Oliver,

You make a good point. Honda likes their riders to be a little higher and tighter than some of the other manufacturers. If Ken thinks he’s going to be walking around with his nipples hanging out under the Honda tent while cracking beers and revving the shit out of his bike on the stand if he wins next year, he has made a major miscalculation. The bottom line in all of this is cold, hard cash. Honda hasn’t been able to win regularly since they lost Carmichael and Roczen is their golden opportunity to get a proven title winner early in his career. And Roczen, well, he likes money as much as he likes cold Coors Light. Time will tell if the laid back style of Kenny Roczen blends with the professional, all-business vibe at big red.

PING

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Hey there Ping. 

I wish I was writing in on a good note….  Obviously everyone knows how dangerous motocross can be and riders accept that fact.  I watched my best friend paralyze himself in a crash and lost another friend to a neck injury a couple years ago.  My question is where is the line drawn between a “man’s track” and plain dangerous?  Jessy Nelson got hurt from insane track conditions.

When I began watching the first moto at Unadilla, I was shocked to see how gnarly the ruts and track were (on the opening lap of moto one)!  Unadilla gets extremely rough, but it was on another level.  Guys were bottoming out in every corner.  I know the track crew tries to do their best to smooth out the tracks between motos.  They needed to do some major work before the motos even started in my opinion.  I hate to see riders get hurt, as do all of us.  I just think that there has to be some wisdom used by personnel when conditions are too sketchy. 

Your thoughts, Sir? 

Prayers for Jessy!

Josh Clark
Colorado

 Josh,

There isn’t a motocross fan who isn’t absolutely gutted about what happened to Jessy Nelson. None of us would wish that injury on our worst enemy, let alone one of the friendliest guys in the pits. If you haven’t donated a few dollars to help out one of our own already, do it now at www.road2recovery.com.

As far as track prep goes, I have a hard time arguing that we need smoother race tracks. If anything, rougher tracks tend to keep speeds down, which makes a major injury less likely. Obviously first turns need to be kept flat and jump faces that are deeply rutted should be addressed, but saying that we need to knock bumps and berms down flies in the face of what makes motocross so amazing. I would much rather argue for fewer CC’s than smoother tracks. Trust me: Track owners and race promoters don’t want to see riders hurt either. They are making the best decisions they can in a very time-sensitive situation on race day. Here’s to a full and miraculous recovery for my buddy Jessy.

PING

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Dear Mr. Ping,

How do team mechanics get paid, especially when their rider is out hurt? Let's use Carlos Rivera as an example, with the Dunge out for the rest of outdoors does he get laid off like a contractor, paid vacation or does KTM have him working in the mail room at corporate?  Obviously he is not getting bonuses from his rider so I imagine it must hurt in the pocket book.

Thanks for your response

Mr. Hose dragger, aka evidence eradicator.

P.S. On a side note, why is it when I am on the scene at a vehicular assault and specifically tell you guys to avoid the pieces of car on the road (aka Evidence ) you guys still manage to run over it with your shiny red trucks?

Be safe,
Yzchris76