Smaller whoops this season.

I know Dean took a footpeg up the ass in St-Louis. 

A couple things....
They are most likely MUCH bigger than you think they are, if you've never ridden or even walked them. The spacing is also different than you think it is, they are further apart.

Shape is more important than size, relatively at least. If they are huge AND more rounded it's easier to get on top, because you'll get more drive off each one. Big Peaked whoops are the sketchy ones, because the margin of error is much smaller. 

Bottom line is they are intimidating as hell. There is a reason you don't hear many riders after a race talk about having trouble in some huge rhythm....but they almost always mention the whoops.

I think there is a middle ground here, whoops were huge before and separated guys, and I think they still should be a separator.

It seems to me sometimes guys just don't know their limits. They say eff it and just send it....if you listened to DV on Pulp recently he talked about it. Something along the lines of "Whoops are dangerous. You can't just pin it. You're gonna eat shit"

It is unreal how much some of you care about a thumbs down from a stranger on an internet forum .  

Dude!  You are on a tear, keep ripping! You’ll show them how to man up and not hit that stupid down vote. 
 

Happy Holidays!

I mean why make it hard… right? 

I love when the whoops separates the rider, it is a supercross track damn it !

So don't make them smaller, make them slower, a lot slower ! Make them very close to the the turn with no speed and big and impossible to jump, at least if you fall you're less prone to injured yourself but you can still make a difference with the other riders

It's not that anyone cares. It's the fact that a person can hide behind the anonymity of giving a thumbs down without any recourse from doing so. I know this board is full of older dudes who's wife calls the shots and anonymously downvoting something gives them some sense of power in their life, and forgetting that their balls are in the wife's purse for a few minutes. Downvotes should be public just like up votes. It's actually kinda sad.

Chad Reed just took his shirt off

I can't remember the podcast but they were talking about whoops and crashes and one of the guys on the pod said that whoops straight out of a corner are safer cos the speeds are lower when you hit them. He said it's when the guys are hitting them 3rd wide open that it is sketchy. 

Sounds to me like the KTM group hasn't sorted out the whoop issues over the offseason and Roger has gotten into someone's ear

Smaller whoops mean higher speeds which mean bigger crashes. the riders prefer loader whoops, they get built big in practice then usually get rolled down if someone complains. Dozer whoops are smaller and more high speed whoops, not nearly as good as loaders. 

Smaller whoops equals I'm out.... 

Sx is defined by big whoops and big triples... no big whoops equals no sx for me... 

Man this sport has gone downhill.... and we've allowed this to happen

I like variety. Make some tracks with smaller, some with big and jumpers, some with big and must skim. Make them all different. 

See ya Karen

Build back bigger  Like the 80s. No rhythm just skill and manhandling. 
Would be good to see at least one track to go off script and see if something can be learned to separate skill better. Big nasty whoops do that, but if there is a safer way that’s great too. 
I don’t know if it’s more safe to have easier obstacles that everyone can pin it and perhaps goes down at higher speeds. 
Part of the excitement of racing are tracks that separate skill, so bad starts can be overcome by the best riders. Slot car tracks where everyone is at the same speed on every obstacle aren’t very interesting. 

Get rid of the starter whoop. When did that become a thing? What a joke. And starting blocks got to go. These aren’t 12 yr old kids out there.

Wait till they make them smaller then all the riders say the track is too easy and there is no where to make up time.

if you win, the track was awesome. If you lose, the track sucked

They did this in 96’. It didn’t really work , and wasn’t that great to watch.  The race is on YouTube. 
 

As far as removing the starter whoop , I think it would be a bad idea. It’s a great safety feature.  

"It's not that anyone cares."

That's where you're wrong. Vital has received emails/messages asking/demanding to know who downvoted their posts so that they could downvote theirs in return, so that they could tell the person off, etc.

Making them visible would just cause more problems. Some have already said that they would go out of their way to use it more. It would just result in more people being banned, coming back under another name only for them to get banned again. 

Vital is trying to avoid having more problems to deal with.

Plenty of posts have had to be deleted over the thumbs down icon. 

A few examples with the 3rd member being really triggered.

And, you're not exactly one that should say no one cares:

You don't have to like it, but those are just facts.

Boo. What’s the point if they don’t even separate the riders? Nothing against Webb but seeing a guy win the title while being weak in the whoops was just weird.

Now that you are no longer going to be a fan does this mean that you’ll stop posting on here….asking for a friend…

KTM, gas gas and husky

 Clown Show !!  Thumbs up Thumbs down who cares .....  Over whoop size ?????

 

2022 was definitely the exception.  

What is rubbish is seeing three riders get taken out at A1 this year because of the whoops.   A1 whoops were way too intense for the season opener..

Based on the 2022 Season…when it seems Real Whoops returned to SX…

I can’t recall who got hurt in the whoops and who didn’t; but, I felt that “Real Whoops” are what separated the “Real SX Riders” from every-one-else. Anderson, Tomac, Sexton, Stewart…etc. All…crushed the whoops and often could leave the rest of the guys behind. 

I -REALLY- dig that.

The rest of the guys can get good in the whoops…get their bike right in the whoops…or they’re gonna get beat. It’s that simple to me. Yup…That’s how I see it.

Now, is there a limit to how gnarly the whoops should be? Sure. But, I don’t feel last year’s whoops were that gnarly…I remember some seriously GNARLY whoops…years ago that make modern SX look a little mild. 

This is a conversation that needs to be discussed in person over steaks and beer so that we can resolve this very serious and very important issue. 

Have an Amazing Christmas, 

Manny 

Every time I build the whoops at our track bigger, more people wad it up in them, including me. Same when Mountainview added a decent set this year. My boy broke his collarbone in those, and that same weekend so did several others, and they were nowhere near pro level whoops. Washougal rebuilt theirs just before the OTMX weekend in July because the National was 3 weeks away, and they were frigging scary big. Most of us were just happy to survive them, and there were a number over the weekend that didn't.

Has to be a balance. They are a huge separator at any level, and these guys are the best in the world. I love to see Mookie and Craig light em up, but I also don't like seeing guys hurt and out. Can't please everyone.

Slower speed means more of a chance to wad it up.

To stay on top takes speed coming in and being in a higher gear and do not back off. 

Bro that A1 whoop section took colt nichols out in the first 250f heat... for the rest of the season.

I say make the whoops smaller,but stagger pattern them. Meaning Right and left side start high then go low, then high on the exit.

the middle path starts low, then goes high then low..and the last 4 are high on the exit (so the last 4 will be the same size and in unison).

Fun fact, the pros have brakes on their bikes. And can use them if they feel so inclined

Wrong direction imo. They did the smaller whoops thing years ago and everyone started hitting them mach 10 and crashed their brains out. 

Should be huge long sets, straight out of a corner – keep the speed down, the good guys can do it and the others are forced to jump which is safe and efficient.