by Davey Coombs
Racerhead #7
Friday, February 18, 2011 | 5:15 PMHonda is the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, and the undisputed leader in motorcycle technology. More motocross riders have won titles on Hondas than on any other bike. When you’re serious about winning, Honda is the machine for you.
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PrintWelcome to Racerhead, which is coming to you from pretty much everywhere within the American motorcycle industry world. Yeah, supercross dominated the racing landscape for the past month or two, but things are starting to pick up just about everywhere. Supercross is still going strong as it heads to San Diego, but off-road and amateur series are getting underway, not to mention that AMA Arenacross is shadowing the SX schedule.
But the real business picks up at the Dealernews Indianapolis Trade Show, an annual affair where every company in this industry struts its stuff. Dealers are still the absolute life blood of this sport, so we've got a huge crew on hand staffing booths for this magazine and website, not to mention the racing series also produced in our office.
In fact, that's why I, Weege, am actually writing this intro instead of DC--he's buried underneath a heap of posters, magazines and memorabilia trying to help get the booth set up at Indy, and then a ton of meetings to get to. Like we said, this is the real business this weekend.
How will the Indy show look against the backdrop of a still-waiting-to-rebound economy? From what I hear it's still quite huge, but you will have to wait until next week for a full status report from DC.
As for me, I've been to the Indy show plenty of times, and to me it's like an indoor Loretta Lynn's: all of your friends are there, and you're pushing the envelope on both fun and hard work for several days in a row. Have fun out there, gang. Let's let the rest of our staff weigh in.
Here's Davey with a few quick notes:
I spotted a couple of things in Alessi Weekly that I found really interesting (and the newsletter really is interesting, because it can go just about anywhere). First, they mentioned that the Houston SX was the best weekend ever for KTM in AMA Supercross, which it was: three 350s in the top ten, including tenth-place Mike Alessi, adding, "Roger D. made more bike improvements." That is correct on both fronts, as KTM still has yet to land a podium in the history of AMA Supercross in the premier class.
The second thing was a solid sportsman's move: "Best wishes to those riders that experienced crashes this weekend..." including Kyle Chisholm, Jason Thomas, James Stewart, Kevin Windham, Darryn Durham, and anyone else who was injured."We hope for quick healing and your pain to go quickly." That's well done right there.
Alessi is gaining momentum on the KTM.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Johnny O'Hannah pulled off another one of his trademark tricks on an unsuspecting rider. After the Houston SX, he walked up to a rider in the Holiday Inn bar with a pen and napkin and said, "Can I please get your autograph?" As the rider grabbed for the pen, Johnny said, "I can’t wait to show everyone—I got Justin Barcia's autograph!" The rider looked puzzled, then muttered something in German. It was Ken Roczen! The audience of infield announcer Lurch, Miss Supercross Diana, DVS Danimal, and Kenny himself all thought it was pretty funny.
While watching Monday night's thrashing of the West Virginia Mountaineers by Syracuse at the Carrier Dome in New York on ESPN, we spotted something that could be huge for Monster Energy Supercross. As the teams were crossing mid-court, the long, digital flip-sign under the scorers' and announcers' table called the Carrier Dome "the new home of Monster Jam," set to take place on March 12.
For years, the Carrier Dome— home to the Syracuse Orangemen football and basketball teams— has not allowed dirt events in the building. But those restrictions have been loosening up in recent years, likely due to the economy and the mediocre performance of the university's football team over the last decade. Monster Jam is a dirt event, and it is organized by Feld Motor Sports— the same producers of the Monster Energy Supercross tour. It has long been the goal of the series to make a dent in the Northeast, which has been difficult for a variety of reasons: lack of closed-roof venues, the higher costs of labor, scheduling conflicts, etc. Now it looks like they might finally get a foothold here, only it will be in the shape of a giant tread in the dirt! Atlanta to Daytona to Syracuse sounds very doable for 2012....
Is the Carrier Dome in the future of Monster Energy Supercross?
Along with such fellow artists as Pink, Brett Michaels, and Loretta Lynn herself, country music star Craig Morgan is a HUGE motocross fan. He's longtime friends with guys like Kevin Windham and Fred Andrews, he's sung the national anthem at a couple of nationals, and he helps Windham every year with his big Party in the Pasture down in Mississippi. This week, the Grammy-winning Morgan made news in a really cool way.
Here’s Matthes:
Run for the hills— the rain’s a-coming this weekend in San Diego! Besides being one of the top journalists in the sport (ha!), I also have a gig as a goggle guy for X-Brand goggles, which is the eyewear of choice for Moto Concepts Yamaha, Mike Alessi, Matt Boni, Travis Bright, Kyle Partridge, and many others, so I do tend to keep an eye on the weather. Now I’m not as much of a freak as Scott’s John Knowles, but I definitely lean on the curious side, weather-wise.
After checking earlier this week and seeing that the rains were going to be during the day and then nothing at night, I just checked again, and yup, it’s now going to pour all day and night. And a 70 percent chance at that. So it looks like we’re in for a sloppy weekend in San Diego.
We here at Racer X explored the mud racing supercrosses of the last few years in this week’s Bench Racing Ammo, and we definitely should all keep an eye out for Kevin Windham and Davi Millsaps. Lost in the chaos of Houston was Davi’s great ride which basically came out of nowhere. He held third for most of the race before Ryan Villopoto got him near the end. It was a great ride, and despite the pass by RV, Millsaps looked as good as he’s looked all year. You fantasy dorks should pick him up this weekend and for sure next week in Atlanta, as he usually does well there.
Has Millsaps' season turned the corner?
Photo: Simon Cudby
Windham is battling with Tommy Hahn for fastest guys that have no results this year to really speak of. KW’s got a couple of sixths, but due to two DNFs is tenth in the points, and Hahn got eleventh last week for his best result after missing some races. He’s in nineteenth right now. Both guys are really fast, but the field is stacked, and a few bad races here and there and bingo-bango, you’re behind the eight-ball.
Congrats to Trey Canard on his Houston win. I can honestly say there aren’t too many people out there who weren’t happy to see the #41 win. As a matter of fact, on the BTOSports.com Racer X Houston SX wrap-up podcast, Weege, Ping, and I take turns in expressing our love for Trey while he’s on the line. You can listen to it HERE.
We were supposed to have a James Stewart podcast up here today, and I in fact did record one with Stewie. It was awesome, funny, and very informative, but unfortunately, no one will hear it. We had some technical difficulties while recording it and there are a few spots where you can’t understand what he’s saying. So that sucks, but the good news is James has agreed to do another one ASAP, so look for that soon. My favorite part of the show, which I will ask him about in the redo, is his relationship with Chad Reed. Stewie says one of them will end up riding at the other’s house this year, which would have never happened a couple years ago.
Keep a look out for a Stewart podcast with Matthes.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Looking ahead to summer, there are strong rumors that Mike Alessi will actually ride the 450 outdoors, which should make him very happy.
This week on the Pulpmx Show, we had Carey Hart and Lance Coury come by the house— er, studio— to hang out for an hour or so and talk about a wide range of topics. We covered Hart’s celebrity life and what that must be like (hint: the airline people are paid off by the gossip rags to tell them who’s flying in and when), his Dodge Motorsports/Hart & Huntington race team, and many more topics. For those who are wondering, Hart is a good dude who is the same guy he was years ago when he was living in his van chasing the SX dream. Coury told us about his new venture, Moto Gate, which is a cool idea if you have a pick-up and a dirt bike. Check them out on the web www.moto-gate.com.
We also had ex-AMA Rookie of the Year Paul Currie on the phone to tell us what he’s up to these days, and that’s installing alarms for his own company down in Florida. Currie is definitely a master storyteller, and with co-host Kenny Watson being his old team manager, we got some good details on that relationship.
Then FOS (Friend of the Show) Jason Thomas came on to give us an update on his knee, and it looks like he’s going to miss this weekend but be back for Atlanta and gut this thing out. He doesn’t blame Stewart for the incident, and he was classy throughout the interview as usual.
JT told Matthes he doesn’t blame Stewart for their incident in Houston.
Photo: Simon Cudby
Elsewhere on Pulpmx, I got Mitch Payton to tell us a story about helping out the late, great Donny Schmit.
Thanks to someone at Racer X for including Ross “Rollerball” Pederson in the list of greatest rider nicknames. I swear I had nothing to do with that. It brought a tear to my eye to see that. Also, DC wrote that he was the greatest Canadian rider ever, and that is correct. Sorry, JSR.
To all you people at the Indy dealer show, please remember that talking to dealers while still drunk or even legally drunk is not the best way to go about it. Try to at least get an hour or two of sleep, and try to sound like you’re holding it together. Even with that garter sticking out of your back pocket.
There appears to be a little controversy between David Pingree, Jason Weigandt and Star Racing’s Nick Paluzzi. Y’see, Ping or Weege or maybe both of them coined the nickname ‘Snookie” for Nick because the famed Jersey Shore TV reality star’s name is very similar to his. She’s Nicole Polizzi and he’s, well, Nick Paluzzi. It has nothing to do with the fact she’s short and troll-like, but Nick thinks so.
Anyways, I had heard Nick wasn’t happy about it so I stopped using it in my column and the tandem of Weege and Ping apparently made peace with Nick about it. He said he was cool with it but again, my sources say that Paluzzi would rather be called “poophead’ than ‘Snookie’.
Well I’m sorry Nick but a fan sent us this shot from a San Diego morning show this morning and it’s clear now that we have to go with Snookie. Sorry bud!
Nick will probably not be happy about this.
Okay, I gotta go and build some roll-offs!
Time for Weege:
For the first time in seven seasons, I’m missing a supercross. I came back east after Anaheim 2, and it makes more sense to have our West Coast guys cover San Diego since they’re already out there than to send me out on another cross-country flight. I can’t believe I’m missing a race.
I’m sure the foundation of the sport will be rocked without my presence. Yup, how will it go on without me? To make myself look even more egotistical, I’ve compiled race win stats on the SX races I’ve covered during that span, which started at the end of 2004.
I witnessed all 40 of James Stewart’s career SX class wins, so I saw Stewie win more races than anyone else. I’ve seen Chad Reed win 19 races and Ricky Carmichael win 15. Since Stewart has never won a SX class race without me watching, I’m assuming things are going to be strange for him this weekend, and he may struggle. Sorry, Bubba.
Our weekend coverage in the Thor Race Center (racerxonline.com/race-center) will be anchored by Matthes and Aaron Hansel, with Ping on hand for scoops and video, Matt Francis shooting for Racer X films, and Garth Milan handling the photos. Sounds like I’m really not needed after all. Maybe ever again. Hmm. This is not the way I wanted this to turn out.
Toyota ride day organizers Coy Gibbs, Rick Humphreys, Donnie Emler, Frank Bianchi and Emil Shebelbon.
Photo: Kaitlynn Comer
Last Friday before the Houston SX, Toyota and 3 Palms Action Sports Park hosted their annual industry ride day. Big thanks to Rick Humphreys from Toyota and 3 Palms owner Emil Shebelbon for opening their doors to us. The Muscle Milk/Toyota JGR team benefited greatly from watching my form on Rob Healey’s N-Style RM-Z450. Elbows up, boys. That’s how it’s done.
That’s it from me. I don’t even go to the races anymore, so what else am I supposed to come up with?
Here’s Ping:The events of last Saturday’s race have been rehashed already, but I wanted to touch on one thing. I received many emails this week from people who are upset that James Stewart keeps landing on people and never gets reprimanded for it. They make an interesting point. One incident can be called a fluke, but when you add his takeout of Carmichael in Unadilla, his altercation with Travis Preston (where he pulled out in front of him), his triple-jump mishap last year at Phoenix that collected Kyle Partridge, and this smash-up with JT$ you start to see a pattern. James needs to be a little more patient in traffic—if not for his own sake, for the sake of those around him.
Pro Circuit’s Jim “Bones” Bacon sent me this link yesterday. It’s clips from a list of the ten best jumps (of all kinds) of all time. Not surprisingly, Travis Pastrana made the list twice with his shenanigans on and off the bike. The number one jump is pretty amazing … and it took place in 1960!
I also got this note from John at MX Track Builders:
“Spring is rapidly approaching and for a limited time only MXTRACKBUILDERS is scheduling low-cost flat rate track overhauls throughout the United States. For more information and pricing details please contact John Steiner of MXTRACKBUILDERS at 847-204-9817 or visit us online at www.mxtrackbuilders.com.“
Weird weather going on out here right now. All week they’ve been calling for rain on Saturday; an 80 percent chance at one point! But now they’re saying it will just be cloudy, as most of the storm will already have come through by late Friday night. I’ll bet Dirt Wurx has the track built and covered already and it’s mint when the first gate drops on Saturday. Those guys have track preservation down to a science.
Laninovich can still throw it down.
Photo: Ping
Don’t forget: Big promo going on over at www.motocross101.com. Check it out.
Thanks, Ping!
Here’s one to check out if you’re in Indianapolis this weekend. Friday night and Saturday night at 9:00 at Pan-AM ice center in downtown Indy, come check out the 15th Annual Racer X Ice Hockey Challenge! Once again, night one will be a matchup between the USA and Canada. Will this be the year that Team USA prevails?
Moto PR master Pat Schutte has been brought in to coach the USA squad, which will feature the Minnesota-bred trio of American Honda's Bill Savino and the Riipinen brothers, Doug and Dave, from WPS/Fly Racing.
Also don't forget that Round 7 of Monster Energy Supercross from San Diego will be airing LIVE on SPEED this Saturday at 10:30 pm (EST), be sure to tune in.
That’s all for this week. Have fun in San Diego or Indy or wherever you may find yourself. Thanks for reading, see you at the races.
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Check out THE COMEBACK KIDS
in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.
Absent from the supercross tour since 2008, the KTM Junior Supercross Challenge remains a favorite of fans nationwide. And now it’s back! Page 136.
Look for the verified symbol 
Impulse Studios
Holeshot!
SX in NY for 2012!! I am THERE!! Going all the way to Toronto this year. 8:30hr, 460mile ride!! OH well gota do it.
Reed and JS Riding together, Could be good for them both!!!
The ever so classy and sincere (not) Team Alessi doing some damage control I think.....Mike's lucky 10th place finish after pushing JT high and contributing to the Stewart & JT mishap....good for KTM....but Alessi shouldnt boast and we all hope all the riders are healthy, they forgot about Grant.....
I wonder if those ice skates have more wearers than the Scott Genius boot.
Alessi on a 450 ktm ? very interesting and the right move. He sucked balls on the 350 last year.
OMG WOW! THAT NUMBER ONE JUMP IN THE TOP TEN JUMP VIDEOS WAS AMAZING............TOOK ALOT OF COURAGE TO DO THAT!
Matthes saying 'fantasy dork' is like Schwarzenegger calling Roczen a dirty kraut. Matthes you are the uber-dork of bench racing. I hope your World of Warcraft didn't get lonely when you wrote this Steve. It's not going to level up all by itself. Ha ha
Carrier Dome SX! Better not just be yanking our cranks. It has to happen!
Hey PING!!! Im gonna call you out on this. You flat out dont like Stewie. I been on here enough to know. So you think Stewie wants to land on people. Didnt he get landed on when he broke his wrist? secondly you left out 7 on the blue bike on racer X testing while you were in charge of the decals and 3rd on the interview with mathes you said the tv show wasnt doing him any good and ruining his career. In case you havent realized he got a 2nd season and 3rd in the works and he is putting bot his sponsors and the show on the map. Thats just plain old simple truth.Not that he is my fav rider but just telling it like it is. Its obvious he wont do an interview with you but damn!! I didnt think it was that personal.
Cost of labor keeping Supercross out of Syracuse? Really? I'd like to see that penciled out. The other things mentioned I could see, but that cost of labor item just doesn't seem right. Can you give us a little more background on this. Thanks Davey.
I thought that Jeremy McGrath got on the podium in a supercross when he rode a few races on that Bud light KTM back in the day.Didn't he?
I love the idea of JS and CR riding together. Can only mean bad news for the young boys if they start pushing each other. Also think it's just great that they are talking a little too. . Just didn't feel right or good that there was so much tension between them in the past, although it's easy to understand when there is so much at stake.
There are enough people to sign praises for Stewart and I for one am glad Ping isn't counted as one of them........just telling it like it is, and keeping it real, and just saying....the plain old simple truth.
dgizzy - it seems alot of folks in the industry have a hard timing dealing with all of Stewarts success onand off the track, not too mention how much riders get paid these days compared to 10 years ago.. the sport has progressed and the stars of the sport get more attention off the track than ever....Go back 10-12 years.....Did McGrath have a TV show? and the years before MC ruled, Did Johnson or Ward have their own team or 15-20 different sponsors....Stewart makes some mistakes sure and all riders have used poor judgement on accasion, JS7 just has the spotlight on his everymove and it is what it is....I doubt stewart enjoys crashing......GO RV2!
I think MC road one race at Perris Raceway or maybe a few overseas before he realized that bike was a roach.....and went back to Honda where he should have stayed in the first place.
I think I peed a little when I read Syracuse and SX in the same sentence. I for one will be camped out in a cardboard box for several days to get tickets if this happens.
Bring it on!
Good moves Mike , both on the track and giving props to Roger D. !
JD
Fred- I'm 99% sure that MC retired before the season started. I'm 100% sure that the KTM bogged on the face of a triple at the test track and he dislocated his hip in a bad way and that was that.
dgrizzy- dont get your panties all in a bunch. That show is stupid and shouldnt be doing it and bubba does have a history of reckless crashes into other people. When he got landed on and broke his wrist that was completely his fault, he cut under the guy in the air.
Redbeard: I'm not speaking for Ping but I would say some people value respect and you get what you give. JS may be awsome on a dirtbike but his lack of respect for other riders is what is holding him back from having more fans on his side; that and his existing fans are over the top. IMO
Seriously why the pic of 800? because he finally got a top ten? enough of that. I'd like to see a video of James and chad chasing each other at one of their homes. that'd be epic. Stewey has far more fans than Dungey, last race i went to. I'm pulling for Tommy hahn, k'dub , or poto. K'rock in the 250.
I said more fans. Not more fans than Dungey. JS lacks respect, Dungey may not have enough "lack of respect". But what do I know...
Stewart got landed on when he broke his wrist??? I LOVE IT!!! Only a true Stewart fan could possibly try to claim that Kyle landed on James. Priceless.
Im pretty sure that mcgrath only had a podium in a "world round" in europe. i respect stewarts talent and abillity to ride a bike but the lack of maturity and responsibility and is supported by mooching surrounders as i see and feel, is a damper in his dominance. sadly race plays a role in everything, though we are a "free country". bubbas show is what todays world is, ....parents or a parent living thru their kids cause they couldnt. kid can ride faster than anyone but he has had everything and needs to grow up and be professional like his speed. no raciism crap needed. im blind to that crap. landing on people like he has is either no thinking or no respect. im A/EXPERT for 10 yrs and i sure damn know not to follow. accidents happen but habitual is stupidity
Redbeard, MC got hurt on the KTM, he completly dislocated his hip, its why he quit. And I dont think PING cares one way or another about Stewie, he just gave his opinion just like everybody else. But its obvious how dgizzy feels about Stewie. Will Stewie get reprimanded, no. Just like RC didnt get fined points when his fuel tested bad. That arent going to mess with the stars of the sport. they are afraid they will lose them. My opinion on Stewie is he is a moto racer, not a T.V. star, or a rap star. He is a moto racer and needs to act like one and not stretch himself so thin with all the self promotion. He got were he is racing dirtbikes. Stick with what works, he had the most success then.
But I've never raced supercross so my 10 years of 'expert' (lol) doesn't mean shit.
JT$ was lucky to be in the main, we know this and when you go, 1, 1, 1, you better look up sucka!
Stewart will without a doubt hold the record for most people passed in supercross history. He is aggressive while trying to win, really? You have to do that? JT$ said he would do the same thing bithes
Kenny Watson got offended and left the pulp show? That's really surprising, but I don't think he was good for the show. Watson is a sorry excuse for a human being. That guy would rip off your grandmother, but that's cool as colored tattoos right.
"Looking ahead to summer, there are strong rumors that Mike Alessi will actually ride the 450 outdoors, which should make him very happy."
Matthes can't live this down! Over and over again his opinions come back to haunt him. Oh I'm sure KTM can't handle the uproar over switching to a 450 after claiming the 350 is the future. lol You think if they switch they can switch back and still claim it as being the future?
That was the weakest Racerhead ever. I think the boys texted their articles in this week.
Stillwelding, I would guess it probably has something to do with labor unions. Probably no labor can take place on the grounds unless it's union work, or union assisted, or something. Just a guess.
Sometimes I think I enjoy reading the comments more then racerhead itself. Makes dropping the kids off at the pool so much easier with all the laughing I am doing.
Kenny Watson, please say you're not leaving the show. I'm sure Matthes is just blowing smoke up everyone's ass but regardless the PulpMX show wouldn't be the same. The show is awesome and keep up the good work. To all you guys bashing the writer's on here, if you don't like what they have to say then stop reading. I'm getting tired of reading commentary on here on people's opinions and then having to weed through the garbage of guys just *****ing like little girls. Oh yeah, some of you guys really need to proofread your postings as well, terrible.
Uh oh. Is Matthes skating at the RacerX Hockey thing? He's gonna crack the refrigeration pipes
BD200 I think JS is doing fine handling all the things he does just fine. He is 2nd in points. Unless you blaim his show for the crash?? Short said when he signed with KTM that he might run a 450 outdoors its his call.
I wonder if Stewart and Reed would be talking with each other if they were runnint 1 & 2 in points. Glad to see JT$ will be back next week to tough it out. He's the quintessential privateer. And DeCoster getting the KTM figured out...surprise, huh?
At the AMA pro level, the field is just too deep to give up 100cc. What is gained in weight, gyroscopic effect, etc, is checked by what is lost in tourqe, HP and ease of use. Short & Alessi's finishing top 10 and even top 5 in SX is a great success to the 350 but, at this time in it's development cycle, I think that might be the best they could reasonably expect to get out of it. Getting Alessi back on track regarding holeshots and his starting ability in general would to me, be the best strategy to maximize his potential and value to the team and brand.
I am not a huge fan of Bubbas World, but I like to watch the actual riding or race coverage they often have. I think there was an idea for a show and they didnt quite get it right....I think it would be better without the silly pre scripted pieces with Sorby and my favorite scripted worse acting James: " what are you doing?"....Mechanic:"changing plates".........that was horrible........nobody's perfect ...well maybe KDUB is the only perfect one.....Reed was a winer, MC was a blow hard.....and james is james. I personally feel he tries too hard for people to like him.....is it the black thing? I dunno....but he doesnt better inetrviews than alot of guys out there.....some bad choices on the track, but I like the guy.....remember, he is pretty much expected to win every race....that is alot of weight on his shoulders.
* he does better interviews
@Carlsbad, I agree that's a lot to give up and saw with my own eyes in Oakland on a rythm section the 450's were struggling the 350's didn't even come close with the lack of the extra umph of hundred cc's. As far as results.....IMHO,Shorty and Alessi are right were they would be if they were on 450's. If anyone thinks the 350 is going to be competitive outdoors, well, they're thier there just crazy!
* they're..... confimed (my wifes a fifth grade teacher) my bad, I was having a "yzsean" moment lol!
hey ping...journalism is
"writing that reflects superficial thought and research, a popular slant, and hurried composition"
your writing sux...it sounds more like message board bait...
probably has something do with the fact that your last year as a pro a little 16 yr old took the spotlight...they called him bubba
Ping: get over yourself!
Forgetting about Toronto 2006, Tedesco was newly on Makita Suzuki and, rumors had it, looking quite racey for the new season. In practice (I think), Stewart lands on him, breaks his wrist, and ruins his season (and Suzuki career). Safety Stew.
"Schwarzenegger" is not German.. Austrian i think. Steve, see ya at QualComm and if i see ping i'll give him two thumbs up just as i did at A1, A2, Dodgerland, and Pala...YES!!!
BILLC. he does seem to be doing fine now. He is refocused after his injury kept him out so long. I'm sure he is real hungry to show the guys who said he is washed up. I still cant understand why people would think he is suddendly slow. My point is this. I feel if it wasnt for the "reality" show, he would be racing outdoors too. Maybe not, I dont know. But I blame it on that. I would rather see all our top guys commited to moto only until they retire.
Syracuse would be sweet just a short drive up Interstate 81 easy on easy off.
bubbas a lander-on-er. He Also cleaned out Grant Langston after a start (came over on him hard). Would not of wanted to be a Stewart after the Houston races. But he is good with the press and has great moves on the track at times! He would be my fav rider, but not after these altercations.
I've been pulling for a NYC-area SX ... but Syracuse is even better!!! Keeping my fingers crossed on this one....
I miss the good ol' days where riders raced both SX and MX with no debate......McGrath couldnt handle getting his ass handed to him outdoors and started this " I race SX only" disease. The outdoors is where you see who really is the overall best rider of the year.....Following a rider through both SX and MX on and off the track would make a great TV show......watching dork boy todd potter making stewie drink shots is pretty lame....
Fancypants, I do think Alessi would have better results if he could get back to his old self start-wise. Holeshotting races and starting top-5ish was his M.O. before the 350. I think Short would do better as well. It might be too obvious to point out everybody does better with good starts but, as far as I'm concerned, that's the one place these bikes are clearly lacking. I think we're all on the same page in thinking the give / take of the 350 equation loses significantly on starts and whatever else it gains, I don't think there's enough benefit to make up for that (certainly not in SX anyway). Roczen may seem to nullify that argument but, he's an anomoly and apparently, the exception to the rule. I know there's people on here that really dislike Alessi but, I STILL think he can compete for MX championships and that is a skillset not a lot of people can claim, like them or not.
Carslbad, I've been on the fence with the 350. I thought the smaller guys like Alessi would benefit untill I saw it with my own eyes in Oakland, and If the track builders took this into consideration and made some of the obstacles a little easier to clear, the 350 might shine.... Don't get me wrong about Short and Alessi, they are both impressive as heck on a bike but, was Mike ever a top five SX'r? I'm with you on thinking he can be a contender outdoors as he has proven it before on the bigger Katoom! And I expect Shorty to be top three outdoors(as he has been) given he has the ponies!!!