Many would believe the winter months for a Pro Motocross Team Owner are where you put your feet up, don your
slippers, smoke a pipe by the fire and reminisce about the days gone by, revel in the massive high’s and shed the disappointment of any low’s… but our Feature Team owner Rob Hooper of the Official UK Yamaha Motocross Team Rob Hooper Racing says we couldn’t be any further from the truth.
“In Motocross there is no off season. As soon as the racing ends another season begins. First up you have to tie up any loose ends from the season that has just finished. Rider’s, if they have moved onto different teams have to return their equipment, this can sometimes take a lot of time. You have to say your thank you’s to your sponsors and partners who have made your season possible, return any machinery and parts to sponsors and suppliers, and clear the decks before you can have any clear air to look ahead to the new year.”
Rob knows this routine better than most amassing a incredible 30 years in the hot seat having started as Team
Manager of the Heron Suzuki team in 1987, whilst before that he was ripping up the tracks in a successful career that saw him racing from 1968 until his management career kicked into gear being a top 6 British Championship racer and being part of the Des Nations team in 1979 when Team GB came 2nd. So you could say he has been there and got himself a stack of Tshirts to prove it.
So where do the new riders come in??? “Before you get to that you have to have your deal in place with your manufacturer so you know what support and machinery you have from them. Then you can plan your team and riders. This year we have grown from a one rider MX1 team to a three rider team with two MX1 riders and one MX2 rider. Yamaha were keen to increase their presence in British Motocross and we were also looking to have more riders onboard. Every riders deal is different and it takes a lot of negotiation so that you can ensure that the ambitions of the rider and team are met from both parties. Every rider is different to deal with. Some have managers, others their family so it takes many different dynamic’s to make a deal come together”.
“Once you have your machines and riders onboard you next have to get the relevant PR out there both to the press and also to the manufacturer. It’s often about this time that the Dirtbike show happens so you can generally have a big catch up with your riders, introduce them to sponsors, get some pictures and meet your manufacturer. “
“When it comes to sponsorships your deal’s for next season can be sometimes be fairly straightforward, and having been in the business so long I have some long term partnerships which we continue each year. This winter has been a bit different for us though as we parted ways with a someone who was a full partner with the team which left us looking for quite a few new sponsors for 2018, which makes it hard work but exciting at the same time and has given us the opportunity to work with some exciting brands like FOX which we are really happy about”.
“What people don’t realise is that the Motorcycle industry is really busy in the winter, you have the Dirtbike Show, then the big shows abroad so everyone is busy so it’s hard to pin everyone down, and then you have Christmas and the New Year. We are not running an Arenacross team this year, but if you threw that into the ring you can see how busy that would get with organising sponsors, riders and bikes for just after the New Year.”
“As it is we supply our riders bikes to train on during the winter and they go off and do their thing. We also supply them from our partners the products they need to ride with. While they are training we are prepping the racebikes, collecting all of the aftermarket parts, liaising with new sponsorships, planning and writing press releases, updating the website, renewing gazebos, rider posters and organising new sponsor logos for the Team awning’s and Gazebos, designing and organising the new bike graphics all ready for the team photo shoot. Then it’s a case of using these images for PR, websites, Social Media posters… before we are ready to get the boys on track…, and to be honest that’s only about the half of it”.
We will be following the Rob Hooper Racing Team throughout the season and catching some more behind the scenes insights throughout the year.
You can follow the team on facebook via https://www.facebook.com/robhooperracing/ or in Instagram @robhooperracing.
