by Davey Coombs
250 Words: Anaheim 1
Tuesday, January 8, 2013 | 11:00 AM
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PrintYou already know who won the races. Now enjoy 250 Words for an extra take on a story you might have missed.
We are often reminded of just how steep and fast the learning curve of professional motorsports racing can be. Whether it's guys like Eli Tomac and Ken Roczen just shredding a track like they did on Saturday night at Angel Stadium, or a pure SX rookie like Jessy Nelson crashing out immediately after the start, this sport does not give kids a lot of chances to learn from their mistakes—at least not on a stage as big as Anaheim's.
In 250SX racing, the young riders are split into East and West Regions, which means they only get nine races (including the Las Vegas finale's East-West Shootout), so one mistake can ruin a championship run. That's why it was remarkable how downright aggressive yet fully in control Tomac’s GEICO Honda was out front.
Sure, he's the defending #1 in this division, so it shouldn’t be much of a stretch to see him win. But Tomac did more than win—he seemed to sprint every single lap, hardly missing a beat. Maybe he knew Roczen’s Red Bull KTM was also much improved, and the German import was obviously better and faster and likely more confident than last year, given the full season of experience. Both Tomac and Roczen have won championships, so they know the mantra here: You can't win a series in one race, but you can damn sure lose it. But they rode with such aggression that it was obvious there will be no holds barred between these two phenoms, and they will likely carry this duel all the way through Vegas.
A huge crash in the first turn brought down a quarter of the field at Anaheim.
Devin Davis photo
Others, however, were not so fortunate, and a few shots at the championship were pretty much dashed right off the start when TLD/Lucas Oil Honda's Nelson, a very fast learner based on what we saw when he turned pro last May, scored the main-event holeshot but then tripped over the first jump, bringing down a quarter of the field with him. Nelson would finish eighteenth. Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Martin Davalos, also caught up in the ensuing pile-up, would finish last. In a nine-race series, it's hard to overcome a 24-point deficit from a rider as solid as a Tomac or a Roczen—especially when they already have a good idea of what it takes to survive and thrive at this level.
Which leads me back to a point I made in Racerhead on Friday: How can requiring young riders to use the smaller stages of the AMSOIL Arenacross Series as a stepping-stone to the massive platform that is Anaheim be a bad thing? Learning the frantic, tight confines of indoor, nighttime, high-pressure racing—even if for just three or four races—would almost certainly help prevent the opening-night jitters, and that in turn might help prevent things like an ugly chain-reaction crash off the start of your first real pro supercross race.
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Tomac will walk away with this title--Oh yea, holeshot!!
Its not a bad thing, as long as i dont have to watch arenacross
It does look like a Two Man race from here on for the west coast crown. Both Roczen and Tomac have 450 experience, I am sure that is an advantage for them. May be we will see both move up when the races move East. Turning the 450 class into "The Nasty Nine"...Fans are going to get there moneys worth this year!!!!
it is a great time to be a supercross/motocross fan, and it just keeps getting better and better!!
Cause no one wants to watch the 4 corners, 3 jumps, and a short whoops section that is arenacross. Thats like trying to make college football players go play arena football before that can play in the NFL. The 250 class is the stepping stone to the big boys. If your good enough to qualify for the heats, and main, then it shouldn't matter. Stop trying to make us watch a product that no one cares about. If i wanted to watch Tyler Bowers(mid-end of the pack supercross) dominate a bunch of nobody's i would.
"How can requiring young riders to use the smaller stages of the AMSOIL Arenacross Series as a stepping-stone to the massive platform that is Anaheim be a bad thing?"
I'll tell you why. Because MOST if not all of these riders have indeed raced indoors at the myriad of smaller arenacross events scattered across the country.
RacerX and the industry act like there aren't any other opportunities for indoor racing except for the ones that are "official".
Haven't seen what the requirements are, but forcing riders to do the "official" arenacross races is not a path one should be forced into doing, especially at the high cost of racing these days.
A few that come to mind, only because they come to our area:
arenacrosstour
Cyclecitypromotions-KICKER AX series
Why didn't they show the super minis instead of listening to them talk
I think some changes to the format are in order, a supercross qualifying requirement requirement to at least participate in the arenacross series is a great idea.
BUT ... I do partially agree with "qball" that the arenacross format really could use some updating (sort of putting words in his mouth but I think that was his beef with the arenacross deal). I know that with space limitations there is only so much that can be done with track design, but it seems that the tracks are all virtually identical to ones I saw in person 15 years ago. Hell, I don't know, maybe they should run one moto forwards and the other backwards (yes there would have to be mods to the tracks for this, but they need to mix it up!). So if arenacross could evolve to teach kids to expect the unexpected and adapt to varying track designs, I would support requiring participation and even some level of results (top 5? top 10? qualify for the main event?) to be "eligible" for supercross.
Now way off topic, but for arenacross tracks, they need to get creative with each venue ... I'm talking track into the stands, or maybe a venture through the lobby (I'm not kidding). Or perhaps an over-under bridge instead of the classic finish jump double, which would take advantage of the real estate between the jumps and allow for more variations of turns. Hell, maybe they could have a dead-start format where the riders are lined up on foot at one end of the start straight, and then they sprint to their bikes and crank 'em for the race (which would not be fun for the riders but fun for the fans). Or they could throw in some "obstacles" enduro-cross style (just not as extreme). Yeah some of these ideas are terrible but the only guarantee for long-term failure is to stay stagnant.
Last comment - I already have tickets to attend a supercross (Houston) and arenacross (Austin) this year. While of course I'm completely pumped for the supercross, the arenacross is 20 mins from my house, and was not that much more expensive than going to a lousy 3D movie.
Whatever. Nelson has a full outdoor season behind him. He holeshot his heat and finished 2nd. In the main, he made a mistake and caught neutral and crashed. It happens. Remember, it happened to K-dub at MEC and he gave himself a concussion. Maybe K-dub needs to go race some AX as well.
The more I think about the new AX thing, the more I see it in a negative light. Look at a kid like Savagty - he did not look too out of place or look to be a hazard out there. Ditto for Nelson, he's obviously ready for prime time. The kids that come through at the top of the amateur stream have already spent a ton of time riding SX tracks and racing under the microscope. Why send them off to race AX, where a nearly-was hack rider could injure them and set them back? Or end a career?
The sport already has self-seeding system for its hierarchy and I think it works. AX is such a fringe sport compared to SX or MX. I don't see how having a kid make 4 mains in AX makes him any more ready for his first pro SX race with a monster set of whoops and a gnarly rhythm lane.
I think using the Arenacross as a stepping stone to Supercross is a good idea. Not to fond of the new format though? Also with the cost of racing it seems it wold be better for the up and commers. Also with the cost of racing tere are people that should not even be out there trying to qualify as they can afford to do it does not mean they should get out on that track.I am wondering if it will diminish the feild? I remember in the 80s' when the Supercross tracks were a lot more difficult and they sometimes had trouble filling the roster.
Yes a lot of good opions here also! Back iin the day ie mid early 70's we could not aford to make but mybe one National a year if there was the arencross close enough I would have tried that also. As it was even though I worked at a bike shop I still needed to be at work 6 days a week. I had to pay for my racing from my very first Honda minitrail 50, Just like Jeff Ward had???? Shure!
I always viewed Arenacross as a great opportunity to see the sport if you live in one of the markets without a Supercross event. I took the family to an event in Raleigh, NC, and we all enjoyed it immensely.
I would like Supercross to follow the Monster Energy Cup format: seeing all of the top riders on the track for three mains is much more exciting. The up-and-comers show up in the support classes.
You guys have to forgive Davey Coombs. He hasn't had time to update the Arenacross format, because he's wasting all his time hanging out on the set of MTV's new hit show about West Virginians... Buckwild.
Quit raising such a ruckus in your dump truck swimming pool, Davey, and get to work fixing the motoworld.
No AX in the world is going to prepare a rider for the big stage. If it did, Brayton wouldn't be the only one talked about coming from AX background. I see this as a test to see if AX can take the place of East/West coasts. With Feld wanting to turn 450(for now)SX into F1 that means a cut and dry premier class that gets all the fame, fortune and accolades. If all this was about making it safer for all riders, a licensing test that a lot of other motorsports use would make more sense. Pick a few venues that time constraints aren't as bad and have new riders basically take a drivers test with experts watching and evaluate them on if they appear to ride safe and fast enough to be given a ProSX license. I might be a conspiracy theorist here but something smells fishy and it isn't your old ladies......
ETs best lap was 1.5 seconds faster than KRocs. That is huge. Unless ET takes a tumble I don't see him losing much.
PS: I like that Pipe in the Yamaha add! Looks pretty trick!
The requirement of starting out in arenacross is beyond stupid. Some of these young riders have big contracts awaiting them, and not many sponsors want to spend that money to be showcased at arenacross venues. The careers of many racers may not be that long, so let them make the money while they can. And what about former world champions coming over from Europe? If they haven't experienced U.S. supercross, will they too have to hit the arenacross circuit? More than anything, this is an attempt at reviving arenacross. It shouldn't be done at the expense of riders leaving the amateurs and turning pro. That was the point of the east/west divisions and shorter mains.
Hog-tying SX to the financially-on-life-support AX series is their fix to a problem that we didn't have, but welcome to the new economy where our problem is now yours.
Do we see any AX people successfully crossing over? Has anybody that raced SX not went over and pretty much cleaned house in AX (Antunez & Stephenson to name names)
They even have RC on board schleping for the series. Tell us RC, how many AX's did YOU show up for? or think were necessary to advance?
Does it sound like I'm against it? Now my kid (meaning me) has to pay for #A but we only want #B?
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTION:
I'm paying for AX's financial health because they decided it was the:
A) safest thing to do for the racers
B) would make for better racing
C) more profitable for them.
D) more profitable for them.
A riders union filled with pissed off parents would straighten these clowns out with a quickness.
Oh yeah, merge the 250F series so we are paying to see ALL the best 250F racers and sub-series the regionals (within the race) to keep it affordable to the newbies. Duh.
Davey Coombs is one hard-working dude. Nobody is perfect, but if follow many of the positive changes to the sport, you'll see DC behind lots of those. Maybe the AX idea isn't feasible, but it is worth the discussion.
Expanding on what "carlsbad" said, I would enjoy seeing the combined 250F class, AND one additional "rookie" class that would be limited to ... wait for it ... 125cc 2 strokes baby! They could run a 10 lap main, or else run a modified short (and "safe") version of the course, so not quite arenacross, but not quite full-blown supercross. Each SX track could be designed with bypass points to where triples or tricky rythm sections could be avoided. So cut out the "KTM kiddie challenge" (or whatever it is called), and put in a semi-pro division that everyone is required to race in for a year before jumping to premier classes.
@ramair..Your name fits you. Unless something has changed DC has nothing to do with SX or AX. You do know the rule is in effect? It's not a discussion. Hey wait, you're just playing dumb. Ha, good one almost got me on that one.
Misoheye, what is "the rule"? What is not a discussion?
As far as DC goes, I meant generally the sport of motocross, which I lump everything under. But I do stand corrected on DCs direct involvement with the topic at hand. I was just trying to defend the guy, and previous comments posted seemed to reflect that he could be in a position to do something about AX. Which he is not directly, but indirectly and with Racer X, he most certainly is.
@Davey Coombs: You pose that question as if someone has brought up the point that Arenacross is a bad model for Supercross. It's Prep School for SX. It's like Pre-Med for Med School. It's like the Naval Academy for the Navy.
That said, It can bring to the mind of a young rider what to (expect) at a first corner, but when all 20 riders know they need to be in the same (tight) space for about 25% of the entire gate width at the same time, and they all have 220bpm heart rates going, and there's only 9 races in the season, what else do you realistically expect them to react... in a nano second basis... when someone hits neutral, or washes the front end, or pulls a "Hannie" on someone.
In summary, Track design layout comes to mind, but there is no room because we're indoors, (remember) and just maybe these kids would (really) rather be outdoors (on real dirt) where the track design can lend itself to something a little less restrictive and more natural flowing like "Natural Terrain Motocross," maybe...
Then that just wouldn't be Supercross, now would it.
"Supercross...The Americanization of Motocross"
Who, besides me class, remembers reading that article with the exact titled article in 1976ish.
Raise your hand...
Don't shoot, Davey, for I am just the messenger. Hep Meh Lord!
Thanks for reading, guys. I don't have any direct participation in promoting SX or AX, but I know that even Loretta Lynn's has a qualifying process that is three steps -- Area, Regional and Finals -- and it helps narrow down the field and help young riders prepare for the bigger stages.
But there is no Loretta Lynn's for Supercross, and maybe that's what AX can be. My point is, everyone wants to have a conversation about safety, track design, concussions, insurance, Leatt Braces, 6-D Helmets, etc... It's always a good idea to look at those things.
So why not another layer of indoor, close-confinement racing experience before you get to Anaheim? If Ricky Carmichael believes it's a step worth looking into, and many of the team managers and sponsors think it's a step worth looking into, why not look into?
And no, it's not mandatory yet -- like IMPACT concussion testing -- but it will be by 2014 or '15.
DC
MX Sports
@carlsbad RC would've won 200 races if he had Arenacross experience.
I would like to thank Davey Coombs for participating in the conversation. Being able to voice our opinions and then have one of men behind the scenes of our sport respond directly is a privilege not shared by many sports fans.
Good to see you on here Davey! Ya'll hirin'?!! Just kidding, but it is cool to see such an important man in the sport active in the washed up bench racers chat room!
Thx to DC for chiming in! Good discussion.
Thx to DC for chiming in! Good discussion.
No worries, January is a good month for bench-racing for me, I get a little busier in the summer... Can't wait to see what happens this weekend in Phoenix!
DC
@Davey Coombs: Your presence on these comment boards, as well the article that brings us all here, is a welcome to all who hold this sport as passionately as someone as yourself.
Thank you for your undying support of this great sport run on two wheels.
Sincerely...
Really like the idea of a 125 2stroke "stepping stone" class. And I would raise the age requirement to 18 for turning pro.
I have never attended a bona fide arenacross event,they can be a little redundant on tv,unless you're really hungery for moto.
Add the beast from the east to the list of sx to ax.
I'm guessing if Antonio Cairoli wanted to come to the U.S. to race supercross (HAH!), he'd have to start out in arenacross. So, DC, could you post some contact info on who we should inform of their mistaken ways? Is it Feld? Is it the AMA?
@ endo
Cairoli? Supercross? Lol
I bet he still wants to feel like a king after winning on his practice track( lommel).... No way he's coming over:D
They say he's too well rounded for that!
Getting lapped twice is not a good idea for a world chump!.......... Oops champ, I meant...
Did I? Lol
"So why not another layer of indoor, close-confinement racing experience before you get to Anaheim? If Ricky Carmichael believes it's a step worth looking into, and many of the team managers and sponsors think it's a step worth looking into, why not look into?"
Because it's not needed. As I posted earlier, there are good quality AX races going on throughout the country and if you went through the paddock and asked the current SX riders, I think you'd find the vast majority, if not all, have raced some of these AX races.
Some tracks are as demanding as the current "official" AMSOIL AX series, if room allows.
Most PRO'S have ridden AX type tracks or full blown SX tracks anyway at their friends or friends of a friends.
Most people realize what this new rule that it to take affect is basically for. Simply, to help the failing "official" AMSOIL AX series. I don't think it will revive it much anyway.
And.. has anyone went through and asked the riders themselves how much experience they've had? Has anyone asked them (current riders) if they think it would of been a good idea if they had been forced into a AX series that not many care about?
Just to clear things up a bit, I do believe that some riders do indeed need some type of prep for SX. To me, and friends that have raced AX, SX is such a step up that AX is going to have minimal help. A hockey rink with 8,000 people is not even close to what a rider will experience in SX. Unless local tracks start having SX, some do but are very simple, it will be impossible to have the 3 tier system that MX employs.
@DC...Always cool when you chime in. You are a hard working sob and hope you understand I was not arguing that. Be careful of SX. It already controls our sport and if left to up to Feld I'm sure they would have no problem slowly pushing MX out.
Jbon, I have not actually talked to any current SX riders, but I would anticipate the answer that most would not have wanted to go that route... But had Justin Brayton not gone that route, he would have had a much harder time getting to this level, and he has said that many times.
I do see your point about other night races that are not "official" AX events as part of that series, yet still being very beneficial. But how do you know what that event was really like? How do you know how comfortable they looked or who they beat at most smaller arenacross races?
Finally, as for European and Australian riders, for instance, I am sure GP-level talent would get some kind of waiver to not have to travel over here and race AX off the bat. I am not sure how else that could work and not make it incredibly difficult for international talent to compete here. (And MX1 world champs like Tony Cairoli, as mentioned above, are not allowed in the 250 class in supercross...)
Back in the day, there were a lot of jobs in AX racing, and it revived more than a few careers. If SX wants to revitalize that plank of professional racing, maybe it will bring some of those jobs and teams back.
DC
MX Sports
Tomac will win the 250 West title this year.
And nothing was said about the 250 outdoor champ Blake Baggett who had an awesome start and was landed on by Jessy Nelson's bike causing a dislocated wrist. He still managed to finish the race as well.
I can't wait to see him back at Phoenix to make a statement!
Oh, yeah, give the commie-Euros a waiver. Wait 'till Hannah hears about this. But, whose decision is this? Feld? AMA? Rutledge?
MeanKX, I know AC has no desire to race in the U.S. especially in SX. My point was any Euro will probably get a free pass while the top upcoming U.S. talent will be racing on basketball courts.
Looks like Feld is trying to bring AX up. Who knows, maybe it would do better for our sport...... Nothing really to watch though. Few turns one double, one triple and a whoop section. Kinda boring. Now if they got in some bigger venues..... Maybe they're trying to accomplish that by bringing top talent to the races. Better riders----> more people watching--> better ratings--> more money!
@ Endo
agree
Now if our top amateurs will be required to do few AX races, so should GP riders as well. If anyone comes from GP circuit, it doesn't mean that they have SX skills. Take Cairolli for instance, dude got smoked at some euro off season race at Genoa by racers that no one even knows. Besides Kdub and Brayton I think. He would be hazardous for our SX racers!
I think SX should be the ultimate indoor championship. The rule should state: if any individual never raced AMA SX, he should get certain amount of points in AX series. Doesn't matter where you're coming from( USA, Europe or Uranus ) that would even things out. No free passes
Let's see we have Pro-Am at outdoors riding the same tracks as the pros the next day, why not the same for SX. SX has always been a learning curve, but as Jimmy Weinert use to say at the riders meeting us as riders are becoming gladiators in the coliseum. You get out of rhythm and the nights over with.
Watching Ax and SX is like watching Quarter Horse Racing and Thoroughbred Racing. Bothe train and ride completely different.
And don’t we have Pro-Am at Daytona, why not all the tracks?
@daveycoombs Hey Davey, has anyone asked the TuffBlock manufacturer to design a different shape other than a cube? I think a triangle shape would prevent a lot of the mishaps. A triangle shape would provide more footpeg clearance along the side of the track and if a rider lands on top of the barrier their wheels would slide down the side instead of deflecting in a random direction. The sponsors would not lose much of their banner space either except directly on top. Just a thought.