Not a lot of love for SMX??

They showed an interview with hunter lawrence between the races I believe it was at the first round. Hunter described how the bikes are not designed for these kind of tracks. Like he didnt say it in a way that these tracks are "just" challenging to find a right setup, he was basically shitting on these tracks, said how dangerous it is and its like riding a road bike on a mtb trail. I was surprised they aired that recorded interview lol

The ideas right  for the riders to get paid , the tracks were underwhelming ( last years were better imo )  and the way they hype it up is annoying it will never be the biggest championship , you could ask any rider what they’d take out of an outdoor championship , supercross or smx none will say smx.  

It’s hokey.

"Good for the TV package."

Hopefully next year they can get all 3 rounds or at least the final round live on a major national TV network. 

I liked the monster cup, us open, bercy back in the day quite a bit more.

The quality of the tracks themselves left a lot to be desired.

Get rid of SMX let’s add a season finale ama pro motocross at Glen Helen Raceway. Mxsports can keep a million dollars to deal with Glen Helen Antics then we pay out the other “9 million dollars” a $1 million dollars payout at the finale to the GH race & then also could payout the other $8 million  to SMX overall points. 

3 races determine a “world champion”?  The whole thing is super goofy and way overhyped.  These guys need a legitimate off season not more races.  The tracks suck, the gimmicky points structure sucks and the fake hype sucks.  I wish they’d scrap the whole idea and put the same effort into the MXdN.  I feel like every year the MXdN takes a back seat to Gimmickcross. 

Where the hell did they get all of that dirt? Amd how long did it take to build the track? Oh yeah, and set up is key for SMX.

Agreed.  Offseason races used to feel "special".  These don't.  

Points system has to go. Just pay points for each moto and same points every round. It's 3 rounds, it will always come down to last round. Current rules create so many convoluted scenarios that the broadcast couldn't even get the math right most of the night last night. 

It's a high paying exhibition series. Unless specifically asked, you won't hear a single rider mention SMX this offseason. They'll talk about their goals for SX and plans for MX etc but if they mention SMX it'll be "yeah I'll try to qualify, good money...."

If I got to choose keeping things as is or having a 12th outdoor round and slightly less burned out riders who might be more willing to go to mxon, I'm not picking SMX.

I like SMX but I agree the tracks this year did not live up to last year's and even those left a little to be desired (outside of the LA finale, that track was one of the coolest tracks we've seen in a LONG time).

I see a lot of people calling the elevating points structure a gimmick, and maybe it is, but to me that's fitting because a 3 round championship is already a gimmick in the first place. Joker Lane was a gimmick too but that's something that made the MEC a little different and fun. If they had a typical points structure, does that even change how you guys would view Deegan and Jett Lawrence's SMX championships? This way to me it at least creates some sort of pressure cooker situation where you need to be near the front each round and especially at the final round. Though I could 100% do less with the amount of fake prestige they keep trying to market it as. Only time will decide whether or not it becomes an important staple in the sport or if it's just this generation's US Open or Monster Cup.

It gets so overhyped all year. I get sick of hearing about it. 

Agree with a lot of what's been posted. I think it'd work better if they promoted it as something like an "SMX Invitational" and treated it like the 3-off exhibition it is. Trying to make it some 31-round SMX series with SX, MX, and a playoff is just a miss. And trying to push it as some important championship is lame. 

In 2023 Jett didn't even race SX (17 of the 31 rounds). He was clearly MX champ and clearly 3-race invitational champ, but calling him a world SMX champ for a 31-race series when the dude didnt even ride more than half the rounds or have the most cumulative points is weird.

Everything is already set up for a successful invitational series with big money. Give the auto bids to SX and MX champs, give some consideration to guys that were consistent in both series and accrued a lot of points. And if they insist on this ramping points structure, I think it'd work better if they implemented it slightly differently: first race is a one-moto format (as in SX), second event a 2-moto format line MX, then the third could be a triple crown or something. As it stands there is no reason for event 3 to be worth more points other than some arbitrary attempt at hype...make them different if you really want to make one more important than others. 

Someone better tell him the GP's are The World Championship. Likely to go the way of the almost meaningless SX World Championship after the hype train derails..

I thought it was cool. I liked the track layouts, but it's not a playoff and the double and triple points was stupid.  

Right, the draw of that money is so conducive to guys coming back from an injury before they're ready. 

If they really wanted to have is combined MX and SX you would have it someplace like Thunder Valley….cut the track in half and after the finish line jump you go onto that area of parking where you build the SX half.  Nothing was really MX regardless of saying it was.  These flat super hard base tracks suck.

All they did on RDL was talk about how great the track was and great it would be riding it. Passing was at a premium to be sure.

I though last weeks track raced much better for some unknown reason. 

They also said SMX was the best Championship and the World Championship…..so I don’t put a lot of stock in the salesmen selling the product.

I think it's a good idea. It makes the whole year more meaningful. But I also think the double points and triple points aspect kind of... it negates the points handed out from doing well and showing up for the whole year. 

I also think the tracks aren't that spectator friendly. I guess it doesn't matter since motocross tracks are doing really well when hosting the nationals, but it just... I don't know. I'm afraid spectators will go once, think it was okay but realize they would be able to see so much more from watching online. That's my only worry. I do like the idea of having a playoff series very much like the Fed ex cup in golf. 

It felt like the spectrum of hybrid tracks were better last year. Sometimes it was more outdoorsy, sometimes more supercrossy. The tracks this year felt the same in terms of rhythm lanes but also long and fast. I kinda want people having to make changes on the fly to suspension because it is more one way or the other. But that's me.

Fans know what they are watching, they can try and sell it as the biggest and best thing the sport has ever seen as much as they want but your eyes tell you something different. Three uninspiring tracks on flat concrete doesn’t give the vibe that you are watching something special, it feels like a bit of a gimmick. I’m glad the riders are earning decent money, but it needs more than that 

It’s Red Bull Straight Rhythm meets Monster Cup meets fly away parking lot GPs meets gaslighting meets industry sell outs.

It beats selling shoes...

I can see SMX as alternative to SX and giving riders a choice between it and 45 second lap time and  tracks with a 9 whoop limit. Lets face it Feld has made SX worse than it was before they were here. Smx could fix all that.

”This isn’t a real championship, so money is about the only thing worth hyping up about it.”

Since this is from a post I made, you may want to add some context...it was part of a thread titled Who put "talk about money" in the show notes? so that's why I mentioned the money. Nowhere did I say I didn't like SMX, in fact, in the How to "value" an smx championship thread I said, "I love watching the races, but it’s the equivalent of Monster Cup as far as being a ‘championship’." 

Not so much complaining about the series, just about the way it’s promoted.

I don't think the 3 tracks were as good as last year, especially the 2nd track, not good. But I love the concept of a playoff. 

I went to the Ironman National a number of times when it was the last race of the year. Many riders were clearly mailing it in and heading for the off season. Rarely was there much drama, and most of the time the points winners were already settled.  

Hopefully next year the tracks are better. Overall, I enjoyed the racing.

Anti climatic

Over saturation…. I enjoyed watching some of it but all I really needed was the 20 minute highlights…just put the $ into the existing purses and stop the over selling of a fake world championship. Appears the threat of a competing World SX championship is gone, well done, feldds and mx sports👌