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He "could" sign a LOI. I would assume he has a Championship clause as well as a RoFR. HRC would have the control at the end of the contract. But would they really want to retain someone that is ready to move on??
Not for sure he necessarily wants to move on but seems Honda going with the Lawrence Brothers long term.
Just because you can speculate doesn’t mean you should, especially publicly. Wonder if Ping’s ever considered the shoe being on the other foot? I mean after all, we could “just speculate” that a few years ago in Vegas Ping slept with Caitlyn Jenner. I mean fuck, you can “speculate” literally anything.
I cant remember the last time i heard of someone actually signed prior to start of sx.
This entire exchange is an embarrassment for all.
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So…. After reading Astephens response doesn’t anyone else think he just verified what Whiskey throttle reported?
His second sentence starts by saying “we refused because……. “ that confirms what was originally reported by Whiskey right? He refused.
I don’t see the issue here.
I mean, in other sports teams make a player pass a physical before signing. They can’t show up with another teams paperwork and say, “here ya go I’m good”.
An OEM wanting a test and a refusal by a rider to do so sounds fishy. No matter who you are.
That’s an understatement.
I clipped prior threads of someone who’s associated with his new site trying to spam their forum over here and other content from his site. With the way a few things have gone I don’t feel the need to help promote his new venture and nothing requires us to. In his case, you make your bed and you sleep in it.
He took a few shots at us so his forum account was also suspended. There’s also an in-person interaction that I wasn’t too thrilled with…so here we are.
I think linking it to the ktm deal is the big difference that seems to have set it off
I had heard that Kenny’s agent had gone off over the drug testing but he had done a sample at the end from people that were at Melbourne.
That makes sense. Chase’s own managment told me nothing would be done until 2023 and I had heard there was a legal reason he couldn’t move forward with offers outside of Honda for a time period.
Let's get you, Ping, and Steve in the ring.
It's been entertaining watching Ping try to wrap his head around the real world when he spent the first 30+ years of his life with his head up his own ass. Clearly all this new information is hard for him to process and sort through.
Rumors are that he will be in 2024. Not 2023, he will still be Red for all of 2023 but then he could sign with orange, or elsewhere if he chooses.
True, but Astephen did say they took a test a refused a test in the same response....twice. He also invited him to join a podcast and that would be great, but I don't see that happening.
That...sounds...miserable.
I like Ping and ML, so won't get into that, but on the drug testing thing I'll weigh in with my .02.
I can see both sides, where on the one hand an athlete's entire career can be unfairly tarnished over a b.s. test that isn't administered correctly, but on the other an athlete could be gaming the system.
I think it's pretty easy to defeat tests if you're a cheater and you're relatively intelligent (and understand how to cycle correctly). I think Ping overstepped here a little bit, but I also think Astephan did KR no favors. I also think it's slightly amusing how folks sometimes seem so "certain" that a rider is or isn't cheating, and no evidence either way can convince them otherwise.
Lol....that's funny right there.
Nothing is signed yet.
I would leave it up, David Pingree is an asshole and his interview style sucks, low energy, terrible questions, he gets by with having interesting people on his interviews, not his insightful questions. Darkside has way better interview skills and .01% of the attitude. Ping burned bridges with RacerX, Pulp, Vital, Roczen, who knows who else, if you go around meeting assholes all day maybe you are the one that's the asshole.
Sounds like there wasn't an explicit agreement in the WSX contract with KR for drug testing and what would be drugs tested maybe just an assumption that since it's FIM it will be tested under WADA.
Sucks if Sexton leaves Honda but it's understandable with them going all in on the Lawrence bros. If he does go to KTM hopefully they can get the bike to a place where chase can be on his 2022 form or better.
But he did end up taking the test so to just leave it at "he refused the test" is misleading.
Pit Row
As it should be....
I think a rider getting off the track after 30 minutes at 180 bpm not breathing hard is a pretty solid indication.
I think riders that have used the same trainer having ibs, stomach problems, and continues signs of food poisoning is a pretty solid indication.
No he didn’t. I read it as they refused because it’s not “in competition” it was an off season race.
I still believe that’s fishy.
Because what actually happened (if we are to believe what Astephan said is true) was that initially they refused to take the test BUT ultimately they still did take the drug test. All of this happened well before Ping’s post. Instead of including the latter Ping just goes “Roczen refused to take a drug test. I wonder why? It’s probably because he’s taking HGH. I’m allowed to speculate.”
It’s text book clickbait. While it is true that he initially did refuse, he also still ended up taking the drug test but only the juicy part of that statement made the headline.
The original post says “we were told” so in this case I don’t understand everyone jumping at Ping for it or Kenny’s guy freaking out the way he did. As for what followed between Astephan and Ping, that was stupid for both parties and more so for Astephan.
Ping can be pretty radical with stuff, so I understand why people don’t like him or have issues with him in general, but man some of you guys are reading it like he stated the testing deal as 100% fact. It literally says “We were told” not “Kenny completely refused a test and lost a KTM offer”
The comment section DEFINITELY put a terrible spin on this whole thing...childish at best.
I'm with Regis, though. Say what you want about Ping and his nonsense in the comments, the original post was definitely confirmed by Astephens reaction.
I thought this is what all of you wanted? "Real" journalism and scoops? So you finally get it from a reputable (if not controversial) source, and it goes like this?
As for the guy who posted something about Ping changing....he definitely has. To me this happens so often, a "content creator" gets to a certain point and they start changing their whole ethos because they got big. Instead of just continuing to do what got them there in the first place.
Ping has a lot of good points and he's always been cool with me in all my interactions with him, but to me it seems like there has been a definite change in his approach and absolutely in his "tolerance" of any differing opinion or perspective.
Really?
Sounds like KTM wanted a test and Astephan and KR refused. As reported. They refused to take one “out of competition”
refusing any is a bad look. especially if it costs you a ride.
Also FYI - I am just a fan of the sport and still hope Roczen wins on the Suzuki.
Oh if that’s the case, then I see where you are coming from. Trying to decipher Astephan’s comments wasn’t exactly the easiest thing I’ve tried to do.
If that’s what happened, I still don’t like that Ping jumps straight to “Kenny’s probably taking PEDs.” However, Steve goes “It’s inaccurate we refused the test. We did take the test! I just challenged their protocol and process before taking the test.”
The problem I have is it is pure clickbait now matter how you slice it. How do you go from loaning a bike out to a guy to throwing them under the bus with a half-baked story? Then to fuel further speculation with things like "I think it's HGH". Holy shit.
I think Ping is non-binary. I can speculate.
There is language in the contacts that dictate when you can field offers, to include the current team. There is an exception that the current team can start negotiations before that time. Typically it's 6 months from contract expiration.
Are you saying ktm wanted a different test ?
the Wada test at the Melbourne wsx round is a very different set up to a pre employment test
So, you didn't claim that the statement that Ping put out was 'baseless'? There's more spin in this thread than a WH presser!!
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