Beirer: The signing of Herlings is one of the most beautiful of my managerial career
KTM Sports Director Pit Beirer is at the head of the entire orange racing legion, from Motocross and MotoGP and from Enduro to Dakar. This has already yielded a lot of success over the last five years in the sand on the asphalt as well as in the desert. The 42-year-old former motocross Grand Prix winner recently offered two-time world champion Jeffrey Herlings a new two-year contract with the Austrian Red Bull factory team. Beirer talks about signing the contract where many other brands were interested in signing Herlings for 2016 and how dealing honestly with the XNUMX-year-old Dutchman was a truly “refreshing” experience.
“It's never easy to negotiate with drivers at this level, but with Jeffrey it went very well,” he recalls. “I knew there was pressure from other brands and therefore other offers for him, but I kept it calm and certainly didn't put any pressure on him. I have a good relationship with him, I said to him…I am determined to offer you what you want to stay, but first see what your heart wants and then let's talk about further cooperation. Last month I had the feeling he wanted to talk to me and it only took us a few hours on a Wednesday afternoon during the break from his training program to get the deal done.”
After his back to back world titles in 2012 and 2013 and the just missed third world title this year. The 20-year-old is one of the most sought-after motocross athletes on the planet and with his current deal with KTM, perhaps the highest-paid off-road rider outside the United States right now. After losing Ken Roczen to Suzuki this summer, there was some pressure on Beirer to lose one of the best-known names in orange and that caused some concern at the top in Mattighofen. The German is therefore exchanged with Herlings, but the '84 does not yet have that appearance.
“It was definitely one of my fondest memories of my managerial career, because he was sitting there as a man who had come to complete his own deal.” Told Beirer. “He didn't make it easy for me at all, but there was no manager involved and it was a pleasure to be able to do a deal like that. He is a fighter on the circuit, but also when he is at the negotiating table and he did his job really well. It was refreshing to do this kind of deal and it keeps you motivated.”
At this stage of the off-season it is difficult to speculate how KTM values Herlings, but what is clear is that he is among the elite of the Austrians and is just off or above Cairoli, Dungey, Coma in the rankings. and Blazusiak. “I don't want to say 'This is our number one guy now'…because we already have several top riders in a lot of different disciplines. But absolutely he is an excellent KTM ambassador and that was also important to Mr. Pierer (KTM Group CEO), he said that Jeffrey should remain one of our KTM figureheads.”
Herlings will be joined by 17-year-old Pauls Jonass in the Red Bull factory team for 2015.
Text: Adam Wheeler – OTOR
Photo: KTM Images
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