Former GP rider Rob Andrews has for many years been very vocal about the way the spot is bring run, being as honest as he could be, and trying to help make some areas better.
As a commentator for Eurosport in the United Kingdom, Andrews has a similar job to Paul Malin, who works for MXGP.tv, and as a former racer, always try's to give the viewer an inside look into what the riders are thinking and doing, something that most of us non-racers can’t really deliver, or see.
Andrews raced in the golden era of 500cc motocross, in the 1980s, first as a privateer, then a factory rider, who also represented his country at the Motocross of Nations. He was also a test rider for many years, for DBR in England and still races to this day in veteran events.
A long career as a racer and now as the inside man for British television Andrews gives his opinion on a number of things, including the Motocross of Nations, and the MXGP series.
MXlarge: Rob, you came from and raced in that 1980’s golden era of motocross, the era many say was the golden era of the 500cc class in Europe. How does this era compare to that era?
Andrews: It is a good era, and the thing with eras, you don’t always recognize at the time. When I was racing in 1986, there were nine World champions in the class, and I didn’t sit there thinking, wow, this is the best era ever. It is only with the benefit of hindsight, that you can look back and think, wow, that was a pretty good time. Sure people will look at these last couple of years and think its really a good time. You can’t deny the concentration of class in the 450 class. Last year I think it was 21 former GP winners in the class. You can’t criticize the talent of the riders, the speed of the riders, the professional attitude of the riders. Whether it will stay like that, I don’t know, because what we have at the moment is Jeffrey at the front, and I don’t see anyone touching him for a while, so that will change the dynamic a little bit. If Jeffrey continues, is he going to have the motivation to push at that level, you go as fast as you need to win the race. If Tony retires and nobody else challenges Jeffrey, there is the danger that he will slow down. Also if Jeffrey dominates for a few years, that statistic I mentioned about 21 former GP winners, that will drift away, because you will have Jeffrey breaking all the records and just a couple of World champions in the class.
MXlarge: Speaking of Herlings. I don’t know if you have read it on my site, and maybe I get too enthusiastic, but I look at Jeffrey, and I am just amazed what he does. With Stefan, who is probably the most amazingly talented rider the sport has seen, but even with Stefan, you would sometimes watch and go WOW, with Jeffrey, it seems like it is nearly every single time he goes out, it’s the WOW factor. What do is your opinion on Jeffrey?
Andrews: I have watched every lap of every race for the last four or five years, working with Eurosport in the UK. Speaking of Stefan, going back when Stefan was on his peak, he was the only rider, where I would say to myself, oh my god, what did he just do. I would then rewind it and watch it again. I have been involved in this sport for a long time, and I am not easily impressed, with Stefan I used to rewind his stuff, and we are getting that with Jeffrey. Some things are simply amazing, and he rides a different track to the others and he can identify things, that the others just don’t see, like hitting little breaking bumps and jumping off those to miss bigger bumps further along. The other riders could do the same thing, it isn’t impossible, but the others just don’t have that vision, don’t have that creativity. Particularly in sand, its most noticeable. I love watching him ride. He is another level at the moment and the others need to go watch videos of what he is doing and figure it out.
MXlarge: What gets me is how powerful he looks on the bike, he just turns that big 450 when he wants to and where he wants it to go. A bit like riding a bronco even.
Andrews: Yes, but other riders have that same strength, he isn’t the strongest rider in the class. Fitness isn’t down to talent, you could be the fittest rider in the class, fitness isn’t down to talent and starting isn’t down to talent, but practice. We see that with Prado. There is no reason why any rider in that class couldn’t holeshot every race, its down to practice, not talent.
MXlarge: Moving onto the MXoN. Were you surprised with what happened at Redbud?
Andrews: I was and I wasn’t. I was surprised, because we have been conditioned to never bet against the Americans, they had been the dominant team for so long, that we would never say, I don’t think the Americans won’t be any good here, I think they will struggle to make the podium, because you were setting yourself up to look stupid. However, we have been seeing this coming for a while. They haven’t been the strongest team since Lommel in 2012, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise. I admire the Americans and their unwavering belief in themselves, they are convinced they are the best team, and they have been in the past and they are still a very strong nation, but they are convinced they are the best team, so when something like this happens and they lose and they didn’t expect to lose at home, it must be devastating for them. When the British team finished fifth, we didn’t slate them in the press, or on forums, we said, they tried hard, we hope we can do better next year. For the Americans, they take it very hard and the fans and the media, not the riders, but the fans and media, they seem to feel like they need to find something to explain that away and that is why we hear comments about the track, and other things. I think they need to go in with less expectations. They set the bar so high that anything but domination is a failure.
MXlarge: They also use the supercross thing as a reason, but I don’t get that, because they have had two or three eras of supercross and for sure, back in the 1980s the supercross tracks were more or less just indoor motocross tracks, but the last 20 years, with Carmichael, Stewart, Villopoto and Dungey, those guys also rode the same schedule as the guys now, and those guys won the Nations. To me, its just a terrible excuse.
Andrews: I totally agree with you and I don’t buy into that at all. When they are looking for an explanation why they didn’t win at home, or the last few years. That is something that has just come up in the last few years, saying their concentration is on supercross, and I love supercross, and I will be going to A1 again in 2019, I love it and they make a lot of money, its easier, they don’t spend a lot of time on the bike, and that is where their focus is, but as you said, its always been like that. Supercross has been going since 1972, and its been like that ever since. That was always their focus and that is where they were earning their money. I don’t buy that all and I don’t know the answer.
MXlarge: I think since they change to the one-day format in motocross, to make it more interesting for the riders and teams to do the Nationals, and the FIM series went from just racing Sunday to also racing Saturday, I think that is what has changed it. We race a lot of motocross and they don’t. Until that changes, I think it stays like this. No doubt Herlings and Cairoli have also brought the level up, that is probably the main thing. The GP guys race a much more diverse type of track than the AMA guys do. I know Davey (Coombs) doesn’t agree, but watching the nationals on television, those tracks all look rather similar, prepared the same, not much racing on them, so maybe they don’t get as rough as the GP tracks, who run five classes on the track sometimes over two days and those tracks get really rough and often very ugly.
Andrews: I don’t know if I agree with you on that completely. The American tracks I have seen, and like you I haven’t been to one, I have watched a lot on television, but the tracks seem to get rough and I think the National tracks are better designed than the GP tracks in terms of racing. I don’t like how some of the GP tracks are designed, they don’t make good racing, but that is another discussion. The GP riders have to ride on some pretty horrible tracks, like the one in Indonesia and the one in Turkey, I think those are dreadful tracks, but does that make the GP riders more versatile, maybe, because they rider on a lot of different circuits. But does riding around a terrible track in Turkey make them better at a track like Redbud, I don’t think so. Two completely different tracks and riding at Turkey doesn’t help them for Redbud. You mention the two-day format and that they are riding more, I don’t put too much weight to that either. I don’t think the fact the GP riders’ race two days improves their fitness, the American riders train all week, but I do think the American riders have taken their eye off the ball a bit, because whenever I see an American rider practicing, they are riding on a billiard table like track in California. I think training on track nothing like they will be racing on, I think that is a factor. The European riders have become more versatile riding on different tracks, but I don’t know if that is solely the answer to why they were faster at Redbud.
MXlarge: What has impressed me over the last few years is the coverage of the MXGP series. We are roughly the same age, and I know when I grew up in Australia, the emphasize in Australia was all on the AMA series. My first motocross hero was Marty Smith and we followed the AMA series, my first GP I attended was the USGP in 1984 at Carlsbad and I couldn’t wait to see guys like Broc Glover and Ricky Johnson racing, but the coverage from Youthstream and a handful of European websites has really taken the sport to another level as far as quality coverage goes. To the point Worldwide the sport in Europe is really getting equal coverage as the American series. Now we are seeing these Redbull videos, which to me are the best videos I have ever seen on the sport in Europe. You work for Eurosport covering the event, and that is something that has also grown around Europe is the television coverage. What is your opinion on that?
Andrews: The coverage is good, you get all the races, you can subscribe and get the qualification races also. The coverage is good, but times have moved on, there was no internet back in the day. Back in the day we did a novelty one off event that was shown on main-stream television, but GP coverage is good and not everybody has sky television, so there is an argument it is on main-stream TV. There is a lot of good things Youthstream do and you can’t level any criticisms at the media coverage.
MXlarge: You still work with Jack Burnicles on the television commentary?
Andrews: I work with either Jack or Roger Warren. Jacks priority is the Superbikes and if the MXGP doesn’t clash with the Superbikes, then he will be there.
MXlarge: When you think of motocross journalism, you think of Jack and probably Eric Johnson being a level above everyone else. I don’t think there is anyone who writes like those two. To me they are like Ricky Carmichael or Stefan Everts, those type of guys only come along once in a life-time. You have a long relationship with Jack. Do you think that maybe because motocross is a poor man’s sport, or maybe an uneducated sport, that we don’t have more journalists like Jack and Eric?
Andrews: They are both very good writers, and there are a few journalists that can write very well. I don’t even know if Jack trained as a journalist. It is a skill isn’t it. Jack was just a master of the English language and he could paint a picture with his words. From what Jack has told me over the years is that he learnt that from writing letters to his father, he would write and his father wrote back and that is how it evolved. I love the way he writes and there are other good guys. I like Eric Johnsons stuff, I like how Adam Wheeler writes and they are proper journalists. Unfortunately there are people, the way the sport has evolved over the years, there are people in the media, want to be guys, who get access to the sport, work for nothing and ruin it for others. Punting stuff out for not much money and that undermines what people like you do. There is no shortage of people who would love to do what you do and get themselves a pass and write about it.
Gary Freeman/Redeye image
Sunday, November 18, 2018 at 12:12PM 
