The COTA Interviews

Motopod, proudly supported by Road Skin, a UK label specializing in protective outerwear for motorcyclists. Modern biker clothing that you can wear all day long and engineered to save your skin. For the road, for life, visit roadskin.co.uk. Welcome to Motopod, the Internet radio show all about motorcycle road racing. This is episode number 764, the Koda Interviews.

I'm Jim McDowell, here to introduce all the interviews that I got while I was at the races in Koda or the Circuit of the Americas. I have five interviews for all of you. Hopefully you will enjoy them. I'll just tell you a little bit about each one. First, you're going to hear from Simon Patterson, a renowned journalist inside the Paddock.

We have a quick talk about Liberty Media, the buying of MotoGP commercial rights from Liberty. We talk about Trackhouse and Justin Sparks, and we talk about Flat Rock. That's a pretty interesting little catch up there that we have with Simon. After that, you'll hear from John Hopkins. I caught him for a few minutes.

We talk about obviously Joe Roberts, his role in the team, what he does, how he keeps Joe going, Joe going I should say, and how he helps him out on the race weekends. He has some interesting comments that you'll find that he makes about Joe Roberts as well. After that, we'll go to Eric Paredes of Flat Rock. He is the man in charge of getting the track up and running and the operations and the marketing, all that. It's a great interview with him about what they're trying to do at Flat Rock, about the track itself, about what their goals are for it.

It's really insightful as to what happens when you want to build a racetrack, where the money goes, how you sell yourself, what you perceive to bring in, how you want to do it, how do you want to maintain crowds, how do you want to look at all those aspects. It's a very insightful interview as well. From there, we're going to spend about 10 minutes with Joel Calso from the BOE Motorsports Moto3 team. Talk to him on Friday after first practice. It's really interesting what he has to say about the track.

You will enjoy that part of it. After that, we sit back down with him on Saturday after qualifying and he gives us some insight into what he thought would happen in the race. It's a really interesting interview. As many riders, he's very well coached in PR speak. He has measured words that he does speak.

If you listen to it carefully and you read between the lines, you will understand what he's saying. If you watch the race, you'll kind of fill in a few things that you may not have seen. Lastly, the last interview is with Don Rosamondo, the CCO, Chief Commercial Officer for Dorna. He's an American and came from the NBA. We sat down and talked for about 15 minutes or so.

It is an amazing interview because this is a man who really didn't know much about motorcycle road racing, who falls in love with motorcycle road racing. That passion for the sport that he has comes through in this interview. There are some insightful things about what they want to do, who they want to court, what to do to bring an American rider to an American team in MotoGP. All those things are very fascinating to me and things that hopefully Rich will be able to carry on and meet up with Dan in Silverstone and see how these things are progressing. Again, we talk about Liberty Media and everything, but to give you an idea of how passionate Dan Rosamondo is about MotoGP and getting it to the American market.

When I first walked into his office at COTA, the first thing he did was, Hey, Jim, check this out. He shows me his iPhone and he's playing the commercial or advertisement that TBS did for MotoGP during the NBA game where Shaquille O'Neal and I believe it's Charles Barkley are talking about MotoGP and how wild and crazy it is. That's where Dan is in his love of this sport. Also, I don't think it's mentioned in the interview, but I'd like to mention it here. For those of you fans who are in the US and you don't have the door in a pass to watch all the racing live, you can now watch the racing, all the racing, Moto2, Moto3, MotoGP on HBO Max.

If you have HBO Max as a streaming service, if you have the app, you can see it there. Go to the search, search for sports. You can search MotoGP actually, and it will come up. Also it's supposedly it's on Tubi. If you have a subscription to Tubi, I do not, so I can't verify that for you, but I just want to pass along those things so that you fans who maybe aren't getting all the coverage that you really wanted can also enjoy as well.

And with that, enjoy the interviews. Alright MotoPotters, Jim here with Simon Patterson. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Absolutely welcome. Absolutely welcome.

I can't think of much better to do than stand in the sun on the paddock and have a catch-up for that scene. It's so nice and warm at the minute here. Yeah, it is nice and warm here. It's actually beautiful considering last year was a little wind mess and cold and I was all bundled up. But yeah, some things have happened here just to get your perspective on.

Liberty Media buys MotoGP. Now for me as an American, I remember the DMG takeover of American Superbike and I'm queasy in my stomach. Do I need to be worried? I don't think so. I think that from everything we've heard so far, speaking to Dorna, speaking to Liberty, speaking to all the people involved, they know that they've got a really good on-track product and I think they want to stay really hands-off with what they've got on the track.

I think that they know that the Dorna system works, that they do a good job with it. The problem that we have is all the stuff around it that isn't very good. Someone at Dorna told me recently that they believe that for 45 minutes on a Sunday afternoon they have the best show on air. Oh, I agree. There's nothing better.

The problem is convincing people to watch it. Yeah. And that's where they need to work. And I think that Liberty can come in, they can leave MotoGP to its own devices, but they can do a lot more to sell MotoGP to people who don't already watch it. And I think that can be the strength of this deal.

That can be the positives from it. And hopefully that plays out. Hopefully that's what we get to see from it. I hope so too. Because I think motorcycle racing is one of the greatest sports you could ever possibly watch.

It's so visceral. It's the colors and everything. I don't want it changed. So again, I saw what BMG did to American Superbike and now we're left with Moto America and Wayne Rainey's trying, but it doesn't get to traction. But hopefully maybe opening eyes up with that.

So second question. We have Justin Marks. He buys Trackhouse. He's an American. How did that happen?

That one blows my mind. I mean, the guy's a racer. Do not take... He is 100% a racer. He is.

I'll give him that. He's a race fan. I think just for true to his timing, he came to Australia last year for the Grand Prix with Jim Fance actually from Daytona. They flew over together. He fell in love instantly with MotoGP.

That's good to know. He realized like Liberty, he realized that what we've got here is actually undervalued because there's so much potential with it that we've not explored it. So if anything, he was kind of the precursor to the Liberty Day because he saw the same things that they saw. He made a plan to try and buy in for 2025. The crypto data thing fell apart quite spectacularly and suddenly there was an opportunity and he went, you know what?

We'll do it. We'll go for it. We'll take it. He did it. He's got a MotoGP team.

They've had a bit of a rocky start to the year, but I don't think that's because of the takeover. I think that's other issues that are still sorting out. Maybe as part of the increased Aprilia support and the amount of extra effort they've had to do to deliver what he wants from it. But he's not here to make a profit. He's here to have fun racing.

He's not here for the short term. He's here for the long term. I think that based on what we've seen them do in NASCAR, and I've suddenly found myself NASCAR fan because of between suddenly paying attention to it and I have to say a really, really good Netflix documentary series. True. Between the two, you get a glimpse of what track house they're all about and what they want to do.

I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm excited to see what Justin can deliver. Yeah, me too. I'm very excited. I think it's a done deal that we're going to Flat Rock when it's finished.

I think so. I mean... Sorry to interrupt, but you had said something about Aragon gets three years at 20, 25, 26, 27. So are we thinking 28 for Flat Rock? I think one thing that has been pretty universally across the MotoGP paddock is that we are going to do last year, which we have to do.

We need to bring the sport to more of the world. The rest of the world deserves it because we've got the best sport on earth, right? Flat Rock have gone the rather novel way of doing things in the MotoGP paddock where instead of getting a contractor on a race and then trying to build a circuit, they've just went about the circuit first. It looks like a world-class facility. It looks like it's being built for MotoGP.

Looks really fun to ride. I think all the signs are there. I've noticed a few people wearing their gear in the paddock this weekend. So they're here having a local ride. Yeah, I've been trying to get a hold of the guys at Flat Rock.

I talk with Tim, their marketing guy, a lot. Eric is a big bike nerd, so he's into that whole thing with the track there. They kind of told me a little bit that, you know, look, it's going to be MotoGP. We're going to be there, but we can't do it on the first circuit. We got to do it on the second one that's going to be built because they said quite frankly, there's one term that a motorcycle is not going to really be dealing with.

I agree with that. I've seen the track layout elevation. I think it's mega. I'd really do. If Hortamayo is the roller coaster, this would look like it'd be a supercharged roller coaster.

But who knows? Well, let's hope that it works out. I mean, it's in a great location in terms of East Coast, where all of those amazing biking roads. Yeah, the tail of the dragon. Exactly, it's all in that area.

So hopefully that all means that there'll be big fan interest in it. I hope so. And hopefully we'll get another race there because North America needs another race. Does North America need three races? It probably does, but first of all it needs three circuits capable of having them.

And right now it only has one. That's the problem. Laguna Seca is too small and too unsafe for modern motorchips. That's the reality. I don't see Laguna Seca ever coming back again.

Me neither. I think that's not unfortunately as much as we'd love to go there. And indeed, it doesn't seem to be of interest to them in it. Yeah, Roger Fenske owns the place. Roger doesn't care a thing about bikes.

That's the problem. So until someone else builds a few new circuits, we'll see what happens. But at least someone's building one for us. Right. I'm thinking that the Ridge, close to Seattle, has a chance.

I'm not saying they will. It's lacking infrastructure, but the track is pretty good. It's got a lot of runoff. I don't think there'd be a whole lot you'd have to do, but there is a lack of hotels and things of that nature in the area. The drive around Puget Sound to get back to Seattle is a bit long, but I think it has a chance, maybe.

I hope so. We've actually been in that area just before coming here. You and Maddie's? Yeah. Her race team in the Women's World Championship this year, her riders from Olympia, her home circuit's the Ridge, my way off.

So we've been in that area this week. It's a beautiful area. I think there's enough infrastructure around. I know that the Ridge needs a bit of investment, but the thing is, if money can be picked up from the US, if Liberty is a success, then suddenly there'll be a budget to do things like this. People will be interested to invest.

There will be more circuits up here, and hopefully we make something work. I'm not opposed to four races in the US, but that means we get to go to Daytona as well in some form. Not on the current track, but if there's anywhere in the world that needs more to GP, it's the home of Ike Ryssen, isn't it? It's Daytona. I agree.

I can't disagree with you on that one. I take four races. I'm just interested in Flat Rock, because it's only six hours for me to get there as opposed to the 18 to get down here. But that's neither here nor there with all that. But I do think that maybe Justin might be willing to front some money at the Ridge, too.

Who knows? It's convenient, let's say, that the Ridge is halfway between his base in Nashville and the team's base in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's right in the fire line. Right there where it needs to be. I'm sure he's well aware of it.

Flat Rock, folks, is right in between. That's what we were talking about. I misspoke. I said Ridge. Sorry.

Just so that I get everybody straight on this one. So, yeah. So, I mean, I'm looking forward to it. Now, bigger question. Do you think Marquez can win on the Ducati here?

He loves this place. Oh, of course he's going to win. All right, Santa Fe has already got it predicted. Go to your favorite betting place and go put money down. Simon Patterson said he's going to win.

I don't know, to be honest with you, but I think Acosta's going to show. I think he's got a podium in him here. I wouldn't be surprised with it, but for me, just, Mark has, he showed in Port of Malwood what he's capable of on that Ducati. This is a circuit where the rider makes a difference. Yes.

There has never been a rider that makes a difference at this circuit like Mark Marquez. And I think pieces are there for him to do something special on something. I'm not sure if he's a title contender for the rest of the year, but I think we can see him win on something. Win on Sunday. All right, we'll leave it there.

Thanks, Simon. Hey, Moto Parters, Jim here with John Hopkins at Kota. Hi, John, thanks for taking the time to talk to Moto Parts. Yeah, thanks. Yeah, well, just here at work.

Just happens to be on American soil this time, which is good. Yeah, I always joke on the show that I'm always got the American flag folded and ready to go with Joe and Moto too. He's been so good so far this year. On the second in points, what can we expect here at Kota right now? Well, I think we can expect the best out of Joe.

Obviously he wants to go out and put it on the top of the box for the fans. But, you know, it's just another race weekend for him. Obviously he has the support of the American fans and wants to put on a good show himself. But it's a tough class. I mean, he's just got to keep his head on straight.

I believe he can be on the top of the box, but he's just trying to maintain points, keep himself well up there in the championship and keep the ball rolling. Is that your part as a coach, just to try to keep him level, tell him he can do it? Yeah, exactly. Talk him through those bad moments? Yeah, it's more of just kind of keeping him in control, keeping his head kind of screwed on tightly, you know, on your shoulders and, you know, not letting it float away a little bit.

And then obviously during the bad moments, kind of lifting him back up, making himself self-belief and making himself believe that he can do it. Because there's no reason why he can't. He's been here long enough. He's got a lot of experience on the bike. He's got a great crew around him.

So, no, I think we've got a serious world championship contender. That's awesome to hear. Is this one of Joe's favorite tracks? I can't say it's one of his favorites, but he enjoys it. He likes it.

And just being on American soil, he's happy. Okay. Looking for big things out of him this weekend. Thanks, Joe. Thanks, John.

Thank you. Hey, Motopartners. Jim here with Eric of Lat Rock. The new track going in in Knoxville. Eric, thanks for taking time and Koda to talk to us.

It's really, I know, got to be crazy here for you guys. It's quite busy and there's a lot of hype around Flat Rock. There's obviously been some news that have been leaked in European press and the news floating around in the circle that Flat Rock might be a great facility for the future of MotoGP. And we're very excited about that. We're honored to be considered and we are definitely working hard to see how we can make this happen.

Yeah, I think it's only logical. I mean, when I first talked to Tim, he's like, don't worry about the money. We've got plenty of money to do the track and everything, which is in America, that's one of the biggest things is having the money to be able to do it. Absolutely. But then when it leaked out that Justin Marks was behind it, I understood, yep, okay, I get the money part of it.

So what exactly is your role on the track? So my role is in terms of, I act as a consultant for business development. So basically I'm kind of like the guy that has the playbook and provide guidance to the leadership team in terms of commercial activities, how to monetize the facility, strategize the future. And more or less that was my position here at Circuit of the Americas. So I've been here for eight years.

So I started the business in 2014. When Circuit was completed, it was built, came here to work in 2013 and then in 2014 joined the team full time. And at that level, the company was a startup still. It only had an F1 race and a MotoGP race under its belts. And it needed to build itself in terms of club racing event, in terms of manufacturer event, high performance driver education event, riding event for motorcyclists.

And then structuring a racing school with the partnership of Audi, which was the Audi driving experience. And then afterwards setting up a open wheel racing school with a fleet of Formula 4s, the karting facility. So more or less my expertise revolves around monetizing motorsport facilities and providing guidance to organizations that are building from scratch. So I basically started as a driver in my teenage years and like most drivers had aspirations to either make the jump to Formula 1 or IndyCar. But with the complication that comes with this, again always revolving around dollars, I was fortunate enough to build a career on the management side of the business.

So I feel I'm very blessed and when I was approached by Tilkey, the designers that have built Circuit of the Americas and many of the F1 tracks around the world, they talked to me about the project that was going on at Flat Rock and I was fortunate enough to discover Flat Rock as it was just an open field, there was nothing yet, construction hadn't started. And I met the founders and they shared their vision and their plan and I just felt this was a once in a lifetime. And from my background, I competed as a driver, I'm riding motorcycles, I worked with manufacturers setting up ride and drives, setting up driving events. So I touched every aspect of the business, I had my own team, I raced as a driver, but I never built the facility. So I've worked in the management of the facility but I've never been through the cycle of construction.

So my career in the business is almost like the Star Wars trilogy where I've seen the end of this movie and now I'm living the beginning of it. So it's a very interesting approach and it kind of just provides me with insights on even understanding some of the things around here at Cota that you are like, oh, maybe this could have been done differently and you wonder how do you get there with all the people that are involved, all the planning, all of the efforts, there's thousands of people involved, but sometimes the little simple details can just get away if you have not kind of worked yourself on the other side of the business. So from building to operating a facility is completely different. And I came with that background where I was here as an operator for eight years and now seeing the construction cycle, I'm able to provide like valuable input and that's very stimulating. That's great.

So that's one of the questions that my co-host Rich has. His idea is, well, how do you bring the race car people to see a motorcycle race? Because where you are, you are right in the heart of NASCAR country. A lot of teams there, there's IMSA teams there as well. But the average person doesn't really think about motorcycles.

So how do you do that? They don't. But I think that if you expose them to the product, it's an appealing product. It's highly competitive. It's competitive racing.

It has everything to please the sports car fan. During my days here at Cota, I kind of presented an idea where I wanted to do a Moto America race and a GT SRO GT America race and combine both of them together. A certain facility is doable. Other facility it isn't for safety reasons. And Cota was one of those facilities where it was doable.

And unfortunately, we kind of just did not like manage to get schedules to align so that both series can join together. But I think that it's still something that now we have the luxury of building a facility and these ideas are on the table. So I think that by exposing the motorcycle fans to the sports car fans, I think there's synergies there that can be created. And you also have it within the manufacturer level, within the PWAG group that owns Audi. And under its umbrella, there is Lamborghini and there's Ducati.

So now you've got those natural synergies that are coming in, whether it is the sports car program with Honda Acura and the Honda Power Sport Division. So there's all these rich that you could create and you create cross promotion and you could create something that is completely new that has not been, to my knowledge, done in recent years. It might have been attempted in the past, but within the let's say the last 20 years, I don't recall that there was a Moto America or an AMA Pro at the time and either IMSA or sports car races. So I think that blending both of these crowds together and creating synergies with the manufacturers with the sponsors so that we create the win-win environment, I think that this is something that is a compelling offer. The other thing that motorcycle racing has in common with sports car racing is what I call events that are more or less based around RV, people that are camping.

It's more kind of a festival. It's not like an arena style event. This is this gigantic, gorgeous arena that is designed for Formula One and everybody is kind of seated side by side and it's a sprint race. It's an hour and 30 minutes and it's kind of like an arena type event. Where sports car racing, if you look at Le Mans, if you look at Daytona, if you look at Road Atlanta, 24 hours of the Nürburgring, it's kind of this big festival that goes on and campgrounds and bonfires and music and tailgating and people going from different part of the track to other parts of the track.

And Flat Rock is designed that way. So Flat Rock is designed to be very compelling for sports car racing but also very compelling for motorcycle racing which both have this affinity for this kind of event which is based around festival and camping. I'm all for that. We brought the RV down for the 18 hour drive from home and we enjoy being at the track the whole time because there's a lot of stuff that you can do that you can't do. You're not worried about running out to get in a car to go find a place to eat, to do all these other things but that sounds like the right approach to get everybody to come in there.

The festival atmosphere seems to be the way to go with all that which I really like that idea. So I think that, and that concept is also easier and more open for families. So it's within the RV camping concept you can go from dry camping to premium luxury RV or camping as they call it. So there's something for everybody. And from that perspective I think that those are ideas that we're working on and there is this desire to just bring people back to the facility and in what comes to mind you're probably aware of this, the year at Sebring where the race was cancelled but yeah 100,000 people showed up for that camping festival that lasted a full week.

So we feel that we are within that environment on the East Coast where within a day's drive you're kind of touching 80% of the US population and a very large percentage of the race fans, motorcycle racing, sports car racing, Indy car racing, stock car racing are all within the vicinity of Flat Rock. So I think that that's like a very strong point and we definitely want to leverage that in our favor and it's super easy to access. By Highway 40 you can actually see the facility from the highway. It's one exit so you can get there without an access. It's that easy.

That's great. With Liberty Media buying a portion of MotoGP, does that help or hurt Flat Rock? I wouldn't say either. In essence we see it as a good thing because definitely it is an American based company. They've done a lot for Formula One in America and I think it's just purely us speculating but we assume that the interest will be to see the potential for growth in America for motorcycle racing which is gigantic.

So when you start with conservative figures and you can bring it back to the glory days of AMA Pro, there is a huge potential out there. Obviously motorcycle racing, whether it is in Spain, in France, in some of the European countries, it is very mature, it is very popular. So the growth that you're going to get out of there by providing a better product, by having a better approach towards fans, are going to be single digits because you're already at the very core in America by providing all these things. You're looking at double digits growth which is very appealing for them, very appealing for us obviously, very appealing for the state of Tennessee as well so that we can bring people from out of state and get them in the region of Tennessee, get them to discover the beautiful Smoky Mountains which is I believe the busiest national park in the nation. That's true, that is very true.

So Tennessee has a lot to offer. So I think we are very fortunate because we are in a win-win situation. So I think for us it's only received as positive news and as constructive and we're quite confident that Liberty Media is going to do, like Lorna has been doing really, really good and they're just going to supplement and support them in order to elevate it to the next level. So is it going to be hard to bring say the Europeans to Knoxville? Because for me, for sure I think I'll be honest I don't see Knoxville being a destination like Miami or Vegas or LA or New York but definitely part of what, and I could share this out of experience from Austin where it's hard to bring, you could have that question in 2010, 2011 when the track was in construction here, how are you going to convince Europeans to come to Austin instead of Houston or Dallas or LA or the destination cities?

And one thing that I've noticed is that Europeans are very motivated by authentic experience. So they actually love their experience in Austin because it was authentic and if you were trying to seduce them or to bring them to the iron nicest, what they really enjoyed was Lee's barbecue fits and everything that is authentic with the culture and I think that definitely Tennessee has authenticity within its culture for bourbon and whiskey and barbecue as well, music city. So there is a lot of cultural flair to Tennessee and to the region that I feel will be very compelling to the Europeans that are following MotoGP and that would like to take a week or two of vacation and go through something that is an authentic unique experience and as well enjoy MotoGP in a scenic environment. That seems to make a lot of sense to me. I've been to Europe a couple of times, they were each for work, but for me the things that I enjoyed the most while I was there was not necessarily the tourist areas or the destination cities like London or Dublin, Dublin was nice, but the authentic little towns with the little bars and restaurants and all of that and you find out that they're just ordinary people like you, it's eye-opening, it's wonderful.

I guess that really same flair works both ways, which is surprising for me. So, and we're fortunate because we got full support of the Tennessee leadership, the tourism office and economic development are fully behind it, they have an amazing guy leading the project and Mark Heazell, he's been here, he's involved, he's one of the great assets for Tennessee, he's done amazing things and he's fully on board and they do value the interests that Europeans will have in trying to just attract them to Tennessee and show them something different. That's done good. With the track itself, since you've been with Kota and part of Tulka, have you been able to take what works for a track layout and take bits and pieces from different tracks and try to mold that to make Flat Rock or was Flat Rock a clean sheet and hey, this is a really great natural terrain area and we're going to use it to its greatest advantage? That's, you just summarized it well, so I unfortunately did not have any input on track design and that was part of the vision of our leadership and our founder where if you work with Tulka and sometimes Tulka has been criticized for having track layouts that are somewhat not as exciting as they could be but they also have to train where owners are asking that certain elements are present which kind of limits possibilities and they have to design the circuit according to the desires and the needs.

Kota is a really good example. So the original layout, the front straight right behind us was right by turn 15 so the track was all the way further downwards so that was the original design and then when the owner kind of looked at it and he kind of just said, you know what, this looks like very standard and very familiar and we would like to get something more exciting and that's where Tulka came in and said, well, there is this great hill, great piece that we could utilize and we could push the track backwards and just use a natural terrain to create this fantastic layout and the ownership followed and this is like what we have is a result of Tulka and people kind of getting together and using the land to its best so that they could create an exciting layout and I would say Flat Rock was a level beyond that where our founders basically said, here's the land, design the best track that you could ever design and then we'll figure out where to put these other things. So that's completely different from anything else that they've done and just being humble, I feel that everybody's going to see this track as very, very special the minute they get outside. Just from the pictures, the aerial pictures that I've seen posted online from the track layout that shows elevation in a 3D model, people say Fort de Mayo, which is a great track, is a roller coaster. I think this thing is going to be like trying to go to Disney World and riding like going to the galaxy or something.

This next level track is crazy to me. So Fort de Mayo might be the greatest roller coaster and now we're at the level where magnetic roller coasters just appeared and you get to a completely other level. We do have the elevation change, but turn three will be like 31 degrees of inclination. You're just coming in from a blind perspective. You see skyline and as you start seeing on the other side, it dives down like Corkscrew at Laguna Seca, but imagine the bottom of Corkscrew is this big bank turn like Daytona.

So you're kind of like going in blind, you're thrown in this ball and you're facing this massive wall, fully banked and going out of it. And again, it's just going to be very, very unique. This sounds exciting. It sounds like it's going to be a drivers riders type of track where you've got to bring the large attachments and go for it. Absolutely.

And every lap will be like, there's going to be moments where you've got to hold your breath. Like if you really want to be quick, you're going to need some commitment and every lap will be. And that's the thing. I think that I've done enough track in my life where I see a difference between tracks that are a great technical challenge, meaning that if you hit your brake markers or turn in point or apex or corner exit and you manage to do this precisely over 20 corners and you get perfect lap in, it's a satisfaction of just being so consistent and so precise that you could get that super keen lap. In essence, it's a almost an intellectual and mental challenge where you have other tracks where it just rubs your heart.

It's just like there is this, you need that precision, but there's also this commitment. You need courage. You need to just go for it or force yourself to go out there, to get the most out of yourself, the most out of your lap. And to me, those are tracks that will rev your heart and you'll never get fed up. You'll never get tired of it.

Like we'll just go and go and go and go and go and you could run 10,000 laps and the next lap will still be a challenge. We're at some of the tracks. Once you've been there, you've done it and you just have to work on consistency and being precise. There's something a bit redundant about it, like without being too spoiled, but just saying like the challenge is different and the motivation is different and the excitement is different. Yeah, I totally understand that part of it.

I race club for motorcycles, I road race. I get where you're coming from from that. I know it. I used to go to a track called Rodden. They had an uphill, but at the top, at the crest, it was lined.

You had to go right, then switch back, go left. And if you went through it fast, if you held your breath, you buckled down to do it and you went through it with the satisfaction, there's a big smile inside the helmet, right? And I think what you're describing is going to be big smiles under the helmet of anyone who takes on that track. Absolutely. So Flat Rock will definitely be one of those.

And the great thing about Flat Rock also is that sometimes when you look at circuit configuration, there's also like crossover sections. So you could subdivide the circuit into one mile and two mile and these crossover sections are more or less interesting. It's kind of just like a paved way halfway through the track, allowing you to configure like 2.5 instead of 3.5. And that doesn't create like something that's very unique. We're at Flat Rock, we have a configuration of a one mile course and that one mile course is as exciting and maybe slightly more than Lime Rock, per se.

So you got that quality into a crossover segment and same applies to the 2.5 mile segment and then you combine both with a 3.5 mile. There's also chicane that allows you, which are well designed, so exciting and well designed where they allow you to run the track differently and make it safer for a really, really, really fast high performance machinery, whatever, a bike or a car. It might be better to just run the chicane, but the chicane has elevation in it and the configuration itself is not a compromise over the quality of the track. So I think that that's something very unique where generally when they're building these tracks for these existing tracks, it seems as if it is a compromise and it didn't really matter because often those sub-configuration are used for training. So they're used for driving schools, they're used for riding schools and the essence is more so about teaching basics or helping students grow.

So therefore that crossover is not really kind of like important and you can work with it. It's almost kind of like a tool versus us. It has been approached as we're designing the school 1 mile configuration, we're designing the school 2.5 mile configuration and we have this amazing 2.5 mile. So from a track perspective and from an end user perspective, the track has so much to offer. That's really cool that you said that chicanes also have a chain of elevation and all that.

I know a member of the mom with how to do chicanes and they put chicanes in it. It's like they neutered the track. If you talk to Alan McNish or the Great Dane, Tom Christensen, they say how hard it is because you're crossing over the road, the crown of the road and then it's slick. You can't find your apex and they're not mirrors of each other, they're two completely different things. It's good to know that what you guys are doing for a track is really focusing on making a great track, which is going to bring the people.

Absolutely. I think it's going to bring the riders, it's going to bring the drivers, the racers and the public also in general because with elevation, I think this is something that Kota has going for itself is that it's one of the tracks where those vantage points where you almost see 60% of the track or beyond 50% of the track, which offers a lot for fans versus other traditional tracks where you're going to see just a segment of the track or a corner or a bit of a straight and a little bit of a corner and then they're gone and you wait a minute, a minute and a half for everything to just be in for the action to come back at you. So from also that point, Flat Rock will also offer with these different vantage point in elevation areas where you can see 40% of the track, 50% of the track. So I think that's also very, very good for the fans. So you kind of go to a facility, spend a week in there, but you can actually see the action on site.

So just a couple more questions from me. One, where are you at in the construction process now? So right now the 3.5 miles, the base layer of paving is down. We're completing curving. So curving is about 50-60% completed.

It's about 30-40% to go. Fencing, tech grow, direwalls, race electronics. The construction of the clubhouse is already ongoing. We're building private members units. So these private garage fondos are going up.

So we estimate that the planning for completing paving is set for late May, early June. We'll need a couple of weeks for the pavement to settle down. And we feel that by late July, early August, we should be able to put cars on track. I don't believe the track will be raceable at that time. So for standard track activities, just bring on the car, the bikes, go on track and ride or run or race.

I think we're looking at probably beginning of the season of 2025, March, April. This year will be a lot of discovery experience, lead follow. We might do HPDE in the fall. So we're talking with some clubs and that's a possibility that we're evaluating right now. So there's definitely a lot of interest and a big hype around Flat Rock, whether it is from the manufacturer, on the motorcycle side, on the car side, filming and in traditional activities.

So I think we might be able to do some test days by this fall. We might be able to do some high performance driver education. It all goes well. And let's say the bare minimum will be experience for people to go on track and drive the track and experience what it is at control speed, safe environment, because there might still be elements of construction that need to be completed. So that's where we're at.

If you know and if you can say, when do you think will be the first major race and who will it be? Will it be IndyCar, Mimsa, Moto America, something like that? That one is a bit hard to say right now. I'd love to share more. I understand.

I understand. It'll come soon. It'll come soon enough and we'll be able to make some really exciting announcements. If you follow the press, there's been bits that have been dropped left and right, whether it is sports car racing. We have very serious conversation on the sports car racing side.

We've pretty much had good, really good conversation, whether it is on the motorcycle side. So there's going to be good racing action at Flat Rock and things to do. Well, I'm going to keep an eye on all that and then I will be at whatever the first race is, I'll be sure to be there. Absolutely. And hopefully I can get back in touch with you guys.

When you guys build close-knit construction, just see what's going on. Just got to keep tips on this because this is exciting for motorcycles. I think the people at Moto Club want to hear as well. Yeah, we've had good conversation with a lot of the clubs, whether it's the clubs that are providing track days and racing schools as well. So Flat Rock would be welcome.

Thanks Eric, appreciate your time. Yeah, you're welcome. Hey motor-petters, Jim here with Volcaso, the BOE Motorsports motor-free rider. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me today. No, it's nice.

No, it's a pleasure. So we're here in Cota in the United States. Where does this track rank for you against the other tracks you're in? Look, this track is really specific. It's unique.

It's different to every other track in the world. It's one track that's super difficult, but when you can get it right, it feels well. And I think that's why it's special because you always happen to push, but within reason. Because with the bumps and stuff, you've got to take it into account. And yeah, it makes it for an interesting weekend, I think.

They're quite tiring at the end of the day because you feel mentally exhausted from thinking so much. And the track's so long also, so you make one mistake and you lose that whole ride, but you're two minutes away from it. And that's super important here because you don't get many laps with happy to lose. So have you found a good setup so far? Yeah, feeling quite comfortable at the moment.

And overall quite happy with how we feel today. We did a really long run. NFP we didn't stop. We just did the end tire and felt really well. And yeah, and then once we took the new set of soft saddle, we felt good.

So we're positive going into day two. I think that we still need to find a little bit, but we know where we're missing it and where we can improve. Since you brought up tires, I'm going to ask the question. We've moved from the Dunlop to the Pirelli. Has that been a difficult transition for you?

Yeah, massive. Also this year there's been a new KDM. I was going to ask that question too. Also I wondered about KDM. They made a massive step this year and the bike is completely different.

The unique parts of the KDM before is not so much there, but there's new good parts about the bike. And with the tire it also affects that. So it's completely a different bike. You cannot ride the bike the same way as what you did in the last three or four years. It's completely a new style.

I find a really good way to pick up on that really fast. So that's really positive because every race is getting stronger. But from the beginning we've been strong and like I said, we're pretty PC-tintentive. And that's because we felt good from the beginning. So we've got to continue our race and this weekend is really important for us to bring home some good points and be able to manage the rest of the season.

So is the bike now more of the dirt track speedway style for you? No, not at all. It's actually all purpose. Oh really? Okay.

In the end to be a professional rider and to win and be a world champion which is a goal and to be the best in the world, you've got to be able to do it tough. That's the key part. I'm really happy I've been able to do it really fast. It's very good to understand the bike and what we'll need to be happy. We're feeling strong and I feel like we've really made a step as a rider in these last two years mentally and physically.

And just the approach to racing and trying to get more and more stronger every weekend is really strong to see. And also I think it's better for the crew around me working. They enjoy more work than me because I can now understand what mistakes are happening and what good parts they've improved. So you started out really good this season. Sorry, you started out, it's like your third season of Motos 3.

The season started off really well on the car. You were 8. You went quarter mile. You were 5. Are you reaching the goal that you set for yourself for this year already?

Yeah, well this year we want to fight for the championship. At the moment we're keeping the championship, but it's a long season and I wanted to start off because in the last two seasons before I've been injured pretty much directly from the get go. Last year in Portugal we did a good race and our friends did great at it. But at the end of this year is important just to get through the season. And let's say I don't want to say what my goals are outside, but we have a goal and if we meet that goal it will be good.

And I think we will start to see when I'm going to stop applying pressure to myself in the next three or four races. But for now we're just taking a step by step, taking good points home. We're happy to walk away with a top six finish. That's our goal for this next couple of races. From the past season I just want to get really good points on the board before summer break, start to step it up and make a good end to the year.

If you don't mind can we go back and talk about your beginning. You were born in Darwin, which I think is what the Northern Territories are in Australia. And you moved to Europe around the age of 15. You can't. Why?

Well, Europe is the heart of racing. In general, road racing is the main place for it. In Australia we had a really good run. We won many championships there on flat track, after on road racing. And then it was time that we moved to Europe and we had a good red old crack at it.

And me and my mates packed up everything and made a team over there and did some pretty decent results. And then we ended up here. It was like a flashback over a five, six year period, but it happened overnight. You did some CEV, Moto3, you did some Supercork 300. Were those just rides that you could find to try to get your foot in the door to get to where you are now?

Well, the CEV, the Junior World Championship, is the only way to pretty much come to World Championship in the 95, 10th cases. And yeah, we made it to the 4th or 5th races in the Junior World Championship. It gave us the opportunity to come to World Championship. So Australia produced a lot of world champions, whether it be MotoGP or Probe Bike. Do you find any pressure in being Australian and trying to do what Gardner or Payless or the guys do?

I think the Spaniards are a lot more hard to top. A lot more world champions. I'd definitely... Australia needs a new championship. Well, a new champion really for the country.

It's been a few years now. I would love to be the first Aussie in a few years to be able to bring it back up into the 5-pack. It's a long shot. We need to, like I said, work on each race, be there, fighting, try to put our foot in the door, try to put us back to the rhythm that we are right now and try to get Aussie back on the map. Sounds good.

So you have Jacob Wolfson joining Moto3. You have Sena Aegis, Mo2, all Aussies. Do you guys hang out together? No, not much honestly, but at the end we're all racing bikes. We're all flat out.

We have 22 races. You get pretty caught up and normally you hang out with your team and try to figure out a plan because our year is pretty much all about making it. We don't get much downtime either. We're changing it with the 22, 23 races. It's a hectic season.

It's good to have Aussies in the field like I said, but we need to Aussie back on the map by the end of the season. So I was just curious because you see the Cumberland guys play cards and stuff together like this. Yeah, I've definitely made with other riders in the card game, but not necessarily Australian. I've made with many mates in Spanish, Italian, and other sports. I've definitely made with a few other guys in the card game.

So it's a big family caravan around the world. Yeah, exactly. You and the V8 7 Con. Exactly right. So is it still fun?

Yeah, living the dream. Living the dream? Yeah, for sure. Well, I appreciate the time. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow and talk about what happened.

Same here. Hey, Matt Potter. Jim back. Saturday afternoon with Joel Kelsa. Joel, not quite the qualifying.

I think you want this. Overall, it's not a bad result. We're in the second row. Yeah, feel strong for tomorrow. And yeah, the conditions were different than what we expected and we just had to manage what we got.

And yeah, with the conditions put us in the T5 and that's what I could manage today. The best I could give and I'm happy with it. I'm starting anything possible from there. It's the same front row or second row and then it's M3. I pray anything can happen in M3.

Was the wind difficult because where I was at 8.9, it was just brutal over there. Yeah, exactly. And that was the factor. I was trying to do the lap alone but with the wind it made a bit of extra inconvenience. But as I said, overall in FP3 we did a really good job of being through there.

FP3 in the practice is where the work is done for the race. Qualifying just to see who's faster. And today we'll be five in the fastest lap. So that's what I've got to work for tomorrow and tomorrow the important part is the race. Do you think you can get a good start from that middle part of the grid?

Yeah, for sure. For sure we need to make a good start and continue and let's see what turns out to be the race. I cannot tell you what's going to happen. We're just going to have to say... Yeah, it seems like if you can get a good start you can hang with everybody through the S's.

Because really there's not a place to pass until you get to maybe seven on the track. Anything can happen in that time frame, right? I don't know mate. Tomorrow at FP3 there's a place to pass everywhere. I think they show that every weekend.

You guys do pull off some incredible passes in some very crazy places that is for sure. So you guys here, you guys figured out what you want to do for tomorrow. Cut the tires, figured out everything's ready. Yeah. Just know where we're at out there.

We'll plan ahead, we know what tires we're going to use. We're not set up we're going to use, we're already the race. If you don't answer it doesn't matter, is it going to be a tire management race like we've seen in some of the other races this year? Possibly for some other riders, some riders there, some riders there depending on their choice of top or bottom. Alright Joel, thank you very much.

All the best this race and for the rest of the season. Thank you. Hey MotorPotters, it's Jim here with Dan Rosamondo of Dorna. You are the marketing... Chief Commercial Officer.

I didn't know what CCO meant. That's alright. I'm not a business major, I'm an engineer by heart. There you go. I couldn't tell you one part of the bike so we're good.

So you joined the Dorna MotoGP in April of 2019 having previously had many successful years heading up partnerships in the NBA. You've been tasked with this now since arriving here. So how are you, what attracted you to the challenge of going from the NBA to this sport of motorcycling? I think, I'm not sure that necessarily the sport itself was the allure, but what the sport sort of did in terms of its global appeal, that was kind of what got me attracted to it. I was very involved with the NBA in the global business side of things and I wanted to continue to work on that.

So the fact that these guys, the fact that we go to 18 different countries and 22 different races, I think that was just a really appealing part of it for me. Now that I've gotten to know the sport, I think... You're hooked. Yeah, I'm hooked on it and I also think it's just a wonderful encapsulation of so many emotions in one 45-minute stint. Like you can go from nervous to exalted to scared to thrilled to laughing sometimes with these guys.

So I think it's all great. So the sport has definitely grown on me. So how do you take that, those things, and present that to Joe Average American to fill the stands here at COTA? Yeah, and I think we're making some good progress there because I don't know about you, but today I felt like it was a really... On a Friday, I thought it was a great crowd today and we'll get the numbers, but it was really, really good vibe today, which is cool.

Yeah, I thought it was... There's a lot of people over camped with us, much fuller than last year. So we'll continue to work on that. But if you think about it, the sports... I mean, Americans, this is kind of tailor-made for us.

It's 45 minutes of pure adrenaline. It's great. I think we're going to be able to appeal one of the things I'm trying to disabuse people of the notion that you have to be a motorcycle rider to like this sport. You don't. You could just like it for its thrills, for the technological innovation or for the human interest stories.

There's so many things that we can play on, but the reality is I think Americans, A, they like the best and these guys are easily the best at what they do. And I think that's something that really appeals to Americans and we'll tell that story over and over. That's really good. So with the acquisition of MotoGP by Liberty Media, they bring a whole other level to this playing field. They are an American sports marketing company.

They bought Formula One and they have driven... Tremendous growth. Tremendous growth. Tremendous growth. Do you foresee that...

Do you foresee looking at their playbook and taking some of that to push MotoGP into the hearts of Americans? I don't know about the playbook, but I do know that we would be thrilled at that same success that they've had with Formula One, came over to MotoGP because it obviously been super successful. And I think what they said and Greg Mathay during the investor call the day we announced it talked about pattern recognition. He talked about, I see the same things in this properties that we buy. I see global.

I see exciting. I see scarcity. I see unique intellectual property. And those are the things that we replicate with us and other properties in their stable. So listen, I would hope that we would have the same result once this acquisition goes through.

I think we'll be able to talk about a playbook together with Liberty folks. That sounds fantastic. There's a criticism that MotoGP is a Spanish sport with Spanish writers or Italian writers. With Trackhouse and Justin Marks coming in and buying the crypto appellate team, does that really give you a good base to market from? I think the appeal of Justin and his Trackhouse folks coming in is that they have a combination of motorsport expertise and business acumen.

And that's what we need in the paddock. So it's their first good step in the United States for us. I think we have a whole lot of untapped potential there. I think our media partnership with Warner Brothers Discovery here is another good step. I think that's really important.

Hopefully we'll quickly get some really good sponsors that are based in the U.S. We're working on that. So I think it's a good first step, but there's a lot of other necessary steps that we have to take. Let me ask you a question about sponsorship. This one always puzzles me from being an American.

How come Coca-Cola, Pepsi, those big giant companies don't sponsor a motorcycle or a Formula One car? I don't think Formula One, you can ever cast a spurs on that in terms of the amount of sponsors they have. I think McLaren's got 55 sponsors on their car, so they do pretty damn well. I guess I was thinking too. Look, I think there's a little bit of the fact that they can't sponsor everything.

True. But I also think that what we have to be able to demonstrate to the Coca-Colas or the Procter & Gamble or the visas of the world is we have to be able to demonstrate to them that we are this platform that they can associate with that will help them sell product, that will help them keep their existing customers, that will help them be able to make their products more interesting using our stories. So I think we have to sell them better than we have in the past. I'm just dreaming for a Coca-Cola cane with a Costas picture on it. Yeah.

Who's it? A Costas. Yeah. Because Gas Gas is red and white. It'd be great.

It just seems like it's the iconic colors and the sort of scene that's... We'd love to get there. We'd love to get there. Is it necessary to have another American riding in MotoGP to sell it here in the state? Necessary, no.

Helpful, yes. Okay. How's that? Okay, that works. I mean, I know when Nicky was involved in this sport, it was amazing what he could bring as far as the fans in America that drove.

And we don't seem to have that person. We've had people who've tried Cambogia. We've tried Jay Gagne. They've gone back to Mode America. Nothing wrong with that.

Mode America is a great series. It's just I'm wondering, is there any way the Spanish, the Italians, they sort of have a system to get riders here? And we kind of don't. And I don't know if you can do anything about that. I think we can.

I think we have to think about it because the funnel of riders has to be wider so that you can get the one or two into the championship. It's not something we can fake either. You can't just throw a rider up there and not be ready in MotoGP because it'll show pretty quickly. Our guys are also close. I think, you know, I don't know what I didn't look at who made P2, P2, Q2 today, but I haven't seen either.

I'm sure it's been a second. Easily. I'm sure between one and 11 seconds. So you got to get the right rider. We've had some conversation with Moto America.

We've had some conversation with some of our manufacturers. We've had some conversation with Trackhouse about the talent pool. And I think that'll be something that we'll be investing in in the future, trying to build a talent pool here. OK. That'd be very cool to see that.

So as a person with a growing appreciation of the sport and its potential, was the one thing from sporting or technical aspects of the sport that you've been working on, was the one thing from sporting or technical regulations that you could would change, such as like event format rules. Can I, can I, you know what, can I go off a little bit? Sure. Go wherever you want to go. I think on the last couple of laps, we got to tell the viewers what turn we're on.

Yes. Oh, you've opened up a can of worms for me. Tell them we're turned seven out of 12, turned eight out of 12. So because I think people just want to know, OK, when is the, how many more turns do we have until it's over? I think we need to do a little bit better job of, especially as we're trying to broaden our audience base.

And now the art folks are working on that. We're trying to tie it to our GPS systems, which is really cool. So I think we're going to get there. But that, to me, enabling the fans, the new viewers to latch on or sport quicker is very important. So that's one thing.

OK. See, I like Formula One, they, during their broadcast, they have in the corner of the screen what turn the cars are in. I'm assuming we're trying to go to that same thing. Same thing. And also, like, you'll see some things that we've done.

You'll see this year we're doing a heck of a lot better job when with split screens. So we don't leave the action. We want to show something at the back of the grid or we want to show a replay. You'll see that really cool. So we've done some enhancements there as well.

We'll keep working on that. OK. Can we talk about the app? Yeah. That's how I view it.

I have the package. But one thing that I love that I can do on my computer that I can't do on my app is create which cameras I want to have. And so on my computer, if I watch it, I want the commentary on the main screen. Interesting. I want to put a helicopter in the corner for the aerial coverage because I want to see, especially for me, like if Acosta's qualified eighth, I want to see him come through the pack on that first lap from a helicopter shot.

It's funny. So the boys, my boys that just walked out of here, they actually came up with one of the ideas that we actually just changed. They're like, Dad, it's too hard to find the riders. Look what we mean. Try to find the riders.

Correct. So now it's like, boom, riders. So we're making that. So what we've done, Jim, is we did a little bit of a retool last summer with the front side of our app. Sure.

So making it look a little bit better. On the back, we have to work on the OTT and the e-commerce platform, which drives everything. So we're going to get there on a lot of stuff. We're going to, again, we're looking for the right partner to help build us that. We're going to make it better.

I'm excited about that becoming better because that's just how I can assume it. The other thing people have said about the app is that all the dots all have the same colors, which unfortunately you can't change because that's the... So the teams don't. The teams, like the numbers, if you look at the numbers, we each have each team has a number. Like, you know, Corsini, like Blue, Ducati's Red, all that stuff.

We have to get a better job on the dots. Yeah. The dots are a little bit of a co-op this year. So another thing that I was, again, sometimes I think about this stuff and I have no idea if it will work or not. For me, I've often thought that the qualifying format change has been fantastic, these knockout type sessions.

One thing that I've kind of noticed is that we've lost that morning warm-up for Moto2, Moto3, which is, okay, we're doing something different. That's fine. So in that sense, what I think drives fans is the ability to see racing. I want to come watch racing. So on a Saturday, we're going to get a sprint race for MotoGP, but we don't have any other kind of racing.

So I'm thinking out loud that what if you took the Moto3 guys and you said, look, you don't have a qualifying session where you have two qualifying races. So you take your free practice two, all the one, two, one, three, five, seven, et cetera, go to the first race, that's eight laps, two, four, six, eight, ten, go to the second. And then you have another race, you have another two races that are in between the sprint race because there's a lot of downtime right now between the two. I think Saturday is our best day. Saturday is amazing.

I think Saturday to me is like, I mean, I think Q1 and Q2 are like, I think Q2 is the best 10 minutes of the weekend. I think that's just a fit, especially as my appreciation for the sport has grown, my love for Q2 has grown as well. I think it's just a fun 10 minute session that you can just, time attacks and the strategy behind it and the tension. There is none. Yeah, you know, there is none.

There is some. So I think that's cool. But you're an interesting point. I don't make the sporting decision. But Carlos, I'm not afraid to give him suggestions.

My only reason I say is if I'm watching everything on Sunday on the app and I'm on Saturday, I've got all the qualifying done and there's this like two hour lull. I get that you have a lunch break and you've got to feed everyone. Well, you don't feed everyone, but I mean, I think you know what I mean there, hopefully. It's funny because my days just fly by. So I don't even, I can't even tell them.

I always say the only time I know there's a lull is when there's no noise. That's when I'm not here because you can't hear it as much, but like in Europe or somebody's circus, we're right on the track. If there's no noise, I know there's a lull. Yeah. So yeah, that's just, no, I just, one of those things that I think would just drive more people onto a Saturday, which then you get a two day ticket and you get this good racing or whatever.

Everybody gets to see how it gets crazy. Well, we've extended it. Friday used to be, now Friday, that session we had today counts for Q1. So we've actually lengthened the weekend by having a sprint on Saturday, which has been helpful. We'll have to think about that for the other two.

So here's one. How incredible is it to be at the helm when you have a personality like Acosta coming to MotoGP? I love him. I think he's just, I think he's special. Especially you can tell he's a special talent.

I know he puts some of his, he makes his team manager and his sponsors sort of like kind of put one hand over their eye when he's about to say something because he's not afraid to say what he thinks. So I love him for that and I encourage it and I hope he wins one this year. I really hope he wins one this year. He's so close. I hope he wins one this year.

And I think he's just great. He's great for the sport. Yeah. He is a, I don't want to say breath of fresh air, but he has sort of a mixture of Rossi with the personality, the understanding of the sport, understanding where his place in the sport is. And then he also has sort of that Marc Marquez-esque killer instinct.

I don't care that you are two-time defending champion Peco Benyanya. I'm tossing it into one and going by you. And I also think it's good because he's been in this paddock for like five, six years now. He's been at the rookie, he's in Moto3, he's in Moto2. So he's kind of got that confidence from being in the realm.

I think that's helped a lot. So I'm excited to watch him. What I thought was amazing about him was asked about his favorite rider. He said it was Michael Dunlop from the Real Reds, from the TT, which is crazy that he sees that part of it, which is truly amazing. The other thing was the quote that he gave to Matt Oxley about how you go from there, which was amazing.

I get why everybody that's a PR person went, ah! I loved it. I loved it. I thought it was amazing too. That should be broadcast everywhere.

I sent a note to Oxley to tell him how great it was. He and I went back and forth about that one. It was great. It was fantastic. And then after Porto Maio, there was the comment that he made about, well, when's your flight leave?

I'm driving. I'm picking a man. I'm picking a man. Are you kidding me? Not yet.

So he seems so incredibly grounded but also so incredibly talented that his face needs to be everywhere. He's going to be there. When he breaks through and wins that first one. He was on this really popular new show in Spain, interview show in Spain last week. It maxed out 4.4 million viewers in Spain.

It was amazing. It was great. It's absolutely incredible. Hold on. I appreciate it.

The time is a great conversation. Anytime. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. You're welcome. Enjoy this weekend.

Going too. Thank you.