Ask Ping!
Sunday, October 14, 2012 | 12:35 PM
ODI dates back to the 1980’s as the leader in grip manufacturing. Focusing primarily on the bmx and mountain bike industries through the 90’s and early 2000’s, ODI re-entered the motocross scene when they developed the patented lock-on grip system that eliminates wire and glue. Continuing to advance the way riders hold on to their bikes, ODI has worked closely with the teams they support such as Troy Lee Designs to create the product that is now being used by some of the top teams in the industry.
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PrintPing,
You may not recall (understandable) but I inquired about the use of the number 00 a while back and the letter was published in Ask Ping. Just wanted to say thanks for answering the email and also way to make 00 happen with the 2013 250 shootout! I just saw it on twitter and about passed out from the overwhelming joy. In addition, the XR and the quad have been parked for a bit, I recently acquired a slightly used CRF250 that I have been putting laps on every chance I get, trying to make the transition to bikes finally. Keep up the good work, man, and thanks again.
Best,
Ray
It takes a real man to rock the double zeros.
Ray,
Just another fine example of how Ask Ping delivers as a media entity. You want the number 00 injected into the world of motocross? You got it. The AMA may not recognize it but I damn sure do. And way to follow up a great idea by parking your quad and the purchasing a new dirt bike. You are an outstanding American.
PING
David, I was watching the AMA superbike races when the announcer said something that made me wonder. He stated that the two racers who battled for the win may be ready for the World GP stage. Why in motocross is the AMA the premier series in the world, but it is quite the opposite in road racing? By the way, I remember going out to Denny’s with you and your dad after the races at Thrasherland. We always liked to claim you as an AZ. guy. Hope all is well.
Kyle,
Killebrew
That's what I'm talking about!
Kyle, It’s always good to see a familiar name from the past. Some of my best racing memories are the local events and amateur races my dad and I went to when I was a kid. Thrasherland was pretty much a pile, looking back, but we always had a great time going there… and hitting Denny’s for some Moons Over My Hammy afterwards. Good stuff. The roadracing thing isn’t my area of expertise so I won’t blow a bunch of smoke up your ass and pretend I know why we lag in that sport. In motocross the Americans figured out how to one-up the rest of the world and become the premier racing series globally. I think supercross has had something to do with that. But our road racing series isn’t even the second largest tour in that realm and we only get a rare few individuals who make it to the Moto GP circuit. Maybe some of those with some worn out knee pucks can give us their thoughts in the comments section. In the meantime I’m a huge fan of the few Yanks we have doing their thing against the best road racers on the planet. Great to hear from you, Kyle.
PING
Good afternoon, David, I look forward to your column each and every week and really enjoy your take on life. I have asked you a couple of questions before without a reply, but anyhoo. What I would really like to know is on a scale of 1 to 10 how upset are you that the USA didn’t win the des Nations and what are your thoughts on the team's performance. The deafening silence in your Racerhead piece definitely had me wondering. My tag on the comments section is YOUNGBLOOD42 and I can’t remember there ever being such excitement before or after this iconic event. My first Motocross and Trophee des Nations was in 1981 and I still have Motocross Action from that year reporting the event. Thanks
Gavin Young.
No, no, don't eat that! What is this, your first win or something?
Gavin, I’m at an 11.5 over the Des Nations debacle and do you want to know why? Because I was all set to get a big bonus check if our guys won and now I have no idea how I’m going to pay for this giraffe-skin sectional sofa that I just bought off the Internet from an underground poaching/furniture emporium out of South Africa. How am I going to raise that kind of money now, Gavin? Okay, so I didn’t have a bonus program. Actually, I had very little invested in that project. To be completely honest my rage on a 1 to 10 scale is probably hovering at around a 0.5 to 0.8. It took going to a track so unimaginably deep and rough that simply negotiating it is a death-defying feat for someone to unseat the USA as the global champions. It took eight years. I could tell you that the sun shines on a dog’s rear end on some days and cheapen the German’s victory but I’m not going to do that. Roczen rode like a beast and so did his teammates and all of the Dutch crew. Good for them and congratulations. Enjoy the sweet taste of champagne because next year when the track isn’t made of a bottomless pit of beach sand it’s going to be a little more difficult to top the US.
PING
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Wait.... Is it friday??? Better late than never, I guess...
Thx ping
Ping was busy ....
http://instagram.com/p/QpzTanFt8S/
I guess that kills the idea that he was out pferforming his paramedic duties, resucing old woman who had slipped in the bathtub, then throwing a lip lock on them as what he would have called CPR! I will admit he was sporting some cool looking gear.
Ping. I've read your colume from day 1, and almost always get a good laugh. For that I thank you. Heres my problem w/ the MXD comments. Motocrossers cannot blame the track for getting beat? or is that acceptable these days? I think this type of thinking will be the demise of our winning teams. Like the cat that pulls out a moto, becouse its too hot, or he's too tired, or the tracks just too rough? For cry'n out loud its motocross. Once they do that once, it gets easier to quit or cry about something the next time. We got beat, We need to do better, is how we used to roll. C'Maaaaawn man. Thanks for the colume anyways.
At b787tech & joemotocross589: Did you guys even watch the MXoN coverage? No you can not blame the track 99% of the time but, good grief, there are exceptions to almost all rules-especially an "unwritten" rule like, "never blame the track". Why do you think they did all that trash talking across the pond in the weeks leading up to the event? They KNEW this track was a crap hole that you'd have to ride many, many times to even start to get comfortable and get a bike dialed in. Even Decoster, who never uses the track or bike set up as an excuse, acknowledged both as a problem this time. I could not agree more with Ping's comments. I get the feeling you both just got your feelings hurt because your favorite rider wasn't selected or couldn't race. Wait until next year's MXoN and you'll both eat your words!!!!!!!!!!!
Lommel is as rough as it gets, end of subject. There are no tracks that even vaguely mimic this surface stateside, and even the nearest relative we have ( Southwick ) gets over groomed in between motos. You can't take away what Germany did, it was an awesome team effort and they rode superbly, our guys got beat, some tracks are going to favor certain riders no matter where you go. I wish everyone would stop crying about this and just move on, the U.S. will get another chance, this is about respect, the top Europeans earned respect over at Lommel, if we continue to demand respect for our riders we should also be able to give it when it is due.
It is George Bush's fault that the USA lost the MXdesN and that we (the USA) don't dominate globally in the world of roadracing.
Fred- send joemotocross589 some of your tard pills, it will help ease the pain because we did not win.
joemotocross589- I don't think I heard any whining, our boys got thier azzes handed to them true, but I think they took it like troopers. It was a good learning experience for all.
He already has some.Can't you tell.Haha! I thought we were over MXDN.
Ping isn't giving an excuse for the team, he was asked what he thought of the teams performance and there is nothing else to be said. That is a completely different style motocross race, who ever has been exposed to that will excel. The U.S. did a great job, we had some bad luck like all the countries, still fighting for podiums and Barcia was a top 5 rider at that track. Getting great starts and turning top 3 lap times.
Gills----well put!! Everybody raced on the same track----lets move on!!
@fred- all those years of riding without a helmet must have done it! And I don't think duck taping a tard pill on top of you head is going to help either.
once and for all mxd was a survival test.if any of you a holes had ever ridden in knarly sand.(especialy if it is not your element) you can get tired and loose confidene fast. you feel like you are wrestling a steer,while some sand wizard rails around the out side of you with his feet on the pegs going twice as fast asyou! the other guys rode that shiz well and we did have some bad luck to. ping is correct, it aint gonna be that way next year!
@ anyone that cares..........Saw JS 7 in Cal today at test track..........I bet he's racing MEC ! He wouldnt say but I'll bet 5 on it !
I think the Europeans have made great strides in coming up to par vs the U.S. . It used to be Supercross was our ace in the hole. We could jump things where they never new there was a jump. I beleive those days are gone. Plus I will whine again on our 17 minute mains in supercross. Our outdoor tracks are a turning into an overgroomed scrambles tracks with a few supercross jumps. A dozer after every moto??? Sure the start is fine but the whole track. Imagine have a whole track as rough a the Millville whoops. Not just 50 yards. Maybe the Euros will have trouble here as the tracks are so smooth and anyone with some horsepower can pin it. We will continue to decline in the outdoors as they make the tracks smoother and smoother. And more narrow. Villopoto has hinted at doing a season in the GP's . Now that would be interesting and might be a good barometer of the level of skill. I think he would rise to the occaision by being so damned competitive. But I do not think you would see total mots sweeps. We are turning into a bunch of woosies.
Wow
where do you get to see a 17 min. s-x main? Think last one i timed was 14 min.
Interesting comments made today about our current motocross tracks. But when I watch footage of the past such as Carlsbad and remember racing there back in the 70's, I don't think tracks are nearly as rough as they used to be. The countless hours spent at Saddleback and I don't recall them whipping out the dozer to smooth things over every moto. But then again that is my view of todays tracks and those of the past. My friends will always argue that todays track are rougher. Maybe they just have long term memeroy losses or maybe I just have senile old friends. lol
@ CZmark gET OFF THE AIR WAVES YOUR DRUNK YOU MIDGET ! go to bed
@FrickNFrack- don't get me started, lol!
I don't know what most of you are talking about, but I never saw any national"freeway"track here. Even all euros that come over state that the tracks are tough here. it was the element (deep sand) that got our boys in trouble plus some bad luck. I had all respect for Cairoli before but after this race in his interview he made it sound like he's all that. Dude, you won on your practice track which has specific element! You come to Rv's practice track he'll jump over you on his worst day! Anyhow, still got little respect for Cairoli, like his riding style. Can't take anything away from ze germans, guys rode great and consistent. I'd like to see a sand track like that here. Lommel was fun to watch.
It's pretty easy to explain why the US is the premier MX series and Europe leads road racing. In America kids grow up on dirt bikes (and importantly have places to ride them) whereas if you go to Italy, Spain or France all the teenagers are on scooters. Here in the UK we have a lot of road circuits per head of population (which explains why we produce a lot of single seater drivers and half of the World Superbike grid are Brits) but not many motocross tracks.
The AMA Pro MX series is without doubt the world's premier MX championship because that's where the money is. The factories sell more dirt bikes in the US than the rest of the world (probably) because you guys have the money to buy them and the spaces to ride them, so they invest money in the domestic series in terms of bikes and riders. In fact with the exception of KTM there aren't really any true factory teams in MXGP. So the riders follow the money (certainly true in recent years) and who can blame them? Back before the financial crash there were guys riding round outside the top ten in the AMA series who were still on mega-bucks compared to their European counterparts.
We should be bearing this stuff in mind when we talk about the MXDN too - it's hardly surprising that the US has had such a streak of success when you're picking from poulation of over 300m potential riders, most of whom could find a place to ride (trail if not MX) pretty easily if they had money for gas and a bike. Compare tha to Europe which has more chances to win (i.e. more teams) but thinly spread talent. The Belgians are only picking from 11m and look how well they've done in recent years! And it's pretty amazing that the Germans won when you consider that off-road riding is pretty much illegal in Germany! You guys do have the best MX series, and the most strength in depth, but so you should have. I'd like to see a Ryder-cup style shoot-out with a Europe team of Cairoli, Roczen and Herlings, but until then you guys hold all the cards on dirt, and we do on asphalt.
I'll be the new whipping post, fine. But we"re the best in the world, just dont make us ride sand " Sounds pretty lame when ya say it out loud. I'M from the "we didnt make excuses generation. Circus cross doesnt prove a thing in my book.
My book was pretty short though ;)
I do think the best team we had was sent also. I dont have a fav rider, well DeCoster, was my fav.
meankx you're very naive.
Let's put some bacon on that Moon Over My Hammie.
@dm18
You hit the nail on the head.
Ahh.... Old timers:) the tracks were gnarlier, the bikes were crap, we used to ride faster, competition was tougher...... Blah, BLAH, BLAH....:D I have no right to take your glory days away. If not for you, nobody knows where our sport would be and I thank you for that! The thing is, if you take any sport....it progresses a lot. The athletes are way stronger than they were before, equipment is way better, speeds are faster and so on. As far as deep sand goes, do you really thing that if Dungey, Rv or Barcia rode sand like that a lot they wouldn't be right there with cairoli or herlings? It's not the bumps or ruts, for sure. You throw the most beat up track@ Rd, and he'll run the whole moto at the same pace as his first lap! We need a sand track like that in our series. Lommel is fun to watch. On the other hand, you bring those sand wizards to a1 what will happen??? How many times they will get lapped? What? It's the same track for everyone isn't it? It's something that they don't do a lot and thats understandable. But, should we call both world champs woosies? I don't think so. DC, you need to find us a real sand track!
It would be cool to see a Manufacture world race. Like the best KTM, Suzuki, Kawi, Yami, and Honda riders. KTM: Caroili, Dungey, Herlings/Roczen/Musqine.. etc... And have it set up like the MX of Nations. Each top Manufacture would pick their fastest 8 riders, 4 in MX1 and 4 in MX2; to make a 40 rider gate. I think that would be cool and fun to see. That way we could see who the fastest riders in the world really are and what bike may be the best bike of that year. Manufacture Shoot Out.
Next years MXDN will tell. If the track is not a reason Team Germany will win again at home and Herlings will be lapping team USA. Who really thinks that will happen.
Jeez you girls. You came third for goodness sake! That is still a good result, give the guys some credit. Just accept the fact that any winning streak is going to end one day, if it didn't it would be boring and not exciting wouldn't it?
How much are we all looking forward to next year now?
As far as blaming the track, I don't see too many people "blaming" the track. What I do see is people citing the track as part of the reason. That seems fair enough to me.
Anyway, I like the idea of a manufacturer version as suggested above and I also like the idea of a Team Europe V USA v Oceania v Baltic etc....could be a good feature race after the MXDN races...?
Manufacturer MXoN
Honda
- Chad Reed
- Trey Canard
- Justin Barcia
- Eli Tomac
- Evgeny Bobryshev
- Rui Goncalves
- Kevin Windham
- Andrew Short
KTM
- Ryan Dungey
- Ken Roczen
- Marvin Musquin
- Antonio Carioli
- Max Nagl
- Jeffrey Herlings
- Jeremy van Horebeek
- Malcolm Stewart
Suzuki
- James Stewart
- Brett Metcalfe
- Mike Alessi
- Blake Wharton
- Clemente Desalle
- Tanel Leok
- Jason Anderson
- Michael Byrne
Kawasaki
- Ryan Villopoto
- Jake Weimer
- Broc Tickle
- Blake Baggett
- Dean Wilson
- Tyla Rattray
- Tommy Searle
- Christophe Pourcel
Yamaha
- David Millsaps
- Nico Izzi
- Ryan Sipes
- Davide Philappearts
- Steven Frossard
- Zachary Osborne
- Arnaud Tonus
- Kyle Cunningham
@smee not sure what the list was supposed to be in relation to this article but millsaps is now on rockstar suzuki...chisel neck
@ Crossup Maybe you missed 2009 and 2011? Just like this year USA were trailing going into the final race and you could have easily lost had your closest rivals not have encountered incredibly bad luck.
Okay, so you are saying that not getting a good start and being in a first turn crash is "incredibly bad luck"?
Hey Ping if you are really only 0.5 to 0.8 upset on a scale of 1 to 10...you should stop writing this column and go fishing or something!
Next year will be a different story, ok that's true...but the fact is that the margin is really close between the US riders and the GP riders on hard-pack fast tracks.
Watch last year's MXON
And there is a big margin when it comes to riding a rough track....
So Ping if you don't care your boys being lapped, your not so posionate about the sport as I tought you where..