Mick Sinclair has become one of the most regular and recognisable members of the Australian Motocross industry during his time at Monza Imports, working closely with some of the sport’s top athletes on any given race weekend.

MotoOnline.com.au contacted Sincs late this afternoon to get an insight of his role and to find out some of his personal highlights so far.

Mick Sinclair can be found at all the major national events on the Aussie calendar. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

First of all Mick, tell us your role at Monza Imports as it stands here in 2013?

It’s pretty broad, I guess if I had an email signature it wouldn’t really fit on the screen and that’s pretty much the case for everyone at Monza – we all take on a wide range of roles. I guess mine is marketing coordinator for the four brands I work with, which is Fox, Shift, Oakley and Pod MX knee braces.

I also product manage Fox eye wear, Oakley eye wear and Oakley MX. I’m involved in Fox MX as well. I’ve got a lot on my plate, but I spend the majority of my time in marketing and in regards to that it’s everything – print advertising, online advertising, social media, athletes, events including motocross, surf and BMX.

From a moto perspective especially, I guess you could say you are the face of those brands at events and you attend all of the national races. It seems like it’s something that you’ve taken on and really run with it.

Yeah, that’s a job I pretty much created at Monza, because we didn’t have anyone at all the events, looking after athletes and so on. I created it probably five years ago now and there hasn’t been too many events I haven’t been at since.

I look after our athletes from when we sign the deals with them, right through to when we are delivering them their product at the events. It’s something that I really like doing.

Like most people involved, I always wanted to be a professional rider, but obviously wasn’t good enough. For me it’s the next best thing and a lot of the guys I look after are some of my best friends and really good mates.

I get to go to work, be around my mates and we make it a lot of fun. Obviously we work hard, but I’m one of the lucky ones who can wake up, go to work and really enjoy it because of that.

Like you said, you’re good friends with most of the athletes you work with. At events, you’re right there up close with a lot of the athletes, so is that a challenge on race day?

The thing I find most challenging at events is that you’ve got guys you look after and you support them 100 percent because that’s your job, but in my case I also have some of my best friends who they are competing against at times.

It’s not that hard though, because our industry is pretty small and it’s important everybody is treated equally and we get along. I like to think that most people at the races are mates of mine and a few are my closest of friends.

A major part of your job that seems to be developing more and more is overseas travel for you. What’s the relationship between Australia and the US, or wherever the brands may originate? What’s the purpose for those international business trips?

Monza has been with Fox for I think since 1990, so it’s been a long time and we have a very good relationship with the US. We’ve grown to become very good friends with the people over there too, so it’s really good and a lot of fun.

We head over for Fox, we have four meetings a year over there, but I don’t go to all of them – probably two or three. They can all be for different things, some could be marketing, some could be to look at ranges, sales conferences, and each trip there’s an agenda.

Back in the early days I used to try go to a race over there and still do at times, but now with my family I try to get in and out as quick as I can. I’m not usually in the US for any more than a week.

Jay Marmont’s titles at CDR Yamaha during 2008-2011 were some of Sincs’ racing highlights. Image: Jeff Crow/Sport the Library.

You’re heavily involved in social media, so tell us about that. Marketing these days doesn’t just involve regular advertising, it’s also vital for you guys to market within your own networks, isn’t it?

From our point of view, and I guess it’s a strategy a lot of brands are taking at the moment, but we’re moving away from print a little bit. Obviously it’s important and you still have to be in it, but we’re definitely not doing as much as what we used to.

We’re putting it into digital and a big part of that these days is of course social media. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past four or five years, it’s clear Facebook’s massive and Instagram’s blowing up, so we take it very serious.

I believe we’re ahead of the game with Fox especially and that’s what we try to do. Some things don’t work, but most do and it’s definitely worth investing our time and money, because that’s the way I think the world’s heading.

Personally you’ve been part of a lot of successful results and championships, including your brother Cam at X Games. What are some of your great memories, just to wrap things up, as far as results go with your athletes?

Probably the best part of my job is getting to work alongside my brother Cam. We raced together, we’re only 16 or 18 months apart, so getting him in Fox around five years ago was very cool. Going over to X Games to see him win his gold medal after he came back from nearly killing himself the year before was something I’ll never forget.

Others, all of Jay Marmont’s championships he had with Fox – four Motocross and one Supercross – over that period of four years when he raced with CDR, we became very good mates. We’d always known eachother, but he’s an awesome guy to work with and he’s still one of my Oakley guys, which is great.

For me it would be Cam and Jay’s success that come to mind when I look back.