Dear Ping,
I love your section on Racer X Online. But, I particularly enjoy your comments about quad riders. I'm not here to defend, but I myself have been an avid ATV motocross racer for the last five years. I compete at an A class national level and even get to compete on some of the same tracks as the AMA Motocross pros like Millville and RedBud.
I recently purchased my first dirt bike and have put twelve riding hours on it. I can compete locally at an A class level also. It’s safe to say I have more fun on my dirt bike than my quad because of all the tracks to ride.... BUT have you ever noticed how ridiculously easy it is to ride one?
Guys locally ride four fast laps and practically have to be hooked up to an IV. I can ride 30-minute motos and truly almost not break a sweat. Could it be true that riding a dirt bike takes less from your body than a quad does? I suppose it'd be quite unruly to say you have to be in better shape to ride a quad than a dirt bike.
P.S. You should have your own talk show someday.
Bart Grundey
Wisconsin
Dear Bart,
Unruly indeed, my friend. I can’t really speak on this because I’ve only ridden a quad on a motocross track once and it wasn’t fun…at all. Every natural instinct I had on a motorized vehicle was wrong and a rollover or ejection seemed imminent. I felt like a monkey trying to hump four footballs. I did exactly one lap and pulled her in, ending my quad riding career. I’m sure the quad guys are fit, just like the motocross guys. But the key here is that you had more fun on a motorcycle. At the end of the day that is what it’s all about. Welcome to the club.
PING
Hey Ping,
Huge fan here! Wanted to write to you now that the MX season has ended to ask you about supermoto. I was one of the few people I know that followed it until it recently fell off the face of the earth. What the heck happened? 17" wheels on a CRF450 look sweet!
P.S. What brand and offset triple clamps were you guys typically using back when you competed?
Keep up the good work!
Thank you
Justin Johnson
Dear Justin,
It’s just a shame what happened to Supermoto. Back when the sport got started here, less than a decade ago, there were big names and big sponsors and the sky was the limit. The second or third year was probably the peak of the sport here in the States. Then it slowly ate itself. There was contention about the use of Red Bull’s sponsorship money and they pulled out. That was a huge blow to the sport. There was no grass roots series in place to get people involved in the sport on an amateur level, which didn’t help. And once guys like Wardy, Burkhart, Herfoss, Anderson and others started specializing in the sport, and getting really good, it chased away top motocross and road race guys because they could no longer step in and win at X Games or select events. They were struggling to hit the podium the last few years. And as great as the Supermoto guys were at what they did, fans didn’t recognize them and they didn’t show up to watch them. The economy was the last straw and things pretty much ground to a halt when they pulled Supermoto from the X Games. There are still cool events around the world and pockets of racing here and there. Maybe someday it will make a comeback and they will get the promotion and growth part of it right. It went away and came back once so it could happen again.
P.S. We used Pro Circuit clamps.
PING
Ping,
From the standpoint of an ex-pro and a current team manager, is it beneficial for an American pro to come race the Canadian Nationals when he has limited options in the States? Does a team manager down south look closer at a rider like Teddy Maier because he has won the MX2 title here? Or is it just a way for them to extend their career as a pro rider being a big fish in a small pond?
From a Canadian perspective, I think it has pushed our riders to be better than they were in the past. It takes them more time to get there, so it is not a surprise to see a rider from the States win the MX2 class year after year. It is just nice to see our guys have a chance once they all hit the big bikes. And BTW, I was actually at the Phoenix SX in '02 when your bike decided it wanted to be a pair of unicycles. After seeing that crash, I think that you are one lucky S.O.B. to be still able to walk, let alone ride today. Glad you are still around; it is always enjoyable reading your ramblings.
Keep up the good work,
Jim Numbers, #123
(seriously, that is my last name!)
Dear Jim,
Your last name is numbers and your number is 123? For real? You should just go for the four-digit number to put an exclamation point on it: Jim Numbers #1234. I think going to Canada can be beneficial if a rider goes up and does well. There are going to be a lot of riders searching for jobs down here this year and probably for the next several years and the Great White North would be a good option for some. There are older riders that use it as a way to keep racing and make a little bit of money as they wind things down. There’s nothing wrong with that, either. I think a lot of people underestimate just how fast the Canadian riders are on their home soil though. Klatt, Facciotti and the boys haul the Canadian mail and there are some fast MX2 kids too. We actually tried Teddy Maier out last year and we were going to hire him, but due to budget issues we couldn’t add a third rider. Teddy is an awesome rider and I wish he would get another shot down here because I think he could do great.
Glad you got to see my Phoenix crash in person… I’m all about entertaining the fans. If you want to see that footage again and relive it in your own living room you can pick up a copy of my new instructional motocross video, Motocross 101, at www.motocross101.com. I’m just sayin’.
PING
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