Ping,
I love the grass roots supercross and motocross series that we have but with any growing sport TV ratings start to play a big role in how the sport is produced. We are already seeing different FOX reporters each week who have never been to a supercross before asking the dumbest questions to the race winners. I'm hoping for a year in which the points battle stays close to the end, but with Villopoto wrapping it up early each year, do you think supercross will move to a "Chase" similar to NASCAR with the points resetting with a few rounds to go? PS, if FOX is going to continue to send reporters over, can we at least get Erin Andrews?
Mark from Utah
Mark,
If you are a NASCAR fan are you mad about the way they’ve created “The Chase?” It resets the points for the top racers and almost gives fans two seasons in one. I don’t know if supercross will go that way but if Feld did decide to move in that direction I don’t think it would be the end of the world, at least not for the fans. The racers would dislike it because it discounts the consistency that it has taken to create a points lead on the front side of the series.
I like to see reporters from outside the sport jump in and try supercross. Sure, they have to learn the lingo and the nuances of the sport but I’d much rather listen to a well-spoken gal who is still learning racing lingo than a moto chick stuttering and stammering like Porky Pig when the mic turns on. Erin Andrews? Yeah, I’d listen to her tell me stuff about, you know, whatever.
PING
Ping,
While fan attendance is good at supercross, I have noticed a decline in riders signing up (47 250 racers at Oakland) and with next year changing the way you can obtain a pro license, will there be a problem filling out the night show? Are you ready to suit back up?
Am I ready to suit up? Are you ready to run out on the track, pick up my broken body and load me onto a gurney? That ship has sailed, broken down at sea and been towed back to port with faulty plumbing. But I do recognize the problem? At A3 the semis and LCQ’s were thinner than the plot line in a porno movie. I understand they wanted to keep riders who didn’t possess the skills to compete at that level from showing up and getting hurt but it looks like it could be backfiring already. By the time the series gets ten or twelve rounds in they aren’t even going to have full gates for the heats! Starting next year riders have to run a gauntlet of arenacross before they can even show up to a supercross. They might be taking the number of gates down from 22 to, like, 15, at that point.
PING
Yo Ping! Whats up!? Emailing you from beautiful Vancouver Canada (And yes we share a border with the Superbowl Champs now! *closest thing we have to real football in Canada) What a beat down!
Anyway my question is about the new aggressive Dungey. I think everyone wanted to see the ultra conservative Dung come out of his shell and go all Legion of Boom and mix it up but he's not only taking guys out left and right he's taking himself right out of this championship. Clearly he is pushing to the end of his comfort range and has had crashes (on his own) (and with Stew) in 3 out of the 5 races this year.
Now he's 28 points back and in the crosshairs of a few riders that want revenge. Is it time to change his strategy?
Braaap!
Jules
Jules,
I was happy for your neighbors on their first world championship. I also thought it was swift poetic justice that Richard Sherman broke himself after that egomaniacal rant he went on a week earlier. On to your question ... Wait, did you really refer to Ryan Dungey as “The Dung?” I know where your head is at but you may want to rethink the spelling on that one. There is no doubt Ryan is trying to shake his reputation as being too passive on the track. His intensity level is up from years past and the new, more agro “Dung” is posting worse finishes than the laid-back, conservative Ryan Dungey of years past. He’s made a couple good moves; last weekend’s block pass on Stewart comes to mind. But he’s also scattered himself all over the track while riding all alone on two different occasions. What’s that all about … or, aboot? There is a very fine line between riding with more aggression and being too aggressive. Hopefully “The Dung” can keep some stank on it this weekend but keep it on two wheels and find that sweet spot. The sport is better when he’s up on the podium.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Email him at ping@racerxonline.com.
