Ask Ping

Alex,

The Barcalounger badasses will say many things. They know all the answers and their way is clearly right. There is no stopping them. If they want to put an asterisk by Ryan Dungey’s titles they can and will do it. However, that doesn’t change the fact that Dungey is now a two-time supercross champion, national motocross champion, and a multi-millionaire with a hot wife and some good years of racing left in him. You think he cares if you put an asterisk in your bench-racing book of lies? He doesn’t give two clumps of doggy doo-doo about that and he shouldn’t. Ryan Dungey is riding better than he ever has, and he’s calculatingly crafting one of the best careers in the history of our sport. Congrats, Ryan.* [Ed. Note: Villopoto raced fourteen of seventeen rounds in 2010, the year Dungey won his first 450SX title.]

PING

 

Ping,

I'm getting tired of hearing after every race that the track made passing difficult.  In Houston the passing seemed great!  What are these guys wanting that Houston didn't provide?  It seems like they'd only be happy with a track with perfect traction, technical but not dangerous, soft but not too many ruts, where every turn is a 180 so that the track just snakes all the way out of the stadium, through the parking lot and back to their hotel.  

What are your thoughts?

BlueThirtyTwo

Pleasant Hill, CA

Blue,

First, I would say that the track you’re describing sounds amazing. If we could get a 180-degree turn to zip me past a Wendy’s when it leaves the stadium so I can order a large Frosty, and then make the finish line at my hotel door so I can go over the bars and land in my bed, I might hit the circuit again. Look, the truth is that racers have very delicate sensibilities. Their egos are like Faberge eggs on a mantle, nestled in a soft little cocoon of bubble wrap and packing peanuts to protect it from hurtful things like the truth. You want a good drinking game? Hang out at the races or listen to every post-race interview and have a sip every time you hear a guy making an excuse instead of just owning his own crap. Just be sure to have an Uber driver get you to the hospital when you pass out drunk and need IV fluids to keep you from getting severe alcohol poisoning. Hey, I was a racer so I know all about it. It’s much easier to say the track was hard to pass on than to have a look in the mirror and say, “Hey, dummy, you really sucked tonight.” My bike setup wasn’t right, the track wasn’t good, wrong tire choice, changed suspension settings, Tom Cruise used his witchcraft on me... Ninety-nine percent of the time they are all bogus. Of course the other 1 percent was when I had a problem because I told it how it really was. Some tracks are more difficult to pass on than others. But the very best riders still find a way to make it happen, so if you can’t pass it’s because you weren’t good enough to go faster than the guy in front of you. Truth. 

PING

 

Ping,

I’ve noticed riders and industry people going on about putting in 110% when it comes to effort, training etc. It sounds like an inside thing so, Ping, what exactly is the difference between 100% and 110% in the motocross industry?

Willy722

Australia =