Hey Ping,
I remember how surprised I was when Racer X sent you to interview Stephane Roncada after he succumbed to pain killers and came clean about his addiction to it in public. I was pleasantly surprised about two things back then: first off that Stephane seemed to be onto a solid recovery and secondly how well you managed to conduct yourself in such a delicate situation. For me that was your coming of age (others might say you lost your edge).
Remembering what an exciting rider Stephane was when he was “ON” I wonder what he is up to today and if he is able or interested in riding dirt bikes for fun on California's tracks here and there. I seem to remember that he was into developing Video games; did anything come of that? Stephane was one of few who was able to hand it to both Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart, only on one or two occasions but it sure was fun to watch Vegas against Stewart and that one Outdoor race where he held Carmichael on a RM250 honest.
So do you know what’s going on with him these days?
Best greetings, Oliver
Ronron and TP are all thumbs-up.
Ronron was an amazing talent during his prime. Unfortunately he segued from medication necessary for a racing injury to recreation pill-popping to full-on addiction that almost cost him his life. I think his willingness to open up about his problem and talk it out with people is one of the main reasons he’s still around. Stephane still works for 2XL, a video game company in Phoenix, as far as I know. He’s been helping them develop games and he’s also gotten into photography over the past five or six years. I actually ran into him at a supercross a few years back and he was on the floor shooting pictures! He’s a little bigger than he was in his prime but he seemed to be healthy and happy.
PING
Hey Ping,
What's Uppppppppp ?, Can you tell us what are/ were your favorite 2 stroke and four stroke bikes and why .....
Thanks Man and
Keep up the mediocre work...
Apparently this is their favorite bike.
My favorite bikes are the 2000 RM 125, the 2014 RMZ450 and the 2013 CRF250F. Each of those bikes I can climb on and immediately feel comfortable on. I think that Suzuki 125 was as good as any 125 ever made, the CRF 250 is still the best 250F ever made and the RMZ450 is just a really good all-around bike. I’m also a big fan of the Honda Z50, any factory bike from any year from any manufacturer and even the new Zero electric bikes. They each have their own redeeming qualities and I’m a fan of race bikes as well as niche bikes. Keep in mind though, according to you, I also turn out mediocre work regularly. So, there’s that. Thanks for the mediocre question.
PING
Ping,
What are your thoughts about poster's on the Racer X comment sections treating each other with such distain, hatred and disrespect? Attacking sexual orientation, family members, upbringing, motorcycle brands, riders, what the riders look like, their girlfriends, wives, how goofy there mechanic is, etc.....I love it. What are your smug thoughts?
mxgrunkthe2nd
Honestly, I try to avoid the drama below the content that Racer X Online provides. The spirit of the comments section is to give fans a place to banter and share their thoughts and opinions in a respectful manner. Unfortunately the respectful part gets pushed aside often and it turns into a room full of bratty children arguing over a toy. I am always shocked that some folks will take time out of their day to log in and type out a negative comment about anything they read in one of our articles. We are trying to provide information and entertainment to motocross fans without charging them and instead of just clicking to another free article if they don’t like something they will sit down and dictate a novel about their dissatisfaction. Those must be some miserable people and it’s a shame their parents didn’t hug them more when they were kids. Of course that’s just my respectful opinion.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Email him at ping@racerxonline.com.