Yo Ping, help me out here. After reading the Everts-vs.-Stewart-for-the-outdoor-nationals hype, I was super stoked, called all my mates to bust the news. I mean, what more could one ask for to get the nationals firing with Ricky calling it a day? How could you guys throw such an "April Fool" curveball at us?
Pautz (African Fool)
P.S. I still believe it!
April Fools! photo: Steve Bruhn
Dear Pautz,
You certainly are an African fool. That is the point of a good April Fools joke: to get people to believe it. The key is that once you realize that you have been fooled, you must stop believing the joke. That seems to be where you are coming up short. Dude, it was just a joke. Everts is not coming here to race. Let it go. I realize that it would’ve been great if it was true, but it isn’t. I’d like to be a backup dancer for Christina Aguilera, it’s just a fantasy I have, but it isn’t going to happen. I have a bad version of the Bus Driver that comes out after one too many cocktails, and that’s about it for my repertoire. Pull it together, Pautz. I realize it’s fun to dream, but it just isn’t happening.
P.S. Seriously, stop believing … it isn’t going to happen.
P.P.S. Dude, are you still believing? Let it go!
PING
Dear Ping
Which dirt bike internet message board is your favorite out of them all?
Elliot. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Dear Elliot,
I don’t go to any of them. Every time I drop in to see what people are talking about, I get so annoyed that I want to drop my laptop off the roof of my house. The vast majority of posters on these sites don’t know what they are writing about. They have nothing and nobody holding them accountable for what they post, and that is a bad combination. If you want gossip and slander, then any of those message boards will do. If you want facts and information on the sport, I would just stick to racerxill.com.
PING
I read a comment made by you about a young kid named Tyler Bowers who, by your measure, acted unprofessionally at a Toyota Arenacross race. Two questions came to mind after I read this comment. First, you are saying that he could race the entire BooKoo series, four main events per weekend and countless heats, without one noted incident with another rider and suddenly show up at the Toyota series and start trouble with a half-dozen riders? That is stupid. By my observations Brock was as much to blame as anyone. Maybe you should point out that he should be "more professional." Second, if you are so correct to call out young riders when they act up, why haven't you mentioned Josh Hill, who not only acted like an idiot in Vegas but also acted that way in every other Supercross Lites race I have seen him in? I mean, he has not made a clean pass yet. Fair's fair, but you need more careful about showing a preference to your friends when you start calling people out.
Dear?, Did you see this? photo: Simon Cudby
Hey, look, it’s one more kook that doesn’t have the decency to attach his name to his letter. I usually don’t even respond when someone doesn’t have the berries to sign something that he wrote; it shows a very real lack of character. However, your letter is so ignorant that I couldn’t resist. First, young Tyler was not being rashly judged by me or the AMA when he was fined and penalized for his actions at the final Arenacross round. Did he go the whole series without altercation only to self-destruct at the end? I don’t know. But what he did at that last round was inexcusable and he deserved every bit of the punishment he got. By the AMA’s measure, not mine, his actions were not in accordance with the rules of professional racing. And he will not attend the opening round of the national motocross series because of that.
As far as Brock’s involvement is concerned, I can only assume that you weren’t there or didn’t see the race on television. Brock did put an aggressive move on Tyler, but that was only after Bowers steamrolled him the night before. I’m sorry, but I have trouble feeling sorry for a 190-pound Baby Huey when skinny little Brock Sellards knocks him over a berm. Brock weighs in at about 140, and that is after a plate of Pop Tarts in the morning. And I never said that Bowers started trouble with a half-dozen riders. I said he started trouble with two riders, Danny Smith and Brock Sellards, and he did. That is fact, not my opinion. As far as Josh Hill’s pass in Vegas, didn’t he end up going down? He hasn’t been so much as warned by the AMA for riding overly aggressive. Are you sure we’re watching the same races? I’m not showing preference to my friends, I’m just telling it how it is. If you don’t believe me, ask my buddy Josh Hansen, because he’s been mad at me about 100 different times.
PING
Something on your mind? Do you think Ping can help? Email him at letters@racerxill.com.
