GET MY AGENT ! OFFICIAL PROGRAMME
First up is the man who has looked after the career of six-times WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea , for many years , Chuck Aksland . He is a bit of a legend in his own right . Part of the Californian Aksland dynasty that are so closely connected with Kenny Roberts the rider , then Team Roberts in all its guises , a COTA mover-andshaker and now part-owner of and major force within the Moto America championship . He is also part of the International Racers management agency .
I put it to Chuck that his experience gives him a unique insight into racing on many levels . “ I think the position I have is very unique because of all the things that I ‘ ve done ,” said Chuck . “ When I was managing Kenny ’ s team , obviously , I was on the other side . I was the one hiring riders , and dealing with managers a lot with Kenny . He , at that time , had a management group , International Racers , with a guy named Gary Howard and that ‘ s who managed Wayne Rainey , Eddie Lawson , John Kosin-ski for a while , Doug Chandler for a while . So , as a team manager , I worked through them a lot on hiring of people , contracts , stuff like that . So , but that I think the way that we work with riders , you know , in good times and bad times , and unique situations , I think they gave me a big experience in just dealing with riders .”
He explained his approach , and those of the company around him . “ International Racers is different than a lot of companies because in-house we have attorneys , they got people to deal with the money . The philosophy is - and this is what worked with Wayne - is basically to say you go concen-trate on your racing , we deavl with your taxes , your payments , your house payments , all invoicing , all that kind of stuff . So we basically handle their lives , in many ways , on that side . Some other manag-ers do it , some don ’ t . We are unique because it is all kind of in house under one umbrella . We take it like we ‘ re basically taking care of the guy ‘ s life . And it ‘ s a big commitment for me .”
So much so that Rea is maybe going to be Chuck ’ s last client . “ Now with the MotoAmerica job , especially as I made such a big commitment … I don ‘ t know going down the road . Right now . Jonathan ‘ s my only guy . And part of that is I don ‘ t want to shortchange him or shortchange anybody else , you know . It ‘ s a commitment I want him to know that I ‘ m here for him or whatever he needs . And I ‘ m not trying to just make money off every guy .” talk to everybody , see what the best scenarios are and then present that to Jonathan and what he feels most comfortable with he goes for .”
Next up is Belgian Michael Bartolemy , who had racing coursing through his bloodstream , long before any thoughts of rider management crossed his mind . He raced in Germany as a young man , but with little money . “ The results were always good but I don ’ t come from a wealthy family . Money is always a part of this game . So when I was 22 , I stopped racing , and then I was contacted by Yamaha Bel-gium for their EWC team . When I was 22 , I started there with Yamaha to make my first team . This was in 1992 . I was the youngest manager in the world championship at that moment . And since then , I have never stopped managing teams until 2018 .”
Bartolemy got into rider management via Scott Redding . Seeing he was struggling with some things Michael stepped in to help him with a few things , and finally became his manager in 2010 / 11 . When a great split appeared between Bartolemy and the Marc VDS team in MotoGP™ , Michael took more to do with Redding than before . “ I was still involved with Scott anyway ,” said Michael . “ And then I saw that when I was not doing my normal job anymore , my team manager job , I had much more time to make things , you know ? I had time to see people and speak with people in the end I know every-body … I was all my life in this in this racing area . So everybody knows me and it was more easy to talk to some people in order to make deals . I said , ‘ hey , with all these contacts that I have and all the people that I know Scott also it was much more easy to place him in the right direction .’” Within lim-its of course . They are managers , not magicians . “ Sometimes even as a manager you are a little bit limited . It ‘ s not like that you have all doors open . You need to look which doors can be maybe opened .”
So what does Michael get out of the rider management game , in a financial sense . Is he ‘ Mr 20 %’ as agents in showbiz sometimes get called ? “ Basically … I know what I have . I don ‘ t know how other people make , but I think it depends on the package that you make . Some riders say , ‘ OK Michael , make everything .’ That means we make the invoicing for housing , the accounting , the credit cards . If you do more you need a little bit more . But I would say that the normal range is around 15 %.”
EXCITING CONTENT
Should every rider have a manager ? Will they end up with more money , better rides , etc , for the same talent level if they have a good manager ? “ You cannot say for sure yes or no ,” said Chuck . “ But I think a rider that has to compete at this level needs to focus on the racing more ,” said Aksland . “ Jonathan does speak to people in the paddock himself , but it always defers back to me at the end of the day , to follow things through . I feel my job here is to give the lay of the land ,
Obviously , every serious rider should get a manager ? “ I think that a rider without a manager , for me , can never achieve what you can achieve when you have a good manager ,” stated Bartolemy . “ Plus , there is no shame that I can go into an office and say , ‘ OK , I want this , I want this , I want this .’ For the rider it is more difficult if he had a little bit of a bad season . How can he sell himself ? But like an external person , like us , we don ‘ t care . In the end we only care what is the
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