Ask Ping!
Is Christophe Pourcel's nickname really C-Pour? I would be bummed if that were my nickname. You being an "insider" and all, can you tell us some other lame nicknames that weren’t appreciated by their assignees?
Thanks, Kent
Honolulu
Dear Kent,
C-Pour is pretty much a super-lame moniker. Hopefully it won’t stick and he’ll get tagged with something much more creative and en vogue like CP377. Why can’t we come up with better names? I realize “Ping” isn’t exactly a profound nugget produced by some MENSA think tank but surely we can improve upon some of these initial/number combos. IT9, RV2, DV12, BT101… I mean, really? There were some good ones that didn’t stick, sadly. Nick Wey should have been tagged with Wey-Fed since he looks like he could be Kevin Federline’s twin brother, but it never took. Reed had a great nickname in “Chopper” but nobody here in the States got the joke. Chopper Read is an Australian, well, outlaw I guess. He used to kill people and then he cut his own ears off to get moved from prison to a psych ward. It’s an interesting story. Anyway, there are some super-funny videos that parody the man if you want a laugh… check it out here (mature language) http://www.ozman.com.au/index.php?itemid=155.
Mahalo, Kent.
PING
Dear Ping,
It was cool to see that Wardy will be coming out of retirement for Supermoto. Why don't you do all of us old-schoolers a favor and see if you can use some team manager pressure to get him to an outdoor national this year? Depending on the course, I'll bet he could give some kids half his age quite a reality check! But then again, I'm a vet rider so I guess I'm biased...
-Mark
MSG Mark Swart
101st Airborne Division
Bagram, Afghanistan
Dear Mark,
Wardy is an animal, no doubt. Most guys that are 48 consider mowing the lawn a rigorous workout and this guy is still winning gold medals at the X Games. He was trying to do the Colorado national a couple years ago but that was before it was a night race. I think he would have a hard time seeing in the dark. Hey, he’s not Superman. I’ll try to talk him into doing Southwick. I agree that he would probably embarrass a lot of kids at around the 30-minute mark in the second moto. Either that or he would tip over and break a hip. Hey, thanks for all you do, Mark. Wardy is great, but you guys are the real heroes.
PING
Ping,
What an amazing supercross season thus far! Not many people would have guessed that Stewart would have been behind in the Championship at this point in the season. I just found out via Speed Channel that Travis Pastrana will be racing St. Louis this weekend, and will be a spoiler in the main event. Now I love Pastrana as much as the next guy, but do you really feel he can come back and be on the box? Also, is there any chance in the near future that Pastrana will drop car racing/TV shows and give his fans one more season?
Laith Smith
Dear Laith,
No, I don’t think Travis will ever come back to racing full-time. He tried and it just wasn’t panning out for him. Travis got a bad rap for not focusing and putting too much emphasis on freestyle and video jackassery but the truth is he had several seasons where he put everything he had into motocross. He was simply making more money doing things his own way. Good for him. Who would have thought a guy could make a career out of backflipping a tricycle and crashing school busses. Now about this weekend, I don’t know how much of as spoiler he’s going to be. Sure, he’ll be fast for a handful of laps but the main event is still 20 laps last time I checked. He’s been down south since Daytona riding with Millsaps and the rest of the Florida crew, but we’ll have to see if it is enough. My guess is that he will finish inside the top ten but not in the top five. But what do I know? If there’s one man that could prove me wrong its TP199. Hey, can we get this guy a new nickname?
PING
