With just two more rounds of the MXGP World Championship and the MXoN to take place, the 2024 Motocross season is gradually coming to an end. Step by step it is becoming clear what most teams will look like next year and who will go where despite waiting for the official press releases.
A team to which several riders are linked, but about whom we have heard little from the team itself, is Standing Construct Honda. We decided to contact Tim Mathys to ask him about their planning ahead of the 2025 season.
GateDrop: Tim, unlike other years, where you were often one of the first teams to come out with future plans, this year it has remained rather quiet. Is there any reason for that?
Mathys: It’s true that we usually try to talk to riders pretty early in the season. However, the problem that then arises is that with some partners in the sport at that time there is no clarity about the budgets yet and as a team you actually are making commitments without knowing what will come in and what you possibly will have to look at solutions for.
To give you an idea, in 2022 we signed Pauls (Jonass) for 2 years, not even knowing if we would have a deal with a manufacturer for the second year. Pauls had confidence in us and he knew that we definitely would have found a solution when necessary, but as a team you take a big risk when you have to work like that. We have done this now a few times and took the risk.
Fortunately we have a strong title sponsor with Standing Construct who has always provided us with what was necessary in terms of budget. However, in fact, having to work like that is not a healthy situation and not how it should be done if you want to work professionally. This year I have decided to wait until our partner(s) has made us a concrete, decent and final proposal, which unfortunately is the situation we are still in.
GateDrop: That sounds very plausible, but doesn’t it mean that you run the risk of missing out on riders you would like to have on your team as well as riders who would like to come to your team but can’t take the risk to wait too long on a concrete proposal, let alone sign a contract?
Mathys: Absolutely. For example, I am convinced that if we would have made a good proposal to Pauls again a few months ago, he would have stayed with us. The same applies to other riders. Last week we had several contacts with a rider who had proposals from 3 teams but absolutely preferred to come to our team. However, because he had a deadline with another team and he had to avoid the risk not getting a proposal from us he signed with them a few days ago. I completely understand that, but that obviously doesn’t mean that I am happy with it.
GateDrop: Like you mentioned yourself, with Standing Construct (the construction company) your team has now for almost 15 years the same title sponsor. We all know that the company is yours but a few days ago we learned that you sold the company, does that have an influence on your approach to the team, I mean does anything change in the support you will get from that side?
Mathys: Absolutely not. First of all I did not sell the complete company, I still have a part of the company and the new CEO is a person who worked for me for almost fifteen years and with who I have a very good relation with, which is obvious as otherwise I would never have given her the chance to become the new CEO of what I created twenty five years ago (laughs). She definitely agrees with the promotional value MXGP has and she wants to continue making publicity through that channel.
Second, as you can undoubtedly imagine, a sale of that size involves months of negotiations, specialized offices, lawyers are getting involved and all agreements are neatly worked out in contracts. One of those agreements is that the publicity agreement between Standing Construct and the team runs until 2030 and can then be revised.
In concrete terms, if we of course meet the imposed publicity conditions and commercial goals, we have the guarantee of minimum five additional years of collaboration with Standing Construct as title sponsor of which we are of course very grateful and of which we are convinced that we can deliver just as good publicity as what we have been doing for fifteen years now. I can understand that the reasoning you insinuated is being made, but it is completely unrelated.
As I have said repeatedly in the past, as far as I am personally concerned, motocross is my passion. I am happy to put all the effort, work, stress and resources into the team as long as the balance leans towards the right side, enjoying it. But unfortunately what is happening now is putting a lot of weight on the wrong side.
In everything I did I personally always kept my word and promises, always. If you promise or agree on something, you must fulfill it, no matter how. There are a lot of people in the paddock, riders, mechanics etc.… who can confirm that I always was with them like that. Even more, I’ve had several riders who I for example paid more than what I actually had to do when for example they were injured. In a constructive partnership you have to work like that, respect each other, keep your promises, that gives the best results.
I am convinced that treating and working with people like that was a big part in the results we already achieved. I expect to be treated in the same way… and that unfortunately is not how I feel we are being treated now. What is currently going on is no longer about money for me. It’s about respect. So, we are still waiting and hoping that the earlier made promises will be kept and respected.
GateDrop: Well, that’s a clear explanation and one for which we thank you for being so transparent and honest. Does that mean that you guys are literally not talking to anyone right now for 2025 as far as riders go?
Mathys: We have not yet made a concrete proposal to any rider. We do have a few names on our “shortlist”, but unfortunately we have to clear riders from our list almost every day because they prefer not to take the risk and wait for us, something I can absolutely agree with them about.
We have been promised that after the MXGP of Turkey we would receive a final proposal. We hope that this will be in line with what was promised to us earlier and shows us the respect we, in my opinion, deserve.
GateDrop: Thanks Tim for this interview and your very open answers, we hope you will be able to announce soon your 2025 program as you guys definitely deserve your place amongst the best teams in the MXGP paddock.
Mathys: Thank you Andy.
