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« on: March 19, 2011, 09:17:10 AM »
In another thread I defended Maico International. For the record there are many reasons for this.
One of the few companies in the world that manufactures two-strokes is Maico. The others are KTM, TM Racing, Fantic, Gas Gas and Yamaha. Sure I'm missing a couple of the smaller ones, but Maico is a two-stroke ONLY company.
I've been in that position where every move I made was criticized, analyzed and roasted on the Internet. Starting with the Two Stroke Motocross and then later Project Two 50.
Both had a tremendous backlash of negativity and naysayers at the beginning. Of course there were some awesome supporters, some who have become wonderful friends.
With Project Two 50 it's easy to see the impact negativity can have on a low budget attempt to promote two-strokes. Almost right away Internet Keyboard Jocks thought they knew the best way to accomplish this task and their first "suggestions" were to hire James Stewart or Ricky Carmichael to race the two-stroke.
Of course this would have been awesome if the Project Two 50 budget was $20 or $30 million dollars, but the Project Two 50 budget was less than what you have in your wallet right now. With some really hard work we were able to secure some help from amazing sponsors. A few donated a limited amount of cash, some free parts, but most offered deep discounts on the parts we bought.
The end result was that Project Two 50 cost me big time. Money, time and energy that could have been spent with my family, friends and relaxing. But I was hard-headed and I had a passion to get a two-stroke to qualify for the MX Nationals.
Once we made some waves on the internet and the press, a couple of racers offered their services for a price, which was more than we could afford.
The lack of success of Project Two 50 is documented on the Internet so I won't bore you with the details here.
All we had was a passion to see two-strokes at the Nationals. While we gained some notoriety there were problems in our team.
The easy way out for me would be to list all the problems and throw other people under the bus. But the fact is that I put my reputation on the line and failed. I take full responsibility for Project Two 50 and it's lack of success.
Like I said we had some support, but even well-meaning folks in the two-stroke camp were busting our balls. We could have used some serious help from these folks but it was not the case. According to them, they knew better than we did and we were screw ups.
When supporters are criticizing your every move and the only benefit you could possibly expect to gain is the knowledge that you promoted something you believed in, things become very difficult. Everyone on the team thought the they knew the correct way to fix the problems and no one agreed on the same solution.
What's the old saying, ask 10 people their opinion and you get 11 suggestions.
Now some of you claim to be two-stroke supporters and yet you accuse Vince and Maico International of deceiving people or not moving forward in the "correct" way. Do you really think you are helping anyone?
Do you really feel you are helping the two-stroke cause by badmouthing something you know little or nothing about? Sure everyone's entitled to their opinions, but do you feel your criticisms will help in any way?
The answer is no.
I feel very fortunate that I have become good friends with Vince at Maico International. I have earned his trust, so he shares information with me that he is not ready to share with the rest of the world. The only reason I mention this fact is because some of what was written in those other Maico threads was complete bullshit.
Do the folks that wrote such crap have some kind of agenda? Do you really think calling someone out on the Internet is a manly thing to do? It's not. It's cowardly.
Do something positive for yourself, two-strokes and those people who are passionate enough to put their money where their mouth is. Should you desire to purchase a Maico (or anything else for that matter) contact the people that can answer your questions. Don't be a jerk and call someone out on a forum.
Please consider supporting those who are passionate about two-strokes. People like Charles Owens and Vince Page go out of their way to support the cause. At least give them the benefit of answering your questions directly before you rake them over the coals.
Speaking of Charles, he is the best person to bring TSM into the future. He puts himself out there and supports all you two-stroke fans. It takes a great deal of work to maintain the web site, write articles, moderate a forum, post updates on Facebook and answer e-mails. Plus it costs him a great deal of money to keep it all going.
Charles your passion and enthusiasm are contagious. TSM is a great place with you at the helm.
Thank you.