Ask Ping!

Zak,

I'm glad you enjoy those projects because there is a lot of time and effort involved in making those happen. We start with a bike from the manufacturer, which is loaned to us for a period of time. Sometimes they are short-term and we only have them for a month or so and other times we keep them all year. Trying to make each bike unique is what makes each one so cool and so difficult. From suspension to exhaust systems to graphics to bars to chain and sprocket there are a lot of emails to be made just to get parts to your door. Once you have everything you have to get it together and then organize a photo shoot with a still photographer and a videographer to get the actual test. Once all that is finished the bikes are shared between the staff here at Racer X. Unfortunately much of the staff lives in West Virginia, but they always have a nice bike to ride if they visit southern California. At the end of the loan term the bikes are returned to the manufacturer and we start looking ahead to next year's models. I think the bike I just finished building is the coolest one we've done yet. Look for it in the next issue of Racer X Illustrated and in a video right here soon.

PING

 

Hey Ping,

It's really cool that you do this Q&A thing for Racer X. I've always been a huge fan of yours since the 125 days when I was riding Kawis and picked your number every year.

I have been a huge fan of Supercross since I was 8 and for some reason I have always had this question but never looked for an answer until now and figured you'd know for sure.

How do they decide which riders ride in each qualifying Heat during a Supercross event and is this grouping for the whole year or do they change them up between races?

Thanks dude!

Andres

Andres,

Thanks for reading, buddy. The formula is pretty simple: The quickest rider in timed qualifying gets first pick in the first heat, second quickest gets first pick in heat two, third quickest gets second pick in heat one, fourth quickest gets second pick in heat two… and so on until the gate is full. Each weekend it changes based on the qualifying order. This usually keeps the two fastest riders from going head-to-head until the main event. This method is a little more professional than some of the other methods used in motocross racing around the world, such as picking a clothespin out of a bucket, pulling a number out of a hat or the always popular paper/rock/scissors. Go ahead and laugh but those are all still pretty common.

PING

 

Ping,

How do they choose which riders get to ride press day.  It seems like one week it's the top guys, and then another week they will throw some straight out of the pick-up truck privateers out there.   While I think every guy is a bad ass, from the dude having his girlfriend help him take his 250F out of the trunk of his Civic, to the 10 man army that unloads Bubba/Reeds Bike from his 20 wheel hauler, how do they choose what talent rides half a track on Fridays??

Chuck