What's up with the Honda car symbol next to the Honda riders on the SPEED coverage of Anaheim 1? Is Chad Reed racing a Civic?
Chad Merrill
Dear Chad,
The only thing I can think of is that the guy in charge of placing those logos has seen some of these riders in their rental cars at the races. Maybe Reed and Brayton were hitting speed bumps like whoops and jumping their rentals like Burt Reynolds in Smokey and the Bandit. Trust me: it happens. I’ve seen Chevy Malibu’s much higher in the air than anyone should. I’m not sure what happened with the logos. For a minute I thought it was the Hyundai logo, which is a blatant rip-off of the Honda car logo, and I was really confused. My guess is they’ll have it sorted for this weekend and the gentleman who made the mistake will do the honorable thing and fall on his sword.
PING
Hey Ping,
I don’t know everything about supercross but I have been a fan for quite a few years now. Am I missing something or did the 30-second board girl miss her mark at Anaheim? The digital numbers were somewhere around eleven when she turned it sideways and trotted off. I’ve never heard 20 bikes wound that tight for that long. Any idea what happened?
Roger D.
(No, not that one)
Dear Roger,
This isn’t the first time we’ve had issues with the starting line staff. There was a debacle that involved a different spokes model at Budd Creek recently. But unless the AMA takes it back over and puts a puffy guy in a red, white and blue uniform back in charge of the 30-second board my guess it is this won’t be the last time. Miss Supercross looked up and thought the board was at zero so she turned it and walked off. Unfortunately it was at 12 and for the next 18 seconds it sounded like every rider on the line was trying to blow their bike up on the starting line. I was waiting for valve springs and pieces of cam to start shooting out from under the bikes like grenade shrapnel. I like to picture all the different engine builders pulling their hair out in fistfuls as the time slowly ticked by with the machines bouncing off their rev limiters. Great times. I know 30 seconds is a long time and counting down from that can be a tedious task. But much like supercross itself, handling the 30-second board duties is not a job for everyone. You have to be able to discern whether or not the board has been in the air for 30 second and then you have to turn it sideways and walk off. You know, it actually doesn’t sound that difficult. And yet, many good riders had their results negatively affected because of the snafu. Ask Jason Anderson who, after nearly fifteen seconds of being wide open, looked up to see what was going on only to have the gate drop seconds after he picked his head up. He thought they would restart the race. They probably should have, but they didn’t, and Jason started dead last. Hopefully this doesn’t happen again because it is embarrassing and easily avoidable.
PING
Dear Ping,
Here is a nice picture of Jeff Ward ripping a big fart over a double. My question is have you ever had to go #2 during a moto? And, if so, did you let it loose? Or, do you know any good stories of a rider relieving themselves while racing ?
Charley
Dear Charley,
Wardy has never been discrete with his gas. His favorite joke when we raced Supermoto together was the classic “Pull my finger” gag. I tried changing his nickname to the Flying Fart but it never seemed to stick. Maybe this photo will help.
I’ve always been pretty good about using the toilet before I hit the track. The last thing you want mid-moto is a heavy case of mud-butt. I did once have to cancel a date with my wife when we were first dating. I was rocking some white shorts and had a mild case of bubble guts that evening. I had a little gas present itself and I gambled and lost en route to Chili’s. I had to turn around ASAP as possible (that’s an Office joke) and cancel our plans. She was pissed but I’m sure she would have been more upset if I showed up in soiled shorts.
Thanks for the Wardy pic. He’s going to love that.
PING
