If it's not racing...then what the fugg is it?

Seven & 7 ?

Someone hit the bar early today!!

one 7 too many

You're on a roll.....

With today being 4-20 Bobby is probably lit up like a Christmas village..........

Nah buddy, we're just pissed you didn't share. And it's 420 to boot.

Wow.

Bobby, youre right in your original post.

Ca'nt we just get abong today is suppossed to be special!

BobbyM.... the riders are treated like they are expendable because to the promoter, they are expendable. 1 goes down, 3 others are eager to "case their dream" and fly thru the air for free or next to nothing.

The riders have no cohesion. The riders have no real desire to look out for each other because its a big enough chore to watch out for yourself. Track a problem? Noone wants to upset the apple cart, noone wants anyone to think they are a wuss, their ego's, for the most part, cant take it.

And to be quite frank about it, you really cant blame the promoter. They got their direction from the AMA. AMA doesnt give a flying rat fuck about the riders. They might nod their heads and throw a smile up to 3 or 4 riders, but they know all they have to do is sit back and collect their money and the riders will toe the line. The promoter takes 1 look at this, sees this is how it is, so why upset the cart when it would affect their own bottum line?

Until the riders, all of them, decide to take a stand, this is how it is, this is how it will be. And thats not going to happen any time soon, want to know why? Its actually easy to figure out. At 16, if someone came up to you and said "i will pay you $70,000 a year to race, you will race SX which is the holy grail of our sport, fame, and fortune", you, me, any of us, at that age, would leap at the chance and put up with any amount of bs because who cares, I am making bank to do what I want to do and have always dreamed of doing! Hell if they said they would pay you $20,000 you would do it! You arent thinking of your life at 30 when you are 16. You can barely plan until next month. You are invincible. You dont ache when you wake up, things dont pop and grind when you wake up, thats what my dad complains about and hes old (35). Thats what goes thru a 16 year olds head typically.

So you have a governing body that doesnt care, its just slave labour that will buy a license.... that the riders DREAM of getting. You have a promoter that sees what is essentially a slave labor work force that will give ANYTHING to be in that force... race SX. And you have riders that have no concept of consequences because at 16, there arent any to you in your perception, you are living your dream and getting paid to do it.

yes I know minimum age is now 18. but thats just now. Sad part is, by the time riders start seeing these issues, they are the old men of the sport. And not the hot new thing, so they dont have the power to do anything. Plus think about this.... as the old man in the sport, they are very likely thankful someone is still offereing to pay them to race! They know the price tag, they figured it out and are now old enough to know that their is more than just tomorrow, there is the next 5 or 6 decades after racing. Problem is, by the time they realise it, they are hoping to keep getting rides and keep getting paid so they can put away the money they blew when they were the hot new thing and tomorrow never comes, and create a cushion to get thru the rest of their lives.

And as much as we gripe, and complain, and theorise.... Bobby. If I could, if someone came to me with an offer, I would willingly jump at the chance to join them. Pushing out onto a SX floor is the only thing on my "to do" list I havent done. Everything else, check. And so would alot in here. We know whats up, but if given the chance, we would willing go for it.

blame it on the alcohol.

It means you probably want to light the candles like Windham when he wins one of the remaining rounds.

If I can "distill" Bob's rant down, he's right.

The spectacle only goes so far. Good racing is what engages people, and every race for every place is fresh. IMO, RV went overboard after RD in that corner, but the point is you want more of that kind if close competition from the front to the back of the pack. That never gets old, but after awhile every triple, every set of whoops starts to look generic in SX. Racing for places is what will engage and keep people watching.

That doesn't mean you don't have challenging tracks, but the balance should always be struck int terms of moving the racer's mentality away from survival mode to race mode.

TV, especially for the outdoors, has to get this right as well. I'd like to see more split screening rather than absolutely going away from one battle to another, but that's another issue.

A 10" travel rule will fix everything.

Start them all off on a Maico 490 or TM 400 at the age of 16 for a period of 3 weeks. If they survive that then they can purchase their bike of choice. Mandantory Motorcycle Respect 101.

problem is those are the two bikes i want

Reminded me of......Rush.....The Trees.