There was some big news this week here in America (or Ameriker as Chad Reed still calls it) with the announcement that a couple of teams are either closing its doors or preparing to do so at the end of supercross. It’s never good to lose teams in the sport but most times, it’s at the end of the year, a few new teams come in and the ripple isn’t felt that much.

But just last week, Australian-based JDR KTM put out a release saying they were done at the end of supercross and the big named L&MC team announced that they were done as well-but their announcement was that they were done immediately.

So that leaves L&MC’s Andrew Short looking for a ride immediately and Malcolm Stewart, Joey Savatgy and Josh Cachia needing a ride for the summer nationals (although Cachia wasn’t going to stick around anyways- he was always going back to his native Australia). It’s nuts to think that the rider seventh in the 450SX class and then as well ninth and twelfth in the 250SX west series are out on the street.

Short found a home with Kranyak Racing this past weekend and for the next few weeks at least but he’s lost his factory Honda and trying to make it work on all angles. The rumors are that he hasn’t actually been paid for a while so I’m sure it’s tough to focus on everything that has been going on off the track while trying to make sure he’s ready for what’s going on once the gate drops.

Andrew Short went from a factory Honda to this privateer setup with just a few bolt on parts. Image: Simon Cudby.

Short’s too good of a rider to be out of a rider for too long and no one, neither Short nor Kranyak Racing’s team manager Paul DeLaurier, seems to know if this is a permanent home for Short but the fact he put out a press release for “Short Racing” makes me think that Andrew and his crew are perhaps trying to put their own team together ala Team Two Two.

From the outside a team ran and managed by Larry Brooks and partner Jeremy McGrath seemed like it couldn’t fail but in the end, it was just a lack of sponsorship dollars. Chaparral (a huge dealership/mail order place) was all over the bike and semi but sources say that they weren’t paying enough to get those spots.

It was just given to them in hopes of getting them lured into opening the checkbook more and more. Perhaps this teams fate was sealed when San Manuel Casino backed out at the last minute prior to the 2012 season – that was the cash cow that Brooks and McGrath had hoped would do it.

The JDR KTM squad, headed up by Derek and Jay Rynenberg, was a curious thing when they popped up as it was an Australian-based squad that seemed to being tackling American SX/MX because, well, because they wanted to. A vanity team that wasn’t really selling a product with a title sponsor (J-Star Motors which is a high-end car dealer in Southern California) that wasn’t exactly fitting the niche of the paying supercross public.

It was hard to understand why they wanted to dump loads of money into the sport but hey, whatever floats your boat right? I loved the team’s commitment to give their fellow Aussie’s rides like Matt Moss, Ty Simmonds and this year Cachia. I wish there was some super rich Canadian dudes who would do that for my home countries heroes.

These three riders are out of a job at the end of the 2013 Monster Energy Supercross series. Image: Simon Cudby.

The failures of L&MC and JDR KTM aren’t good, these are teams full of good people behind the scenes that are now left jobless and it’s yet another indicator that behind the fireworks, live TV shows and energy drinks – things are still unstable over here until we start selling more dirt bikes.

There’s an interesting sub-plot going on in the 250SX series and that’s one where the almighty Pro Circuit is looking as vulnerable as ever on and off the track. We’ve touched on its western series riders like Tyla Rattray and Martin Davalos who are struggling (and it’s number 1 west rider Blake Baggett got hurt at the first round) but a closer look at PC’s competition brings up some new topics.

The GEICO Honda team, who won both 250SX titles last year, has really come on in the last few years. With an amateur program that has produced Josh Grant, Trey Canard, Justin Barcia, Justin Bogle and Eli Tomac among others has helped that team get right up onto Pro Circuit’s level and in some ways, surpass it. Riders are one thing, making horsepower is another.

For years and years, the GEICO guys went to Pro Circuit for their motor work and exhausts. It was a little weird to go up against PC week in and week out using components that the competition helped you make but in the end, as Pro Circuit owner Mitch Payton has always said, Pro Circuit helping a Honda or Suzuki team or whatever helps sales at Pro Circuit. So why wouldn’t Payton and the guys put their best effort into making GEICO bikes the very best?

The Troy Lee Designs Honda team did the same thing for years and years-relying on PC to build them the very best motors and suspension. And then going out on a Saturday night and attempting to beat the Pro Circuit green bikes. But in the last few years, GECIO pulled away from Pro Circuit altogether choosing to go to Yoshimura exhausts (like the factory Honda 450 team) and bring all the motor work inside with ace tuner Kristian Kibby.

The powerhouse Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team is coming under attack from all angles. Image: Simon Cudby.

Although the GEICO guys have nothing but great things to say about their almost decade long run with Pro Circuit, the decision has proven to be beneficial for them. The team itself credits Mike Larocco taking over as manager for the leap in performance but it’s too modest to talk about the time and effort that Kibby puts into the bikes to make them better than ever.

The TLD Honda guys still use Pro Circuit exhausts and suspension but they too have brought their motor work in-house. And the teams results (and starts) have been stupendous this season. The team has also recently gone the ‘groom the amateur’ route like GEICO and it’s produced Jessy Nelson who appears to have a bright future. TLD Honda’s gone from a west coast 250SX only team used to promote Troy Lee Designs gear to a team that appears to be an up and coming force.

In saying all this, it’s not like I’m trying to get you readers to believe that Pro Circuit can’t make a motor as great as anyone or is, for lack of a better word, sabotaging its competitors and not trying its hardest. It’s just that the time put into a teams particular motor has increased when that’s the only thing you have to worry about.

Making horsepower is something that is a 24-7 job and Payton and Pro Circuit have a lot on their plate already with its own powerhouse decades-long team. GEICO and TLD have nothing but good things to say about their partnership with Pro Circuit but at the same time, the results on paper don’t lie. These teams are finding out that they can leave the nest and still achieve great things.