Marley,

The rule was put in place by the AMA to help level the playing field between factory riders and those paying for all their own stuff. The factory teams will spend stupid money to knock weight off a race bike, and the AMA tried to nip that in the bud. This is all done in the same vein as the production rule. Keep in mind this is all for professional racing only. It is a noble idea but it is a rule that likely needs to be revisited soon. It’s a lot like when the AMA decided what the right number of CCs was when they allowed four-strokes to compete with two-strokes. All they had to go on at the time were some clunky off-road bikes that weighed as much as a Harley and made all the horsepower of a lawn mower. Looking back now, if keeping two-strokes competitive was ever a consideration, they clearly overshot their numbers in cubic centimeters. In this case they probably never conceived that there would be a production 450 four-stroke that would be bumping up against the weight limit in stock trim. Well, here we are. It’s a crazy coincidence that in my neighborhood there is no weight limit either and I would like a 450 to weigh less than 220 lb. Hopefully the AMA will see the writing on the wall and make a rule update.

PING

 

Hey Ping,

First off, thanks for your column every week... I look forward to reading it every Friday! So supercross is in town and riders are getting dispersed throughout the city for autograph signing. I take my son, who is 7, to our local shop to see his favorite riders. He rides and knows who most of the riders are so he was thrilled! When we make our way in line to meet the riders the first 2 are Justin Hill and Dean Wilson. They say nothing to my son and just hand off a poster. But they are talking to each other about driving in traffic? Next up was Dungey; he was awesome, greeted my boy shook his hand and so on! To cut it short the Husky team and TLD crew were also awesome! After we were leaving my son says "Dad Wilson and Hill didn't say hi and they didn't even look up at me just handed me a poster.” He then said "you can throw those posters away I don't like those guys anymore".... Now Ping I ask this. Why couldn't these guys take the one hour they were there to put a smile on and greet fans? I noticed it right away but was like, whatever. I have a new opinion on them and now my little guy does also. Why do some of these guys even go to signings if they aren't going to interact? They were like that for the whole signing just going through the motions. If the rest of the kids noticed what mine did then they are now portrayed as the stupid guys as my son pretty much put it.

Thanks,

Sean from Phoenix

Sean,

I wasn’t there and I didn’t see how those two were acting, so let me play the devil’s advocate for a second. Riders are pulled a million different directions from the time they get on the plane until they head back home at the end of the weekend. The main event on Saturday night is the objective and sometimes it can be difficult to remove yourself from that singular focus and be 100 percent present throughout the other responsibilities of the job. I’ve had people come up to me and tell me that I was a dick to them back when I was racing, and it really bums me out because I always tried to be polite, professional, and friendly when I was signing or talking with fans. So, give those guys a chance because I know they are both really nice guys who were probably just not paying attention to what was going on. Remember, they do that every weekend, so even though it was a big moment to you and your little guy, it was one of many, many dealer signings they have been to.

Okay, now that I’ve said that… I am bummed you had that experience and there is no excuse for any rider to half-ass a fan interaction like that. They left a bad impression on your son and that sucks for him, for Justin and Dean, and for the sport in general. I understand wanting to focus on race day but, like you said, they could pull it together for one hour on Friday night and act like they want to be there. Sorry you had a bad night.

PING

 

Ping:

Living in Southern California we are lucky to have a number of tracks at our disposal.  My favorite, and the one closest to my home was Pala.  We all know Pala is now closed but I have never heard a solid explanation of exactly what happened and whether Pala will ever reopen.  Rumors range from unpaid employees to lack of insurance to a cabal involving the Pala Tribal Council.  I know the track was popular with local riders and attracted a number of pros.  The place was so busy it would seem there is money to be made by someone willing to jump through the hoops to reopen it.  In the meantime my son and I and countless other poor souls are forced to ride Elsinore , which, as you know, is a drier, hotter and dustier version of hell.  As a former national track I assume others are equally curious as to Pala’s fate.  Do you have any insight? Also, I really enjoy you on the Pulp Show.  Keep up the good work.

Michael S. Faircloth, Esq.