Yesterday, Ping broke the official news of a story the whole
industry has been speculating about for much of the season: Larry
Brooks would be leaving KTM, possibly to head up a new team involving
Chad Reed and Nathan Ramsey and possibly one other rider. Later, Brooks
discussed his decision to leave the team yesterday on Mototalk with
this post:
Hello everyone,
I’m sure you guy’s have heard the news that I have left my position as
Team Manager at KTM. Well, I just want to say that it was the hardest
decision that I have made since being a team manger. There are only 5
jobs (factory team manager positions) in our industry like this and I
decided to resign from mine. I want to tell all of you guys that it
doesn’t reflect on my staff, or my riders. All of these people are so
dear to me and I (honestly) respect and enjoy working with all of them
day in and day out. This is something I have to do at this time in my
career. I have had sleepless nights thinking of how I was going to tell
them, but as of today I dropped the bomb on these people that I
respect. Everyone in the meeting was very supportive, surprised but
supportive! I wanted to tell them first and not have them hear it from
management or second-hand. I owed it to them to tell them myself. I
held back the emotions that were bubbling inside of me and tried to be
professional as I could. One of my riders took it harder than I
expected and that shook me up, but I assured him that KTM would look
after him in my absence. The Red Bull KTM team will be in the
championship hunt for the 2006 AMA Lites outdoors series and this one
rider felt that this change could change his chances at that
championship hope. That made me feel bad and that I was making this
move at the wrong time, but I am doing it for myself, my family and
future. Once I make a decision I can’t change my mind. I guess that’s
the hard-core racer in me.
Anyway, many of you have expressed congratulation, and this is a little
premature because as of yet I don’t have another position to drop into.
There are many rumors out there that I’m going to another team and/or
another job, but right now that's not true. I made this choice to
pursue other options and not because another job is waiting for me. I
feel if I am going to look and/or talk to other people to make a
profession change, it wouldn’t be fair to my team or riders to hold my
position and negotiate with others. My position is to be of loyalty and
if I’m out soliciting work, then I would not being loyal to my team.
I feel there is a place in this industry for me and that I can bring
positive influence to a team or riders that I choose to work with. I
love the job of team manager and if you know me and/or know of me, you
know that I give everything I have from my heart to the sport of
supercross and motocross. I will keep you guys updated on where I land
and I will see you guys at the races. Thanks for the support that I
have seen so far. I just thought I would tell you guys the truth and
not have all this speculation.
Best regards,
LB
Racer X - Motocross & Supercross News
