A couple of weeks ago one of the learned Eurosport pundits described the UK as a  breeding ground for future world champions. And mention was made of Jonathan Rea, Cal Crutchlow, Tom Sykes etc. He was right then but now?

The news, yet to be confirmed, that Tarran Mackenzie  is likely to be staying at British Superbikes with McAMS Yamaha next season is a clear indicator of what is really happening. Talent used to be the measuring stick - now it is money.

It seems the newly crowned British Superbike Champion had to bring a bag of money with him to get a ride with GoEleven Ducati, a team not awash with cash, which new signing Philip Oettl, after a reasonably successful year in World Supersport, apparently was able to.

Preliminary chats have taken place with one or two other WorldSBK teams but it seems highly likely that the 26-year-old will now be defending his title to the delight of British fans and promoters MSV.

They will not, however, see Tarran’s brother Taylor  who has been appointed team manager of the Moto3 team put together by Michael Laverty, also from a great racing family and now a pundit with BT Sport, announced after winning the Superstock Championship. He will no doubt find it easier than scraping round to raise cash to fund his racing.

Rory Skinner thought he was made after winning the British Talent Cup series, funded by Dorna and MSV, at Valencia in 2018. But getting a ride in Moto3 was not the reward he hoped for.

So after having spent four years in Europe competing in the Red Bull MotoGP rookies cup, the FIM CEV Junior  and latterly the Talent Cup he was faced with finding circa £250k to buy a ride or return home.

The 2019 British Supersport Championship on a Kawasaki ZX-6R provided by  Chris Walker was a great learning curve  and the following year on a Robin Appleyard Yamaha R6 he effectively cleaned up leading to the 19 year old joining the FS-R Kawasaki team.  The difference was chalk and cheese but a couple of podiums  and  13th overall  was considered satisfactory by father Mike and the FS-R team and he is signed up for next year.

But like Tarren Mackenzie, Jake Díxon and some others the ambition is to compete in the world championships.  But as Dave Luscombe, the driving force behind the  now defunct  ACU Academy which produced world champions like Cal Crutchlow and Tom Sykes, commented: "lt used to be a sport, now it’s business.”  

And the Racing Steps Foundation which helped Skinner and John McPhee, along with a larger number of racing drivers, is now extinct having raised millions to fund and guide the careers of young, talented and ambitious riders/drivers.

So what does the future hold for ambitious riders? Is there simply just not enough enthusiasm for motorcycle racing , despite the success of BSB, in the UK  to provide the backing unlike Spain or Italy.  Are the days when Casey Stoner was brought by his parents from Australia and the family lived in  a second hand bus in order to fund his racing never to be seen again? And is BSB so successful that riders are happier just to stay at home and not have  an apprenticeship in Spain?

Perhaps we have become a Superbike nation hence our recent domination of World Superbikes? But if talented riders like Mackenzie can’t get a ride without having to pay for it then that domination, like MotoGP, may be ending.

What is the ACU, our governing body whose role is to grow motorcycle sport, doing about it? And should promoters MSV, although it is not in their commercial interests to encourage riders to venture overseas, do more? lt should be acknowledged that they have backed series like the Talent Cup for up and comers and have had a particularly difficult time with a huge reduction in attendances although the biggest ever at Brands Hatch for the BSB finale must have  boosted confidence.

Right now we are not a breeding ground for world championship racing. Many aspects of racing are just too expensive -  not forgetting the motor homes - and it all starts at grass roots level with tyres, fuel etc. Tougher regulation is required from top to bottom - levelling up as the Prime Minister has, repeatedly, said.