Photo: Brian Converse – Courtesy of DC

Davey Coombs has been in the sport of motocross his whole life. As a boy he helped his father cleaning up rubbish around the tracks where his father Dave Coombs Sr. promoted. As he grew up he raced as a privateer in the AMA Supercross and AMA Nationals, and now his job is to make sure the AMA Nationals continues to prosper as the head man at MXSports.

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After one of the toughest credit crisis America has ever seen, the continued growth was tough. But, with a combined effort from the AMA Nationals promoters and MXSports, the series remains stacked with talented riders and—more often than not—great spectator attendance.

DC was kind enough to take our questions, and gave us some interesting answers. There is no doubt about his passion for the sport of motocross, and going by his comments in this interview that passion hasn’t changed in his 40 odd years being involved.

Check out what DC had to say to Geoff Meyer from MXLarge.com below.

 

Davey, the new calendar is out for the AMA Nationals in 2017. What stands out for you?

I think we’ve got twelve superb race tracks—from the Hangtown opener to the grand finale Ironman, with iconic circuits like RedBud, Southwick, Washougal, Unadilla and more in between—and a concise schedule that makes it as easy on the riders and teams as possible to attend every round and be as ready as they can be to perform at their highest levels. We built in several breaks throughout the season with three on, one off, four on, one off, and so on, to give the riders and teams some recoupment time. We have a lot of races on the domestic calendar in the U.S. at 29 (17 SX rounds, followed by 12 nationals), plus a USGP, the MXoN, Monster Cup, etc.) so we have to be mindful of the toll on the riders. The attrition rate last year in SX/MX was very alarming in that a lot of guys couldn’t finish either series healthy. We need to be more mindful of the amount of races we have on both the SX and MX schedules, and give the riders and race teams ample time to be at their best. But in America, Monster Energy AMA Supercross traditionally starts at the first of the year and ends the first weekend in May, and they squeeze 17 rounds in. It’s definitely a grind, and Feld Motor Sports does the best they can to get the guys to Las Vegas healthy. But then we only have two weeks before we start Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, and it’s long been our goal to finish by the end of August, at the preference of not only the riders and teams, but our series partners at NBC. They love the content we provide from May to August when they need it, but come September, they have the NFL, college football, NASCAR and more. There’s just no room for motocross, and the kids are back in school—that’s a big reason why in my opinion attendance suffered at the Glen Helen USGP. The mainstream sports calendar in September is the busiest month of all, and that makes it tough for our sport to get much attention.

If you go to an Lucas Oil Pro Motocross National, you will feel like there's actually three different DC's in attendance. The MXSports frontman is everywhere. Photo courtesy of DC
If you go to an Lucas Oil Pro Motocross National, you will feel like there’s actually three different DC’s in attendance. The MXSports frontman is everywhere. Photo courtesy of DC

2016 was a great season with Ken Roczen winning the 450 class and Cooper Webb the 250 class. What was for you the highlight of the season?

Well, I wish our defending champion Ryan Dungey had been healthy enough to give Roczen a go, but Kenny would have been tough to beat! I think I remember seeing MX Large list him as the #1 overall rider this year, and I would concur. And we had some excellent 250 Class races between Cooper, the brothers Martin, Joey Savatgy, Zach Osborne and more. But I think the highlight for me was seeing Alex Martin break out of the shadow of his little brother Jeremy, get a couple of wins and show that hard work and talent will get you there, so long as you have a lot of patience! And I can’t tell you how happy I was for Zach to finally get an AMA National win too. He grew up not to far from me in Virginia and has always been a class-act and a great rider who just never had the perfect day, other than his win in Turkey way back when.

 

The AMA Nationals has remained close to it’s roots, with mainly natural terrain circuits, and often the same circuits, like Washougal, Budds Creek, Millville, Redbud and so many others, with not too many of the road racing facilities involved. On the occasion it has happened that circuits haven’t been a success. Why do you think that is, and would you still consider going to something like they have in MXGP with Assen or Losail?

I have a mixed opinion on this… While I’ve seen it work quite well at Assen and even the MXoN at Italy, back in ‘09, it hasn’t really worked in other places like Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. Here in the states, we’ve always considered those venues to belong in the SX category, due largely to the permanent seating. When Utah (Miller) was going away, we wanted to return to authentic, pure motocross, and that was the perfect time for us to go back to Southwick, one of the oldest and most respected MX tracks in this country. I understand the need for better facilities and amenities, but I also know that it costs a truckload of money to build a one-off track for a single event, then tear it right back down. After 17 SX races here, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to go back to an infield, unless it’s a really unique situation like Road Atlanta, site of the very first AMA Motocross National back in 1972, which had lots of elevation changes, kind of like the Jerez circuit where they held the ’96 MXoN in Spain.

 

There is talk, (and was also mentioned by Roger DeCoster) of MX Sports and Youthstream working together to make the MXoN work in America. Is that the case? And if yes, what places do you think would fit the bill?

MX Sports and Youthstream have long been in discussions to maybe work together on some future projects, be it an MXoN or even just a USGP, but we never quite got to a point where either side was comfortable enough to proceed. We are often in the market for the same riders, and we both believe our series to be the best in motocross, albeit they are very much different in look and feel. But we’ve had some disagreements too, which is understandable given the fact that we both have our own ideas as to how events should work. But right now, given the demise of the planned MXoN at Glen Helen, maybe it’s a good time to ramp up another run at working together on an event that would get MXGP a successful event in America that would work well within both series’ schedules and help get as many top AMA riders and fans there as possible. In the end we all want motocross to grow and prosper, but we also want to make sure we don’t put too much pressure on the riders to do more events than their bodies or their team budgets allow. One big, successful USGP in early September rather than a couple of modest ones would be a lift to the FIM World Championships and also a fun match-style race for fans all over the world to watch, no doubt about it. And there are many East Coast and Middle America circuits that could fit here.

 

In a perfect world what type of schedule would you like to see for AMA Supercross, AMA Motocross and MXGP?

I used to race as privateer, and I used to go to every single race as a journalist, so I know the grind well. In my personal opinion, we are at the max right now: Seventeen AMA Supercross rounds, ending the first weekend in May, followed by a dozen AMA Motocross events. That’s what I believe the riders and teams want. Maybe have one race in Europe in the middle of March or April, before Easter, and that would probably satisfy KTM and Husqvarna, and it would be a much, much bigger deal than that SuperMotocross Manufacturers Cup that just happened at Veltins Arena in Germany. Add in a single USGP on the first weekend in September, when everyone here in the states is still in full training mode, and then the MXoN every three or four years in the states, and I think that’s all we could handle, and everyone should be happy.

DC used to be pretty fast back in his day. Photo courtesy of DC
DC used to be pretty fast back in his day. Photo courtesy of DC

Worldwide there is a problem for too many riders and not enough teams. Do you see any solution in this problem?

I don’t at this moment, to be honest. We are all trying the best we can to grow the space—Feld, MX Sports, Youthstream—and find new sponsors for new teams. All of the races either stream live or are shown on live TV, and all of the series have been in a seemingly constant state of improvement. But we are also not quite recovered from the global recession, and that’s hampered the opportunity for new teams to evolve. Hopefully that will change and we can get some rigs in the pits and rides for the athletes.

 

There is talk of the AMA Supercross extending to races overseas and also a longer series. What is your opinion on this?

I was on the AMA Board of Directors the last time SX wanted to expand to Europe, which was in 2002. I went to all of the races in Geneva, Arnhem, Seville, and I just didn’t see a very good fit. It was incredibly expensive on the teams to move operations across the ocean, and not all of them went. The races didn’t really get the crowds, and the idea was soon scrapped in favor of going to Canada, but that didn’t really work out that well either. My understanding is Feld wants to add additional rounds overseas. I am of course in favor of trying new things, but if expansion leads to overlapping SX races with Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross and even MXGP, well, that is obviously problematic. I think they need to go slow on this and see how it works for not only the series, but the teams as well. The U.S. distributors and team sponsors underwrite much of racing in America, and they don’t often sell their products in Europe, they sell them in the U.S., so I’m not really sure how four races in Europe, on top of successful Lucas Oil Pro Motocross events like Hangtown, Glen Helen, Thunder Valley in Colorado and High Point in Mt. Morris, Pennsylvania, is going to grow the sport here. When we became aware of this possible expansion, we advised Feld that while we appreciated their hopes to expand, we can’t just move motocross back into September and October for the sake of more SX races in Europe. And after that race in Germany a couple weeks, I’m not sure the additional races would work anyway. After all, you had Dungey, Marvin Musquin and FIM World Champions like Jeffrey Herlings, Tim Gajser, Romain Febvre and more racing together, and the spectator turn-out wasn’t what they had hoped for. And back at those races a dozen years ago, I think the only top Europe-based rider who even came out to participate was Marc De Reuver. Supercross is an American form of motocross racing, and other than a few decent off-season races like Bercy and Geneva, it hasn’t worked in Europe. I just personally think this is a really risky idea that could have some unintended consequences for the entire sport.

 

There was the recent decision to not run the MXoN at Glen Helen due to crowd attendance at the circuit. What is your opinion on that decision?

I hated for Bud Feldkamp and the whole Glen Helen crew that they did four USGP races in the hopes of getting the MXoN in 2017 (and at first 2015) and I know how disappointed they were. But their crowds the last two USGPs, which were held in September, were a fraction of what they got for Lucas Oil Pro Motocross each May. Youthstream treats the MXoN like what it is—the crown jewel of their season. They have standards and expectations that they worried would not be reached at Glen Helen and made the difficult decision to move the event to Matterley-Basin in England, which you know is going to be a great big, beautiful race. But I thought Bud deserved the shot to run that race, and a lot of Americans would have been there to support… I guess I see both sides.

 

It’s always going to be asked. Ken Roczen or Jeffrey Herlings? Who is the fastest rider on the planet?

With all due respect to Jeffrey, not to mention Dungey, Tomac, Gajser, Webb and Febvre, it’s Ken Roczen right now, in my opinion. Honda hasn’t won a 450 title here indoor or outdoors since they lost RC to Suzuki in 2004. I think they are due, and Roczen is the man to do it.

 

What changes would you like to make to your series, but isn’t possible?

I’d like to think that anything is possible, but one thing that we have been struggling with is reliable wi-fi and cell service for the fans. Our crowds are so large that once they get there they overload the cell system and getting out social media becomes a real challenge. Motocross by definition is a rural sport, and being a little more out in the country can make the lines of communication a lot harder. But we are working on solutions to this problem as well.

Honestly, we work every day to try to improve Lucas Oil Pro Motocross, and we all have our own ideas and suggestions and plans, but I do wish the websites and fan forums would get away from that whole debate over who’s series is better, because we both have exceptional series, and very much different ones. The online debates can get silly and then ugly in a hurry. It serves no purpose, and just seems like we should be working together more on growing the sport, not growing the wall between us. We would all be better off in the long run.

DC looking intense at a Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Photo courtesy of DC
DC looking intense at a Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Photo courtesy of DC

What changes would you like to make to your series, that is possible?

Our TV is the best it’s ever been with all four motos live on either NBC, NBC Sports or MAVTV, and online, and our tracks are the best in the world (in my opinion), but we can always do more for the fans, and that’s where our focus is. Right now we are looking at ways to improve the overall fan experience with better amenities, better concessions at some venues, better fan affinity programs, and hopefully we will continue to attract new fans and sponsors and just give the whole tour lift after lift after lift. It’s a never-ending job, but I enjoy it immensely. I’m pretty sure we all do when it comes to motocross!

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