Shane Watts On a GASGAS?!

[BIG TOOL]

Well now that I've got your attention... wouldn't that be cool! It looks like he's completely out at the great pumpkin company, and might be open to getting some help from GASGAS. I don't know about any of you guys, but I for one think it's worth it for someone to see what it would take to make that happen... (Hey, I can dream can't I?)

[motorex]

Cool yes. Not likely though. It was surprising to me that he bought KTM's to race after how they treated him. I would have bought anything but another orange bike. I would say he believes in the performance of the brand. Also after years of screaming around usaully on a 125, sometimes 200 he brings out a 250 for the Florida event and wins.
The Japs got the contengency money. Even after this weekends 8th place on the YZ thats $200 bucks, and better than nothing. A 1st pro finish on a YZ is $2000.00. And if nobody is paying him to ride, that really matters.

[KicksonR66]

How about a contengency plan from this forum? Just a thought..............

[Captccb]

to the best of my knowledge, the reasons he was on KTM initially this season, 1) FunMart gave him a killer deal on the KTMs 2) He hoped to show that he could still win, be at the top, and provide the exposure still for KTM, and then they would come around and live up to the initial agreement he had with them in Late 06 b4 Hayes pulled the bait and switch on him in Jan 07. They didn't do that and he moved on. Who can blame the guy. I would love to see him on GG as well back on KTM, as those are the only bikes I own. I'm new to GG's but have been on orange for years.

[Berkyboy]

Over the years Watts has struggled with a lot of personal problems that eventually cost him his KTM sponsorship. Back in 2004 we tried to broker a deal between Watts and GasGas but it came down to contingency.

A rider of Watts' caliber could expect to make up to $5000 for a GNCC race win from his bike sponsor. That's a little out of GasGas' league.

[MattR]

Here is information for the man himself.
http://www.shanewatts.com/wattshappening.aspx
In the Jan/Feb 2007 issue, he discusses why he parted ways with KTM.

[ScottyR]

Watts is under contract from Fun Mart Cycles right now. He will only ride a bike that they sell.

There is more to this story than we know. He must have done something pretty serious behind the scenes for KTM to cut him loose.

[Berkyboy]

While is New Zealand for Six Days last year I was reading some Australian dirt bike magazines and Watts was responding to the public in a "letter to the editor/publisher" about not being selected to ride on the "Ozzie" trophy team.

Watts' comments were very critical of the Australian ISDE team selection process and in typical Watts' style he hammered those responsible for not choosing him fairly sharply.

Today Shane seems to have gotten his life back in order, he's now married and has a family, it's just that its a little to late for KTM.

[gasgasman]

"Halo" riders don't seem to get any respect later on in their career.
Look at these greats-Randy Hawkins,Guy Cooper,etc....
The manufacturers are to high strung on Supercross riders-that's where the money is.

[Berkyboy]

KTM is pretty controlling when it comes to their riders. Until Knight and Salminen had their respective championships won last year they were prohibited from competing against each other.

That's why Salminen is riding the WEC this year and Knight is running the GNCC series.

Lafferty is the one probably getting the bad deal at KTM. He's gotten better in the GNCC series over the years and KTM keeps "importing" top European riders.