Leteći Kanađanin Marcel Irnie (Flying Canadian Marcel Irnie) If you are like most fans of motorcycles and motorcycle racing in particular, regularly searching Youtube for new interesting video and you did not come across the hero of our story, sell your computer, complain to Youtube and Google because of their poor search algorithm, do whatever you can to escape the jinx because something’s not right. We have the honor to do the first interview for our website with Marcel Irnie, Canadian rider whose approach to racing and to the audience raises more and more attention from the media, fans and sponsors. - Marcel, how did you get into motorcycles and racing? • The motorcycle story for me started at a quite an early age. My father would sit me on his Yamaha WR250 and rode on the trails when I was 5 or 6 years old. I quickly got my first dirtbike which was a 84 XL 80, and we went trail riding in the mountains just outside Kelowna British Columbia, Canada. I started racing dirtbikes as a kid, and upgraded to a 1996 KX80 and then a RM125. When I got my drivers license I was now obsessed with the steering wheel. I mastered the street rally and moved onto competition with autocross racing, a discipline that is perhaps not as well known in Europe, but it is quite popular in North America. It is easiest to describe as a slalom between cones, a technically very demanding discipline. After participating in a number of regional competitions in which I have achieved quite good results, including several victories, I looked for the possibility of making progress in motor sport and realized that for any progress what you need is a lot of money, which I did not have. - When do the motorcycles come in to picture again? • A part of my life I traveled in South East Asia, specifically Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Laos, trying to, like most young people find my own place in the world. There, motorcycles of all kinds are not lacking, from 50cc small scooters to larger and more powerful bikes, and soon I was riding one. Upon returning to Canada, it was all about motorcycles: from Suzuki GSXR 750 streetbike with which I did 3 trackdays, to the first real racebike, built for track - Kawasaki ZX6RR 05. The Kawasaki was an excellent first bike, but didnt have the agility of the now famous 06+ R6. I still have that bike in the garage, but compared to some of the newer bikes it is now completely noncompetitive. However, I did a lot of laps on the track and achieved good results. With that bike, in the first year of participation in regional competitions I got through things that simply each racer has to go through: the travel and preparation of the bike completely on my own, over the first good results and the bad-luck of crashing and mechanic gremlins. - Around this time you start recording video clips from the travelling and competition, through which you became recognizable around the world ... • Video production and camera are my vocation if you judge by my diploma. Its also something that I love to do and what interests me. The videos I made at the beginning were made with a big digital 8 camcorder taped to the fuel tank, which to my satisfaction did not last long because soon I found digital cameras such as the Canon S1000 had a SD video mode. I was using this camera successfully well before GoPro came to be. Video stories about trips, visits to the tracks and races are primarily recorded for my own personal use, for my collection. However, for some reason people liked them, and very soon I had a large number of views. Thus, the number of people who watched not only my stories but my results in races increased. After a while people around and on the tracks started to recognize me and come up to me, which was really fascinating. I drove Canada from back to back competing and everywhere someone would recognize me. At that time, I financed racing with my limited financial resources so often on long trips I had to sleep in my truck or in a trailer next to my motorcycle. - For 2012, you had big plans ... • In 2012 BMW Canada had a special offer for racers. It went something like this: if you’re buying a BMW S1000RR with the intention to compete with it, you’ll get it for a special deal price. The price was really tempting, well below dealer cost prices. I found myself at a crossroads and had to decide where to go, which path to follow in life. Although, previous participation in racing at regional and national level got me quite financially exhausted, I kept part of my savings, part of which I planned to use to put a down-payment for a house or something like that. The offer from BMW Canada sounded too good to pass, so I purchased the bike for $11,500 and put $10,000 into building it for race competition. There were sponsors who have helped out as well, so I had high expectations for the season 2012. However, it proved to be a year full of disappointment and frustration. Although the start of the season was promising, soon the problems with the engine on the BMW began to appear. At first, I started experiencing problems with starts, as if the engine had a problem with the ignition. We tried all possible ways to solve this problem, but not only did we not solve them, but as the season progressed problem deteriorated. The plan for this year was to journey from track to track, take part in races and slowly build up form and get to know the bike. While traveling the Canadian Superbike Championship circuit, I had to visit every BMW dealership to continue the Warranty diagnosis process. They were trying to solve the problem of 20 deficent horsepower (165 instead of 185), and unknown launch issue. We changed parts, sometimes more than once but no solution was found. For all this, the Canadian representatives of the manufacturer has steadfastly refused to accept responsibility for the faulty unit. A new engine was all it needed, and BMW refused, saying 165HP was good enough, and ignored the launch issue. It was a very tough season, but I enjoyed the racing, as always! After a very long and difficult negotiations, the manufacturers Canadian representative nevertheless agrees to provide a completely new engine for 2013. One year too late, but still a move in the right direction. Unfortunately I was now financially exhausted, so I couldnt make the best of it. My form, both riding and physical were significantly improving The new engine made the bike competitive again, with my first race weekend at Portland International Raceway. - In 2013, you came up with the idea that there might be a possibility of getting to some much needed financial resources through videos and stories that you were posting on Youtube? • In mid-2013, I ran out of funds to continue racing. To be clear, there were some sponsors who helped as much as they could, but there was no influx of cash, rather I would get products. After a while you realize that its not what you need, and even that in such an arrangement remains a possibility that you get things that are not the priority at that moment. Basically, 2013 has proved a very difficult year and I then appealed to the people that follow me to help me continue my career through donations. The only thing I had to offer was to display names of the people helping me in my videos. - Thus you became one of the first crowd funded racers on the planet ... • Yeah, I guess so. I went down that road because I had no other choice, and it turned out that, in relatively short period of time, I was able to raise enough money to get to California and to continue my racing career. The whole action went under the slogan Help Me Get To California. referring to race at Thunderhill in Willows California. Despite all these obstacles, I kept moving forward because I made steady progress. Sometimes, results maybe did not show, but it was evident that I was making progress in riding technique and speed. - This year marked the two things: the main sponsor and co-operation with Greg The Mikanik and participation in the AMA Superbike championship, while riding a motorcycle almost stock in specs. • Yes, the impossible has happened. A title sponsor found me through my videos. The cooperation was initiated after exchanging several long e-mails, which differed from standard e-mails I get from fans around the world. The first e-mail that I received from Greg was long, with a lot of concrete, detailed, and elaborate questions. I answered and correspondence continued for a while. We concluded that we shared the view on things related to racing and that we should meet. Practically at that meeting MobiBuff/ Irnieracing partnership was forged. Greg the Mikanik became very knowledgeable about motorcycles and a great help in the garage, and in many ways he took the load off of me related to the preparation of motorcycles. Bearing all this in mind, it is clear why we went with high expectations in 2014. New tires was a first, and having the ability to crash and financially fix gives the confidence needed to win. Around 90% of the club level competitions we entered we fought for the win. The strategy has so far been getting results and thats why we were not changing it this year either: use the regional competition for improvement and uplifting of the form and prepare for the chance to appear in the AMA SBK. For our first race season as a team, and first entry into the AMA Pro Superbike class, our results were great. Although I had a fall at Laguna Seca I can say for the season it is more than successful. Especially considering our result in the rain at New Jersey Motorsports Park. In the first race held on September 13th 2014, I took sixth place! The race was ridden in hard rainy conditions, which leveled off the chances of success for all, regardless of the motorcycle on which they are or how much budget available. I started from the 19th starting position and in really difficult conditions managed to get to 6th place passing Factory supported riders such as Cory West and Chris Clark. This result gave us a lot of enthusiasm to make sure we prepare in the best possible way for next season. - When you speak of preparation, how does Marcel Irnie prepares for next season • In previous years preparations included a lot of off-road riding during the break. However, as I have had two serious knee injuries this segment of the preparation is out of the question. I just do not dare to risk another injury off-season. What remains is working out at the gym, with fitness coach Ryan Brown. Personally, I am not satisfied with the physical form I’m in, but the search for sponsors takes a lot of time that would be better spent in the gym or on the bike. When the team budget is thin, and when the primary thing is to attract sponsors everything else comes second. I hope to soon be able to devote all my time to what athletes off-season do - prepare for the season. Only then will I be in physical form that will allow me to do on a motorcycle and with the motorcycle what I want and can. - As someone who knows the world of club, regional, national and now AMA superbike competition if you can draw some parallels between them or whether is this possible at all? • There are very few things in common for all of these competitions: quality, competition, organizations ... AMA is certainly first among competitions listed above, although the management who led the AMA Superbike competition last 6 years was very bad: attendance at the races fell, TV coverage should be far better, which means there’s fewer sponsors, and therefore less money in the sport. - Why in your opinion, in the last decade there are virtually no North American riders successful in the competition at a global level, whether it be MotoGP or WSBK? Even the great hope of America Josh Herrin lost his contract with Moto2 team for the lack of the results a few weeks ago. • Yes, it is evident that none of North American riders made any breakthrough on a global level. For this there is a number of reasons: firstly, in my opinion, there should be competitors at a younger age involved in the sport. Secondly, racing infrastructure in Europe is on a much higher level than in the US and Canada. Let me illustrate: the only track I raced with painted curbs that were not dangerously slippery was Laguna Seca. Im talking about the state of the track in completely dry conditions. On all other tracks curbs were very, very slippery as there was no grip added to the paint. And the third reason is the system of competition: There are no competitions or championships that allow you to ride stock bikes with small differences between motorcycles in technical terms, which gives a clear insight into the quality of the riders, and also allows young riders in these conditions to progress rapidly. On the other hand, the talents who go to Europe to compete with high hopes often obtain obtain that status thanks to a quality team and motorcycle: Josh Herrin would not have achieved an AMA Pro SBK title, if he was piloting a consumer Yamaha R1. The Race Factory Yamaha would also not be so dominant in the AMA Pro Superbike class if the governing body of the championship didnt play favorites, usually based on financial gain. Its ok for a manufacture to sponsor a series, but when they influence the rules to better fit them, it is not. We hope the move to MotoAmerica next season will create a successful class rules structure, making it not a factory race series but a competitive race series. Moto America which is run by the KRAVE group has purchased the marketing, promotion and management of the AMA Road Racing series from DMG (Daytona Motorsports Group). The direction in which this competition should go is, I believe, to create rules that do not allow such a big difference between different motorcycles, something closer to the stock version. This would increase competitiveness of the championship making it more interesting to watch, which would bring in bigger crowds. North America has not, and can not sustain a MotoGP technological field of competitors with the lack of sponsorship funds and interest in the sport. The sport needs to be financially affordable to bring back the entertainment with larger grids and quality on-track battles. Could you imagine if everyone on the AMA Pro Superbike grid had to give up Traction Control for one weekend? The results might be very surprising. - In the end, the question as if you were in a job interview: where do you see yourself next year and where three years from now? • My phone still does not ring, factory teams are not waiting on a line, haha! The goal for next year is to improve on this years results, taking part in MotoAmerica championship that with a little luck could be more balanced, from technical point of view. Frankly, I hope soon to be completing the sponsorship of the team, because MobiBuff / Irnieracing/ Worlds Best Motorcycles currently has one of the best media presentations and the most complete marketing package. In three years time... I see myself in World SBK and training students around the World. This was the story of Marcel Irnie, which, it seems, would remain incomplete if not accompanied by the description of the impression left on us by him. It was not easy to write down an interview I did with him: when answering questions he does it by covering many different topics and making a wide range of points but in the end you see that nothing that was said was excessive and that everything he said lead to a precise conclusion. He is very intelligent and focused man, completely open and very pleasant with a smiling personality. Based on the impression that he made on me all I can say is this: I do not know what he will do next year, but Im sure in three years time we’ll be watching him in World SBK! Written by Dušan Milunović bikeangle/?p=134
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 23:18:10 +0000
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