply because I have seen Tony race in the sand and he is unbelievable. I mean the fact they took a kid from Sicily and turn him into Tony Cairoli who wins every moto at the MXoN.
What has surprised you the most until now?
If you told me at the start of the season that neither Tony nor Ryan would be leading the championship and only Ryan would have a GP win under his belt, then I would not have believed it.
Can we compare this move by Villopoto to race the GPs to anything else in the history of the sport?
It would have to be J.M.Bayle, a two time world motocross champion and when he came over to America he was much younger than Ryan is now. I think you would nearly need to look at somebody like a Danny Laporte who had already won a championship in America, was getting a little older, and when he came over in 1982 he was still a good rider in America. Some of the other (American) riders who went to Europe had really run out of chances in America. With Villopoto he had finished his masterpiece and the fact he added a year on his career and went to Europe is pretty cool. It would be like Stefan Everts adding a year on his career in 2007 to go race in America, or maybe Cairoli going to race in America. That isn’t going to happen, because Ryan didn’t just pass up on one series, he passed up on two, the AMA Supercross and the AMA Motocross. To trade two series for one, a lot of guys are not going to do that because with sponsors and what they race twice as much in America when you pan it all out. I think Ryan had been there and done that, won nine championships, and he just got burned out. I imagine if Bayle had stayed in Europe Albertyn and some of those guys would have less titles. I think Bayle would have won for a few years.
You are a motocross historian, what other big moments in the sports history can you compare this to?
You know, I could pick out moments, like the first Superbowl of Motocross in 1972, or the victory by Team USA at the MXdN in 1981, Stefan Everts at the MXoN in 2006 at Matterley Basin, closing out a brilliant career, Team Great Britain led by Paul Malin winning the MXdN in 1994, or J.M. Bayle winning all three titles in America in 1991, but for somebody like Ryan Villopoto to come to Europe at this point of his career, it’s never been done. Not by a GP guy of that level, and not by an AMA guy of that level. We are all lucky he extended his career a season, and for sure the European fans are very lucky, because with no disrespect to Mike Brown, or Ryan Hughes or Jeff Dement, or Trampas (Parker), Bobby (Moore) or Donny (Schmit), this is the first time since Jim Pomeroy and Brad Lackey that Europe truly got our very best. When those two guys went to Europe in 1973 they were our two best riders. With Ryan even though he didn’t race Nationals last summer, he is considered the best American rider of this era.
What can we look forward to with Ryan as the season rolls on?
When he gets up to speed I think we will see more depth and drama, because at the moment there is more a curiosity from everyone. The real battles are coming and don’t get me wrong, this is very big and everyone in Europe and the states are exited and it’s going to be a great summer for sure.
Ryan has really been great in the transition from AMA to FIM. He has a lot of fans in Europe and I think it will only grow. Has that surprised you now easily he has taken to the change?
You know Ryan was never that guy who got himself into trouble or rubbed people the wrong way. He is like Ryan Dungey, or Ricky Carmichael, or Jeff Stanton, or Mike Kiedrowski. He just puts his head down and does his work, he takes every race seriously. He has gone 4-0 for victory at the MXoN with Team USA, he is always there to do a professional job and he doesn’t get in trouble with other riders. He has a lot on the line this season. I mean we will all remember him in America for all the championships he has won, but if this doesn’t go to plan, this could be the epilogue of his career, there is a lot at stake here.
He is somebody who doesn’t like losing and it is going to be interesting how he develops as the season rolls on.
Everything he has done he has done with an eye towards winning and putting his best race forward. He is in a different position to most races, he was done with AMA Supercross, done with AMA Motocross, but the situation he is in with Monster Energy and Kawasaki he had the chance extend his career in Europe. I don’t think many other American riders would get that chance, because Supercross in America is still so important. It is rare to see a guy leave that behind with one more mountain to climb, and that is to win the FIM Motocross World Championship.
The content between Cairloli and Villopoto really reminds me of the super fight in America between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Both their destinies rely on that fight and for RV and Antonio this 2015 MXGP championship is the same, whether they like it or not.
It is a lot like Mayweather and Pacquiao and it’s a great point, but with that fight it’s a shame it didn’t happen two or three years ago, because both those guys are not at their peak. I think Ryan and Tony are is close to their peak and we will see something special as the season gets into the later rounds.
There is a lot to learn for Ryan isn’t there?
I would look at him in Argentina for an answer on that, not in Thailand, because you and I both have mentioned to each other how mind blowing that Saturday qualification race was in Thailand. I think if you look back at how bad he rode in Qatar, and then Thailand super-fast on the Saturday. I think both those rounds were get your feet wet moments, and he is still learning. I don’t think he was prepared well enough in Qatar and I think he had a lot to prove in Thailand, but what he showed in Argentina I think that showed it’s going to be a long battle, and he is trying to find the right rhythm to go all 18 rounds, because that is a long slog with a lot of places to go. He is fortunate that he gets a lot of time on the race track at the GPs. Everywhere he goes it’s somewhere new. He is the guy who is cut out for this challenge. Will he win, I don’t know. Tony Cairoli is tough and Max, Clement and Gautier can run at any different time. I would wait until June before I put my money on the table.
I am a huge Stefan Everts fan, but in my opinion if Antonio wins this year’s MXGP championship he becomes the greatest GP rider of all time. Beating somebody like Villopoto is really special. I know you also love Stefan, but what is your opinion on what I said?
Yes, I am a big fan of Stefan Everts. I know things are a little different and Stefan had some chances to pad his GP victories when he rode two or three classes, but then again early in his career he didn’t have as many GPs in a season as Antonio has now. But yes, if Cairoli wins the MXGP championship in 2015 you can make a great case that he is the GOAT of the GPs, although you really only need to be the best of your era. Joel Robert, Torsten Hallman, Roger De Coster, Georges Jobe, Eric Geboers, J.M. Bayle, Greg Albertyn, all greats of their era. The thing with Tony is he has never wavered, he has just been solid and his performances at the MXoN in Belgium and Germany he could make the case that his career is just as good as Stefans.
