With the Irish MXoN team recently being announced, we decided to catch up with team manager, Mark Mooney to discuss the team and much more. You can read or listen below…
GateDrop: Mark, the Irish Motocross des Nations team has been official for a wee while now. All three riders, I mean all three of them had great years but you still had to make decisions and leave other riders out. How was it this year picking the team compared to say last year or the year before? Did having the experience of picking a team the previous two years help?
Mooney: How’s it going, Andy? Yeah, no, it was a hard decision. There was a lot of people in my ear, as you can imagine, coming from all angles. But as you said there, somebody has to make a decision on it. So, I looked at everything from the start of the season right up until the last day or two of racing until I actually made the final call.
But I suppose Jason had picked himself, he was number one in my mind anyway. So, he was going 100% the way he’s been riding. I think he’s 27, going on 28 so he’s coming to the peak of his abilities now in my opinion. He’s only going to get better for the next couple of years. He’s probably going to be the strongest rider we’ve had in a long time if he continues the way he’s going.
So he was in anyway. Martin was at the start of the year, it was well documented that Martin had ruled himself out of this whole event. But once he made the post on public, on Facebook and social media and all these other places, I actually spoke to him after that. In all fairness, myself and Martin, we get on very well. And I just sort of said to him, tongue in cheek and off the cuff… look, if I need you and you’re riding well, don’t rule out a phone call from me. We sort of laughed it off, but it was probably ingrained in his brain.
When June, July was coming up there, he touched base with me. And we were just sort of saying, look, if you continue the way you’re going, we’re probably going to look at you 100% as a runner. Because the other person that would have been riding, in my mind, always would have been Stewart… But he just hasn’t had his best year. So, when it came down to it, Martin sort of put his hand up for it.
With Cole, that probably could have went either way with him. I was talking to Glenn a good bit as well in the background. But when it came down to it and it came down to the team and what I think he’s going to bring, it is, some people might say, you know, a bit of a taking a chance.
But I don’t see that. I just look at the results, the effort that’s gone in there from his side, himself, his dad, the team that’s starting to build around him. All the positives I’m taking from him as a young man and what he might bring. I just said, look, we’ll have to just take a chance and bring him in. So that was the way I was thinking.
GateDrop: Obviously, Jason Meara, like you touched on there, he sort of picked himself. I mean, this year, I don’t know what he’s done over winter. From speaking to him, he says he actually hasn’t changed that much. But I mean, the improvement this year has been top notch… Big, big improvement. So you must be happy with the way he’s stepped it up this year, racing all around the UK?
Mooney: Yeah, he’s riding phenomenal, to be honest. He’s running very close to the likes of Conrad Mewse. I know Herlings is still another level, but to be mentioned in the same breath as him, and he has been any time he’s competed against him this year, it’s sort of, you know, it’s really, really positive from our side. I think when we go over here, if he can get out of the gate and have a good run on Saturday, there’s no reason why he can’t pull off a top, you know, 12 or 15, in my opinion. Possibly even better if he could get away because he’s that type of rider, you know, he never, ever gives up.
Even when he was a young man, like as in a 15 or 16 year old coming through, just go by ranks. I remember seeing him coming through from the back. He hasn’t changed. That style that Jason has, he really has. He leaves it all out there. So, like, I’m expecting big things from him, but I won’t put him under any pressure. I just feel like he’s in the best frame of mind he’s ever been in going into this competition. He’s got a very good team around him as well, you know. I think he gets on really well with the guys managing the set up there.
I think he’s happy with the bike. You know, I mean, I’m 47 now, but like when I was 28, you’re a very different animal. You know, you’re coming into your maximum strength as a person. He is starting to peak there now and if he has his best day of the year at Matterley, I think we could do really well, you know.
GateDrop: On Cole McCullough, like you touched on, is young. But, I mean, in my opinion, he’s one of the biggest Irish talents in a long, long time. And like Glenn, Stuart, Martin and Jason, he’s also raced Matterley Basin. What were the factors that led to you picking Cole? I mean, obviously, he’s racing in the EMX125 and not only some of the best talent in Europe, but some of the best young talent in the world and that’s a great series…
Mooney: Look, I’ve looked at him. I’ve watched every single race that Cole’s competed in this year because I have the login for MXGP, so I can watch them whenever I want. But I do watch it, I studied it. Okay, he has had some results that were not quite where he wanted to be. But, what I’m looking at is his qualifying times. Okay, that’s not racing. But he has the speed to get qualifying in sometimes first, second or third.
Sometimes in qualifying races, he’s also doing the same thing. But his lap times are, he’s on the pace there and no one can deny that. Because this is his first year, we shouldn’t be expecting the sun to hit the stars out of Cole and I don’t want to put him under any pressure whatsoever. But I don’t think he feels the pressure. I’ve seen him and I mentioned this to you the last time. When I saw him at Matterley Basin last year at the GP, he was just floating around the place, cool as a cucumber. You know, not a bother on him. It didn’t phase him whatsoever. And I don’t believe this occasion is going to phase him either. I think he’s going to be very relaxed. He should be, you know, just take it as another GP for him. And he should, if he gets a good start, if the bike that we’re supposed to be getting all comes through, which apparently it is. There’s absolutely no reason why he won’t put in a very good performance on the Saturday. I think that’s what we need. We can’t be trying to chase this B final every single time.
You know, it would be better for us to be relaxed on Sunday and actually be in there. Now, I’m not saying he will be the person to get us there. It’s a team effort. But if he rides to the best of his ability and he’s comfortable on this bike that he’s going to be on, you know, I can’t see any other rider going quicker than him that could have been picked. People might argue the toss there, but I don’t know. I don’t know about that. I think he’ll be the best for that particular class at this moment in time, you know.
GateDrop: I’m with you there… and just on the machinery, obviously, it’s maybe not 100% yet… But if he does get this factory Fantic bike, I mean, obviously, from your point of view, it might be nicer to have the vibe of having the three riders under the same awning. But at the same time, I can’t remember the last time an Irish rider actually had a bike under a factory awning at the Motocross of the Nations. The last time was probably the Crockard days… So at the same time, we should be very pleased to see that…
Mooney: Yeah, well, you’re actually wrong there. Because when we went to RedBud, we had a factory bike.
GateDrop: Well, it was a Hitachi KTM fuelled by Milwaukee bike (factory supported but not full factory)… was it not?
Mooney: I’m not saying you’re fully wrong. But we may have had no choice to be under the wing there. But when we got that bike, he was fully under the wing with us that time and Bryan Connolly was there. He was sent out there through Hitachi at the time.
I’m not sure exactly what the bike is going to be. I spoke to Philip McCullough there yesterday and he’s off to collect a bike tomorrow or Thursday, as far as I’m aware. Then it will have a lot of factory parts on it. And the suspension, that is going from the Fantic that he’s been riding. The 250 2 stroke, that is. That will go onto that bike without any problems.
So, I don’t think they’ll have a problem handling. It’s just a matter of getting used to the bike, getting used to the power. I’ve be talking to Philip on a regular basis and it’s just not something I’m worried about, you know. A lot of people ask, what’s the transition like going from a 2 stroke to a 4 stroke. Or 4 stroke to a 2 stroke. I know from racing motorbikes all my life. Growing up, I raced 125s, 250 2 strokes. I raced 250 4 strokes and 450 4 strokes.
If you can ride a 250 2 stroke, in my opinion, that’s sort of a man’s bike. Going back down to a 250 4 stroke after that is not a problem. Now, I would say going to a 450 after riding either a 125, 250F or 250 2 stroke, there’s a big adjustment there. Because it’s just sheer power and torque. But, going from a very powerful 2 stroke engine down to a 4 stroke 250. I don’t think it’s as big of a transition as people might think, you know. The other thing about it, I know that Cole rides a KTM 250 intermittently around the likes of Magilligan and other places where he practices. By all accounts, he goes very well on that, you know.
So, I am totally not worried about it one bit, you know.
GateDrop: In terms of Jason and Martin, do you know yet what awning they’re going to be under? Or is that still to be decided?
Mooney: Yeah, so basically, we have a truck rented from JM Racing, which is Jacky Martens, which is the same truck we had last year. We already have the signage and banners that’ll be set up there for us. So, I’m not expecting for the full, you know, 3 days that we’re all under that awning. But for the race day, for the qualifying day, I’d expect us all to be there as a team and that’s our base. The main reason why I got that was, like, you know, what if we get, like, severe bad weather or something like that. At least we know we’ve got a really good set up there without any worries.
You know, we’re not running around in 2 or 3 different areas. We all have a base in the one spot. So, that was my thinking behind it. Jacky Martens has, you know, I get on very well with him. He’s accommodating me this year. He’s promised me a very good professional set up. So, I’m not really worried about it. All going well. There won’t be an issue having any of the guys there.
As I said, there’s a big banner there, it’s, let’s say, 5 or 6 metres wide square for each of them. Just to show the sponsors, their numbers, their name and the bike and their area, you know. So, I don’t think it’d be a problem. But, look, if the Fantic guys are coming off to me saying, we can’t have the bike there or whatever, you know, we’ll have to talk about it. But, I mean, my preference is that we are all under the one awning 100%, you know.
GateDrop: With Martin, as you sort of touched on at the beginning of the year, you know, when he announced that Ernee, he started there and he announced that was going to be the last one. But, thankfully, a change of heart there. I think his riding has probably helped as well… He’s been really good this year and stepped it up a bit from last year. But, from your point of view, it must have been nice for him to make himself available for this event again. He’s trying to chase Tanel Leok for this record, but Leok just keeps coming and coming…
Mooney: Yeah, I see. Leoks is coming back for his 22nd MXoN, I think. But, either way. Now, look, Martin, he was never happy with that Husqvarna and he’ll say that to you which is last year’s bike. He wasn’t too bad on the one before. I watched him in Hawkstone at the start of the year. I was over at the meeting and, straight away, you could see he was riding that Honda far better, much more comfortable. His starts were better. He just seemed to not fade on the bike at all.
In fact, he was sort of, midway through the race, he was charging and I hadn’t seen that from him in a while. When I spoke to Martin, only by text, he was just saying how happy he was with the bike. This is sort of how this Motocross of Nations conversation probably started. Because, every week after that race, we were staying in contact over biking. Every week after that, his results were getting better, better and better. I just know he was super happy with that bike. I think, even with the team, they’re very happy with him. There’s no excuses at all coming from anyone.
I think he didn’t have his best weekend at Schoolhouse but every weekend up to that he’s been top 4 or 5, more or less, everywhere he’s gone. How could you overlook him? You just couldn’t do it.
GateDrop: I am going to touch wood here, but the reserve riders are Glenn McCormick, Stuart Edmonds and James Mackrel. Are they in any particular order?
Mooney: Well, I’ll be honest with you. I said to Glenn, initially, would he ride reserve? Because he was very disappointed that I didn’t pick him. Understandably, because we had a conversation during the week. I sort of pushed him to shove. It’s not that I told him he would go, but I did tell him I was really closely looking at him. But I also mentioned that Cole was in the mix. It was a very hard decision to make. In fact, it was a very hard phone call to make to tell him that he wasn’t picked.
But I left it with him to say, to come back to me. My choice was to put him in as a reserve for the 250cc spot. Then, basically with Stuart, I put him in as the first reserve for MXGP or MX Open. When I spoke to James Mackerel, he just said he’d ride any class. That was a good attitude for me. I said, you know what, I’m going to pick you as well. In fairness to him, he’s one of those riders. I’m sure if he got the chance, he’d give it his all. It was hard.
It wasn’t an easy decision at all. You could argue I could have went the other way with Glenn. But as I said, I’d done my homework and really looked closely at everything. I just couldn’t overlook Cole at this time. The door is open for these guys and that’s something that’s really important here.
Going forward, there isn’t much left in years in terms of Martin, in terms of Stuart. Jason, we’ll definitely get some more years out of him. Obviously, with Cole, he’s so young. There’s a path here now for him to possibly break records with this event. That could happen. But it also was an opportunity for all these other young guys out there to actually look at this and take some positives out of this because he’s only just turned 16 in June there. But there’s other riders out there that are going to aspire to this. Young riders that are racing every weekend through North, South, all of the UK.
They should see this as an opportunity. Particularly for somebody like me doing the job because I will look at them if they’re doing the same type of racing or doing the same type of speed success in that type of fashion. If you see what he’s doing, there’s no doubt about it. Whether you’re able for it or not, by the end of it, if you do a season in EMX, you’re 100% guaranteed to be going probably twice as good as you were before you started the first event.
GateDrop: What was the biggest learning experience you had last year at Ernee or even RedBud that will help you and the team this year?
Mooney: There’s a lot of things I wasn’t happy with in Ernee. Nothing to do with the riders, nothing to do with the people that were around me, helping me or anything like that. But just a few things I know that we probably could have done better. It’s really important, I think, that we stick together on stuff like this and we did. I found there was a lot of distraction in Ernee from just general… Not people that weren’t unwanted, but just a lot of Irish fans coming in. A lot of fellas coming into the set up and stuff like that. We’re going to close it off a little bit more this year.
It’s going to be very much… You’ll need a pass to get into where we are. So, I just found that the distraction for the riders, that can’t be there. They need to be focused 100% on the job and it’s easily distracted. For example, we had… Martin wasn’t parked very closely to where we were operating from. He had a trek to get to us every day. So, we’re going to try and eliminate that this year. As in, we’re going to get everyone tightened up. As in, closer to the central base where we’re going to be.
The other thing is, little things that you might see, like going out for a meal at night and sticking together. That type of stuff is really important. We actually talked through today. If you want or not talk about it, just talk about other stuff. Like your kids, or what you’re doing next week or what’s going on during the day that was actually fun as opposed to the race. There has to be downtime with this. There has to be as little pressure as possible, I found, to get the most out of the guys. I find when you do start… OK, you have to plan. But if you over plan sometimes with these things, it can backfire.
You just need to have a good set, staged plan going in and try and stick to that. Keep everyone as close and tight as possible together. I really felt that with Ernee because we had it more in the USA and we had no choice because obviously we flew over there and we wanted as a unit together. We had to stay in the same place together.
We did absolutely everything together. Whereas in France, we were a little bit more… One fellow was here, one fellow was there. This other guy was in the middle somewhere. It just wasn’t as joint as I would have liked. So, I believe this year, the way I have it organised, it’s going to be a little bit better than it was last year. But I’m not taking anything for granted either. Just because it’s across the Irish Sea, it doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be hard. There’s still a lot of planning going into this.
GateDrop: As team manager, what is your favourite part of the role and the toughest bit?
Mooney: There’s a lot of parts of this job that nobody would like. I need to be honest with you. Because honestly, there’s a serious amount of organising and organisation to be had and to be done. I suppose I’m going to mention Cailum (Meara) over here now just for a second… Because he gives me a serious help. Without him, I probably couldn’t do this because he does an awful lot for me.
Stuff that nobody sees. Not dodgy work, but just stuff that is not easy to get done. He helps me that way. Yeah, so the toughest bit was just really, as I said, organising everything and making sure we get there and all the paperwork is correct. And that we actually do our best.
But I suppose the most exciting part, standing in that box on the Saturday for the qualifying races, watching the lap times and seeing are we actually going to get in. It is nail-biting stuff. We’ve been so close the last couple of years. I know we didn’t get there last year, based on one or two results. But it’s very, very exciting. I can only imagine the feeling we will get as a team if we do get through.
I can imagine that the feeling that will go through the camp would be unbelievable. Because we have had to face two years of disappointment, really. Even though I’ve enjoyed every minute of that, so has everybody else.
As a type of team, you never forget those moments for the rest of your life. I want to be involved in one of these events where we actually qualify based on our performances. I do think this year, with the team we have, we have as good a chance as any other year. Provided a couple of things: We get out of the gate and we have no mechanical breakdowns. As in the bikes go well and the lads get good starts. I think that’s the key here. The weather might come into play a little bit, but that to me would be the most important thing. As I said, good starts, no mechanical failures. We have as good a chance as anyone.
I was looking at some of the other teams there. When I look at the names, there’s probably five or ten teams that are, you could say, there’s the first ten. But after that, maybe down to 15, 16, 17, in and around those positions. There is no reason why we can’t get in there. So from an excitement point of view, that would be the one thing for me. Getting through.
But even not getting through, as a manager of the event, I’m feeling like a lot of it’s resting on my shoulders. That has been a huge part for me, extremely exciting on the day.
GateDrop: Obviously, last year, what I thought was really good was, four of the guys raced the Matterley Basin GP to prepare for Ernee. Now, obviously, it was close to home, so it was a bit easier to do. Speaking to you last year, you did say you were hoping the guys would maybe do two, three or four GPs… It hasn’t happened. Jason Meara obviously did race EMX Open at Lommel, which was quite good. But do you think there’s any chance you could maybe see them do one or two GPs in 2025? Is that something you’d be willing to help with? Because I’m sure you want to see these guys race at the highest level, and then if they do two or three GPs, they’re sort of better prepared mentally for such a big event…
Mooney: Yeah, look, this year got away from me a little bit. Although, I had offered. I had said to Martin, Jason, and Glenn last year that if you want to do a GP or two or three, I said that we, as in my company, Mooneys, we would sponsor the entry and the license fee so that stands, and that offer still stands, to anyone who wants to do. That’s not just the riders that I’m talking about here. If anyone out there wants to do a Grand Prix, and I think they’re fit to do it, as in they’re capable of doing it, that offer is open to them, and we will pay for that.
So that offer has been open for the year. Glenn was going to do Lommel, I think, but he unfortunately cancelled last minute because he was running very high in the Scottish Championship. It was a decision he made, not to do with me at all, but he knew that the offer was there.
Jason, who did go to Lommel, we covered the fees on that one for him, and as I said, the entry, that offer’ is there. But I do think, I’m sorry, 2024 for me is very much distracted. I have another newborn baby there recently, and she’s only seven weeks old. I’ve just had so much going on with my family and my kids, and when we woke, I sort of just left it out there hanging. Not that none of them didn’t get back to me but they’re all having busy seasons, so that’s probably the reason why. But for 2025, the offer is there.
I’d like to honestly do four or five GPs with three, four or five riders that want to do it. We can’t pay for everything, but we will certainly, as a promise, will guarantee the entry fee and the licence fee for anyone who wants to do it, which I think is a fair offer. So, whoever listens to this tonight, maybe they’ll take us up on that.
Now, that doesn’t have to be an MXGP. I’m happy to put someone through on a 125cc or a 250cc for EMX if they want to do it.
GateDrop: That was my next question, actually. In my opinion, Cole is kind of doing it the right way. Now, I get that it’s hard, and it costs a lot financially, but he’s kind of just said, look, I’m not going to race in England. I’m going to go race all around Europe and do the EMX125 and the Dutch Masters. Would you like to see, if it’s possible, more young riders go and race in Europe? Maybe not all the EMX125 rounds, but two or three here or there, and then two or three Dutch Masters, because racing in England is good, but it’s very different to GP level, whereas when you start to go across to Europe, it gets a bit more similar, and I think it prepares you better, especially at a young age. If you want to make a name for it in your career, I think that’s probably what you have to be doing…
Mooney: Yeah. The British isn’t quite what it used to be in my opinion. You look back 10 or 20 years ago, there was a lot more activity there, in my opinion, from the GP riders. You do get the odd one going, but it’s probably not quite the same.
They are fast, there’s no doubt about it, but I do agree with you. The European stuff, it does supersede it, and I think anyone that goes into that will take a leap or two very fast, whereas if they go to the UK, I’m not saying they won’t, but it’s just not the same environment. It’s not the same sort of thing, and it’s not the same set-up, even though it’s good, it’s just not quite as high-level as the European circuit.
I would never discredit that. If you look back at some of the best Irish motorcars we’ve ever had, they were all British champions. At one point or the other, or very close to being British champions. It’s a very high-level championship, but just not quite at the same level it would have been, as I said, 10 or 15 years ago.
GateDrop: Finally, it takes a lot of help from teams, sponsors, volunteers to organise a Motocross des Nations event, probably a lot more than what people realise. So who all would you like to thank for making all this possible?
Mooney: We sponsor it somewhat, but we don’t sponsor anything substantial.
We do give a few, say 3,000 or 4,000 Euros every year to the Motocross of Nations, and we’ve done that historically. We’ve also done that for the Coupe de l’Avenir this year and we’ve also done it for the Junior World Championship. So, we’re invested to the tune of 10 or 12,000 Euros every year for that type of event.
But since I came on board with this, I have a very wide reach of motor dealers here in Dublin and around the country, and just guys we’ve been dealing with literally for years. So, there’s probably too many to mention, and they don’t want to be mentioned, but there’s 20 or 30 motor dealers that give us probably 500 to 1,000 Euros each time we go to run this event, and there’s two or three banks that actually give us some money as well. One of them is Bank of Ireland, believe it or not.
The other is Permanent TSB, and another crowd that we deal with is Finance Ireland. So, these people give us money for this event sSo I’d like to mention them, but they don’t want to be mentioned in real terms.
They’re just doing it for the good of what they get through our company in finance business. People come in to us to buy cars, and we sign them up through these banks, so they get the benefit of getting a customer over, but they give it back to us in this way, and we can put the money anywhere, but they want us to put it into the Motocross because they know it’s a motor racing background. But there is, I know from, Cailum has the guys from Start Solar. I think they have given us a fair contribution.
There’s another couple of guys there that are sort of independent that give us money, but again, they just don’t want to be mentioned. So, it’s really just motor-based backing we have, which is great to have, but it was harder this year so far to get the money in. You mentioned places like America, like France. It’s easier to get the money in because you’re travelling a little bit further. You mentioned places like the UK, which isn’t so far. They don’t want to give you as much, but they’re still contributing, so it’s coming in, I would say, healthily enough, It’s not too bad. It’s all good.
GateDrop: Well, that’s great, Mark. Thank you very much for your time, and good luck for Team Ireland at the Motocross des Nations – I’ll see you there.
