Clarification on Cycle News Article

“The opinions expressed regarding James Stewart during the Cycle News interview with Jeremy Albrecht on the 21st of April and subsequent article by Kit Palmer do not reflect my or Joe Gibbs Racing’s thoughts with respect to James. My experience with James is he is a responsive communicator, even late at night he always calls me back. With respect to being at the track, it’s often my call on whether a rider is healthy enough to race. I know it’s always best for the fans when as many riders as possible are racing, but there are times when it makes sense, especially when a championship is not on the line, to spend a little more time rehabbing an injury so he can come back strong and not risk further injury. James is a racer and there’s no doubt that if it is safe for him to race he will be on the gate. Anything that was perceived to be negative toward James in the article is regrettable. We hold James in high regard and I wanted to make our thoughts on the article clear.” – Coy Gibbs, Team owner.

Is this a "Hail Mary" attempt to try to keep James happy?    Or is this Coy's way of making JGR seem more stable to others for the future.   Coy needs to stand behind his team manager.    


All of this should be private conversations...

Something is going on here behind the scenes.

mauricedorris, on 30 April 2012 - 09:14 AM, said:

His team manager needs to stand behind his riders but we all know JBone LOVES the limelight.

I read this elsewhere on the 'net and thought it might be worthy to post here...

He will be in at Hangtown on a JGR/Toyota/ Suzuki 450 for JGR, and Millsaps will be on the Yamaha for JGR as well. The team is a TOYOTA sponsored team so arrangements are being made to race whatever bike the rider wants and feels comfortable riding.(they are about winning) JGR just signed a 5 year deal last week for their NASCAR teams, and in a side deal made Toyota the primary sponsor of the MX team as well. Suzuki is OK with this deal and will have bikes and support available for this program, especially if JS7 is in the mix. HOW DO I KNOW THIS? The little bird in the #20 camp told me (NASCAR) and this guy is glued to the meetings on Monday mornings. look for an official announcement after Vegas. BELEIVE IT!

Edited by atc250r, 30 April 2012 - 10:40 AM.

And the saga continues

That would be like Ford sponsoring a team that races Chevys.

I could actually see how that might happen...

wes513v, on 30 April 2012 - 12:46 PM, said:

in dont get this statement at all? toyota has no dirt bikes? and who knows, mayb JGR's contract with yamaha is up? or they are workin out another deal? or heck mayb there is no commitment between them at all and thats just the bike they wanted to run. personally i think it sounds great. 1 team with alot of the same sponsors letting the riders choose what bike they wana ride

It's no secrete that JGR was going after Dungey and that they were working on a deal for him to ride the Suzuki. Yamaha offered JGR a 3 year deal and when RD signed with KTM they decided to stay with Yamaha.

If they like James and can make him happy by putting him on yellow bikes then the only problem I can see is Yamaha screaming breach of contract. But what does the contract say? Does Yamaha call out exclusive rights to the team? Who knows but we all know that James has a three year deal and JGR might be willing to piss off Yamaha if they think they could win with James on a Suzuki

I think that this rumor has just as much merit as all the others

moto278, on 30 April 2012 - 01:21 PM, said:

Toyota owns a significant % of Yamaha. There's no way that JS7 riding a Suzuki on Toyota-sponsored JGR as it stands today would work.

JGR would have to spin off another team/branding/sponsorship deal built around JS7 and a Suzuki.
At that point, why would Gibbs go to that trouble for JS7 with all of the new talent coming out of lites?

Toyota only owns a 5% stake in Yamaha

meyermetal, on 30 April 2012 - 01:51 PM, said:

Don't eff up a good story with facts.

longtimelurker, on 30 April 2012 - 01:57 PM, said:

That may not be fact. I pulled it off of wikipedia

meyermetal, on 30 April 2012 - 02:01 PM, said:

So I looked up on wikipedia.....your are right but did you see how much Toyota payed for it. Toyota paid Yamaha Corporation ¥10.5 billion for a 5 per cent share in Yamaha Motor Company while Yamaha and Yamaha Motor each bought 500,000 shares of Toyota stock in return.

10 billion Yen back then was probably 80 million dollars

Edited by meyermetal, 30 April 2012 - 02:19 PM.

Actually I  think the yen was worth  more the dollar,

meyermetal, on 30 April 2012 - 01:51 PM, said:

Only 5%?

Additionally, Toyota owns a significant piece of Yamaha ultimately because of Honda.

At best they will allow JGR let Stewart out of his contract, but they would never allow him to select his own bike, even if it were seemingly benign Suzuki.

In Toyota's eyes, Stewart not wanting to ride a Yamaha is the same as Stewart wanting to ride a Honda, even if he ends up on a Suzuki.

Or they could build him the toyamahondawsakiuki of his dreams with all those companies.  You guys do realize large corporations like these usually have no freakin idea what the right hand is doing while the left hand is off doing something else?  Nor do they care.  They are usually not very intertwined

Towelie, on 30 April 2012 - 03:16 PM, said:

You don't think Yamaha would know if JGR changed bike brands?

Towelie, on 30 April 2012 - 03:16 PM, said:

It's different with the Japanese.