Weekend Window starts out St Louis weekend with a peek into a real press day. Press day is when a couple of teams agree to arrive at the venue early and ride and talk to local papers and TV about AMP'd Mobile Supercross.
At St Louis press day, we find Lucas Oil Yamaha's Sean Collier and Broc Tickle, and Rockstar Suzuki's Michael Byrne. Let's sit in on the meeting and see how it goes...
The best part was Collier and Tickle talking at the same time to explain what a "Lites" division is.....
Team Lucas Oil Yamaha guys Sean Collier and Broc Tickle at the table:
Q: Let’s start with you, Sean.
A: I’m Sean Collier, 21, I have been racing about 14 years. Professionally, this is my 4th year.
Q: And you are..
A: Brock Tickle. T.i.c.k.l.e. 17, this is my first full year as a pro.
Q: No R?
A: No, not Tickler, just Tickle.
Q: What division do you race in?
(Both Collier and Tickle begin to answer questions together-)
A: Lites.
Lites East.
Q: What is that?
A: Lites ah, in motocross…
Lites means…
There is 250 the Lites and then there is the supercross class.
So we are like supercross Lites.
Like there is a Busch race and the …..
It’s a smaller class.
Yeah.
We ride a 250cc class motorcycle and the other class rides a 450cc motorcycle.
Four strokes.
OK…..
Next up, Michael Byrne:
Q: Your name is Michael Byrne?
A: Yes, B.y.r.n.e. I’m 27.
Q: Where are you from?
A: Australia.
Q: Australia! You are an old timer. How long have you been doing this?
A: In America, 5 years. I won three Australian championships before I came over here.
Q: So why did you move here?
A: These guys are the best in the world. I didn’t have anything left over there.
Q: Is this a lucrative sport?
A: It’s getting that way. Most of the guys make a pretty good living, most of the guys in the top ten.
Q: Like 100K a year?
A: The top three guys make millions.
Q: Do you get endorsement deals?
A: Yeah. Clothing, helmets, goggles, a few.
Q: Are you becoming well known in the US since you started riding this year? Do you have a nickname?
A: I guess so. Burner.
Me: If you have a nickname, you are in!
