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1613
Joined
7/13/2008
Location
Fort Myers, FL, USA
Edited Date/Time
6/8/2012 1:01pm
This is my opinion, agree or disagree so be it......
450 class need to be on 250's.
250 class needs to be on 125s.
We have totally wiped out the top riders in the sport on the 450's, both sx annd mx are devoid of most of the premier riders. These guys push themselves to far on bikes that are to powerful and are getting hurt to frequently.
The 250 class is a barn burner each week because the guys are all still healthy and battling it out on less powerful, slower bikes.
*sure the 250 guys still get hurt, and the top guys still go as fast as the 450 top guys but over the course of a year the get hurt less.
We can't keep injuring off the top riders of the sport and hope to progress with no show.......
*yes guys got hurt in the 2 stroke days but not like this......this is crazy
I am sure this won't be a popular oppinion but so be it.
450 class need to be on 250's.
250 class needs to be on 125s.
We have totally wiped out the top riders in the sport on the 450's, both sx annd mx are devoid of most of the premier riders. These guys push themselves to far on bikes that are to powerful and are getting hurt to frequently.
The 250 class is a barn burner each week because the guys are all still healthy and battling it out on less powerful, slower bikes.
*sure the 250 guys still get hurt, and the top guys still go as fast as the 450 top guys but over the course of a year the get hurt less.
We can't keep injuring off the top riders of the sport and hope to progress with no show.......
*yes guys got hurt in the 2 stroke days but not like this......this is crazy
I am sure this won't be a popular oppinion but so be it.
More power does not mean better racing, it just means higher stakes if you make a small mistake. Spread this over a season and you end up with a lot of injured top riders.
Less power, lower speeds and less injuries due to small mistakes. More riders on the track and better racing between them.
And yeah mike I understand stewart can crash anything but he was hurt less on a 125. You understand that as the bike gets more powerful the stakes go up, if you make a small mistake it is multiplied.
Now I am going to go riding.
Note: I am in favor of a 250cc class, and an Open class above 250cc. Two strokes, Four strokes...doesn't matter anymore. Bring back the tiddler class for the up coming and you have motocross again.
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With a few exceptions, the bulk of the serious injuries have occured in SX races. Promoters have made outdoor Nat tracks somewhat mimic SX style jumps too/doubles/triples as well.
Combine fast, powerful, great handling 450s on crazy ass SX tracks(argueably some dangerous tracks), and you've got a recipe for season or career ending injury. Pro motocross is a victim of itself.
It is what it is...
Again....largely due to SX tracks layout. And no, nobody's forced to ride. But the money is a powerful allure.
Say what you want to about Luongo but the guy gets it that "the riders are the product" and keeping them healthy makes the racing better. The rules in place for GP tracks about whoop design (they are not as steeply angled) and jumps needs to be integrated into the Nationals sooner rather than later.
Same can be said about local tracks. The age of racers is getting older and older and we don't have enough people entering the sport. What we are doing now is not sustainable in the long run.
Until the tracks change it won't matter what size bikes are being raced....the tracks are just too gnarly. As an old fart what bothers me the most is knowing (from personal experience) how much the injuries today's racers are collecting to make 300 dollars at a National or SX will haunt them as they get older.
BTW is your screen name an indication you watch Fringe? I was disappointed at the way this season ended (a little too Matrix-ish) but still like the show.
Besides let's look who is out with injuries right now ?
Reed-Legit pushing the envelope crash, yes it only bit him when he had to change his line
Trey-Freak accident, though his Washougal femur was a scrub gone wrong
RV- a tip over ? that had everything to do with the wicked horsepower of the mighty 450 !!
Windham- Old men can't scrub, even the baby jesus of moto !!
Stew ?!?!- Nothing to do with power (or a track worker IMO) that was a simple cross rut
The bikes are better than ever and are here to stay. IMO it is more dangerous to have the pro riding gods on underpowered machines than over powered, you have to remember they are not Jimmy local rider who can do wheelies, they live on these bikes.
Villo- crashed coming into a corner
Canard- freak accident with the haybale cover that problem is hopefully addressed.
Reed- hit a kicker on a rutted jump. That happens no matter what the track design is.
Stewart- crashed on a straight away. Not much more to say than that...
Anyway just my opinion flame away...
Pit Row
People don't talk about it much, but a big part of the reason speeds were lower back then was track prep. Riders couldn't go pinned to the stops all the time because the traction just wasn't there (especially on a 500cc 2-stroke). A lot more square-edge/chop back then to slow things down too (possibly because of crapper suspension & more wheelspin just as much as track preparation). Not saying that I'd like to see a return to the dust bowl days of yore, but it's not just the improved bikes and riding techniques at play like everyone says.
And something needs to be done about SX. Sad to say, but if Feld/AMA/DW stays the course, I don't think what happened this year with injuries will be an aberration.
Do you think injuries are more frequent and severe now as compared to 10 years ago?
Lets not forget that only 3 riders raced every main event in the 450 supercross class this year, WHICH SUCKS! The 250 class is more like restrictor plate racing, where the 450's have so much power the guys racing for first push themselves further and further to limits that make rider implosion inevitable. Last year at Steel City is a good example when both Ryans were 8 seconds a lap faster than anybody else. Thankfully, nobody went down that day. Slowing the bikes down, or tossing the 450 class out the window, would allow riders to mentally process things happening on the track much easier, which would result in greater safety. It really is going to be hard for this sport to grow when the premier class lacks excitement due to all the injuries.
I have yet to see the 250 class from Thunder Valley this year, but has anyone noticed that the 250 class racing at the highest elevation (down on power) consistently provides phenomenal racing?
My 2-cents:
- Fastest bikes ever from motor to suspension/handling.
- Riding evolution at an all time high. A lot of pros talk like the progression level has reached a point where you cannot go faster around a track determined by the laws of physics.
If you believe the tracks are the cause, the next question to ask yourself is: would we see this many injuries in the 450 class if they were all racing 100cc pit-bikes?
So to address the fact that the bikes are capable of more than the riders we need to look at a few things.
-Production rule on suspension so that they can not charge through the bumps as fast as they do.
-Introduce a rev ceiling so that 250f's and 450's make less peak hp
- Sound rules that benefit everyone from pro to local guys. Make the pipe manufacturers meet much more stringent sound levels so the bikes rev a little slower and again produce less power.
i.e.
250f rev ceiling 12500rpm and the 450's 10000rpm. Introduce the sound limits using the 2 metre max method but adopt the enduro limits. That 3db difference does a lot to response and peak power.
If you could wipe 10-15% of the 4 stroke hp and slow the response down you would then have classes similar to that of the early 2000's with riders having advanced on fitness and technique 10 fold each class would be 1st-40th all out racing. It would also allow a privateer to be competitive on the old 2 strokes. Other things I like from F1 etc is penalties for changing engines or changing internal It would be nice if a team was only allowed to use 1 spare engine a season and clutches were not to be touched unless it was determined a mud race for example. That sort of thing again would force teams and manufacturers to look at building more reliability into the engines.
Much like the 500's did in the 90's the 450's have now out grown the rider. No longer can a rider over ride the bike and get away with it. Sure we had big crashes in the 80's,90's and even early 2000's but the riders are pushing the physical limits of what can be done with the human body and bike way more than they did 10 years ago.
The other common sense idea mentioned earlier was that of track design. Mellow them out a bit, slow the speeds down and make more technical tracks. Stop ripping them deep and watering the hell out of them. Let the terrain be a little more natural so specialist riders can shine on certain conditions blowing the field even more open.
Anyway, you get the idea. As it stands though the perfect storm is their to be unleashed but it is highly unlikely that it will ever happen. The AMA has a bunch of fast 250f riders that will graduate soon into the 450's making it a 6 or even 8 way battle at the top depending on how they adapt to the bike bike. So maybe then you will have a good 3 or 4 way battle at the end of the season though numbers and luck alone.
Gotta keep those paychecks rolling in. I get it.
100% agree
I've said it 100X
I'd rather watch a mid pack pro on a 250f than a top pro on a Big Fat Pig 450 anyday.
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Post a reply to: 450's need to go.