250 East/West round counts.

Yeah I noticed that too. 7 for East, 8 for West plus 2 showndowns each. Not sure why. Doesn't really make sense with the whole SMX points system. Should have made one of the showndowns an East round or ran 3 showdowns to make it equal

I didn't think about how that would work out for the SMX points. That puts the East and a huge disadvantage.

it'll be the same as last year, the west riders will have to drop their lowest round.

It is dumb and they should just make them match

They shouldn’t get to drop the lowest round. It should be the scores from a defined set of rounds. The west shouldn’t get a mulligan.

The rounds weren't even last year. They dropped a round. 

ig guess the rationale would be that they were uneven in 2023 and 2022 also, why is it a problem in 2024

Well, East coast guys are slower right? You know with winter weather, less raw talent, not as much SX in their culture and daily grind. It's almost like being from some 3rd world nation, they can't handle SX. They're just outdoor MX guys, they'll have their chance. Just kidding of course but it's a real slap in the face.

Maybe my math ain't mathing today, but how would you make it even when there are 17 rounds?

cmon guy

8 rounds east, 8 rounds west, final race being show down

Sorry, I meant without cutting a shootout. I guess 3 then.

I think they need to make it a real championship already. Moto community has been asking for it for about 10+ years now. All 17 Rounds. All 9 250f Star Racing guys on 1 gate..

Actually, then you could have a 3 round 250 E/W Championship !

Easy, get rid of east/west and make it a 17 round 250 series.

They should drop 1 west and have 3 combined races 

If not a full 17 Round 250 Class. Then do:

Anaheim 1, Daytona, Final Round; All Shootouts

7 West.

7 East.

3 East/West. 

I like this, but you can’t have a1 be combined

as many things there aren’t good about the split coast, giving injured riders a chance to go East and not miss any rounds is nice

But it would be also more fun to watch as a fan to have a east/west shootout early in the season. The first one is always so late where half of the top guys are already injured, at least that was the case over the last years. Like there should be a shootout during the first rounds for sure. One during the first three rounds, one halfway through and the last one at the final round. 7/7 and 3 shootouts would be nice as nrosso and Mav said.

Why “can’t” A1 be combined? Would be a great way to kick off the series 

And make one of the showdowns a triple crown!

They should have 3 shootout rounds, with 1 of which being a Triple Crown, and then 7 races each on their own coast, each having their own Triple Crown as well. So each coast would race 10 races total.

They should have 17 shootout rounds. It's insane that the class isn't combined yet. Now you can only get kicked out of the class if you win the title and there is a fully functioning Futures class that could be divided by coasts with an age limit for younger riders that aren't "good enough" yet to race a full series.

the second half of my post explains why. The East is often used for riders who were hurt in the off-season. It would be a major bummer to have top players one race down at the start of the season because they combined east/west at round 1. I think the teams would push back on it pretty heavily.

If they're not going to make them and equal number of races they could at least use an equitable system for the points. Just use average points scored per round for each rider, very simple very fair.

how would that work with factoring in motocross - just use the average finish total for both series? 

I don’t think the teams care enough about the SMX title to make a stink over the difference in number of rounds between East/West. 

It's very simple. People from the East work 14.3% harder than West Coasters. So 7 = 8 when directly compared.

but imagine you end up 2nd as a rider and lose hundreds of thousands because the dude in 1st beat you by a point because he was allowed to remove his DNF from January from the score

SMX is essentially winner take all because of the double points/triple points structure of those rounds. Jett won the 450 SMX championship after not racing a single 450 SX main. Deegan won over Hunter after Hunter won 250 SX and 250 MX because Hunter DNF’d the final in LA. One SX round wouldn’t affect the points that much.