Not a lot of love for SMX??

Love seeing the back 3/4 of the pack finally have a good payday. I’ll watch every race just for that, those guys work hard for peanuts way too often.

And I’m sick of the whining about setup issues, professional riders and their crew should be really good at bike setup, and pro riders should be able to ride well even if the bike isn’t perfect. 

$2000 for 20th overall in the 250 series is insulting. No wonder the 250 riders are not even showing up to even race it. They can’t even break even on expenses doing it.

This SmX will only get better. 

Just my 3 & 1/2 cents but all 3 of the tracks were terrible!!

I’m not remembering the full list, but isn’t it substantially better than the outdoor nationals?

Just dug it up. A 250 guy who makes the SMX night show and finishes last in all three events would pull $8k, right? It’s not a great payday for sure, but how does it compare to SX/MX?

We try to make it to at least one Supercross race, one Motocross race and one SuperMotoCross race each year. We’ve been to Daytona every year since 2014. Camp in the same spot in the infield every year. We hit Budds Creek for our outdoor National this year. Finally, we went to the Charlotte round of the SMX series.

The Charlotte round of the SMX series was overall our favorite event we’ve ever been to. The entire family loved it…especially the Friday Fan Fest and practice. Visibility was great. Access to riders for photos/autographs was great. Camping was great. We’re already looking forward to next year (if Charlotte is on the schedule again).

Good point and isn't it always about the promoter.  They certainly have it set up so that it comes down to the last two motos.  Case in point is how Pierce Brown was able to rocket up in the final standings from that last race. 

Speedway Muck X was basically what happens when you take supercross to greasy fairgrounds and give riders/teams one weekend to sort out the transition from outdoors. The injuries are exactly what one would expect. 

Oh and then there's the aspect of using the money they should be paying elsewhere, to make people think it's something other than what it is. Like if you put a million dollars in the glovebox of an '85 Corolla as a means of convincing people that it's not an '85 Corolla. 

The money only exists because of the playoff. 

* I like that there is more racing to watch ...... doesn't need to be a "play-off" series for that.
* I like the privateers getting more money .....doesn't need to be a "play-off" series for that.
* I dislike racers coming into a 3 race mini series with a points advantage to start with ..... "play-off"!
* All racers should 'qualify', not just non points holders.
* Spread some of that SMX money through the SX & MX races.
* Bring back a 3-round Monster Cup.

The Ringling Bros. would be turning over in their graves if all of their employees earned a living wage.

I just love watching dirtbike racing.. championships are somewhat irrelevant for me. Don’t get me wrong they matter and they bring a level of excitement but there’s nothing better than a gate drop and watching guys hang it out. 
Masterpools first lap of moto 2 is what’s it’s all about

These play offs keep top riders engaged that otherwise wouldn't be, so that is a positive. All of the powers that be are behind this concept and willing to elevate our sport, so that is a positive. Guys can make meaningful money in a short period of time (from top to bottom), so that is a positive. This is only year two and I have no doubt improvements will be made year by year, so that is a positive. 

Although the Texas round was a tough one for all the reasons already discussed, the racing was great.  Hopefully they can secure better venues with better dirt to make for a better series in 2025. I think the whole thing is cool beans and I do think that those riders that have been on the gate all year and have scored the most points should have a leg up in SMX-only fair and ever so hard to do. Encourages riders who otherwise might not work as hard to get back as soon as they can. I have been disappointed in Matthes for being so "meh" on the series when the riders benefit financially to such a great degree vs life before SMX. Crowds have been great, and the racing equally great. I just have a hard time seeing a downside. An extra demand on the riders, yes, BUT, they are getting paid well for it compared to MX and SX. I love it and the telecasts have improved significantly and I believe the current crew was especially good for the Vegas round. RC, JS , and Weege were better than ever and JT is becoming a Pro's Pro too.

If you want to complain about something, complain about the fact that riders don't get paid to race the MXON, and it actually costs riders money to go-this is insane. At the top level, riders are risking their well being every single day they practice and race, and to not get paid when the event makes so much money is the highest form of exploitation in a professional sport. Youthstream is praying on national sentiment to fill their own pockets-shit ain't right.

Personally, more racing is great. Truth is the Vegas track ruined it. Huge opportunity for 3 riders to race. Tracks were sold as the best of SX and MX, ended up as the worst of SX. 

Can't complain about more racing! That said, the tracks/venues are kind of crappy, in my opinion. 

My issue with smx is track design.. whoever they have is not creative enough or their hands are tied in some way. Were not privvy to.

Smx needs more dirt, and creative track designs that allow for passing that dont funnel riders into one line.. it can be done.

Also why cant smx be 250s n 450s in one class? Top 10 from each series. Go head to head

positives:

-importance is shifted away from SX

-riders return to mx series instead of sitting out the whole summer. 

-these offer a lot of money to the lower end riders who are struggling

-the SX and MX series are re-unified. the seperation was corroding the sport IMO

negatives:

-its trying to hard to create a championship playoff like NFL or MLB. it works in those sports because you can only play one team at a time. Lawrence is beating everyone everytime. its not like ONE more round where SUDDENLY everything is up for grabs is gonna change that

-the end of year still has similar issues of burnout and missing riders due to injuries, or those who healed from an injury arent back to 100% so theyre just 'there'

-speaking of burnout, the NFL and MLB run from start to end of championship within 6 months. SMX runs 9 months with a break here and there. its getting hard as a fan to keep getting excited once summer hits let alone by september.

 I personally enjoyed off season races more like the US Open/ Monster cup when ive recovered and have started jonesing again. If it wasnt for the World SX and Aus SX id say the 3 rds would better fit the US Schedule taking place after the MXdN during late October/early November

I love the series, and I believe the title should be very important in the grand scheme of things.

Great racing. We’re Al here for racing? 

Some great battles especially upfront which was enjoyable

The tracks are the tracks…

All they have to do is set up the bike for sx (then they can slow down in the mx areas and they won’t get crazy arm pump)

Or they can set their bikes up for mx (and slow down in the sx areas so they don’t die trying to triple or quad something)

They left out all the sx whoops, so that had to help.

Oh…..they don’t want to slow down anywhere? That’s not the tracks fault!

With a split start you could have 250’s on one gate and 450’s on the other. 

Make the start straight for the 450’s a little longer so the start becomes fair. On the track a 250 is more than capable of running competetive laptimes.

First off it is beyond awesome that there is more $ for the racers.  They have been getting bent over $ wise since the sport started.  The bonus' should be paid out after the MX season and a Grand National Champ named.  Racers deserve time off if they choose or to pursue off season races ($) which are much lower stress.  

 SMX was developed as a knee -jerk reaction to WSX which in hindsight was never a threat to Feld/MXSports.  Matthes talked about this again on the wrap up.  Season 1 had more flair with the LA race.  Other than that, the 5 other tracks had very little redeeming factors other than getting back to Vegas.  It is hardly hybrid and certainly is not a World Championship, a playoff. or deserving of a ridiculous trophy.  Yes its more races, but these venues and circuits are below the level that our riders deserve. Couple in the top guys really not that excited to participate (Jett seemed less than thrilled to be there and a lot of guys got dinged up) and there is a miss.  It has gotta be special or different if you have to have it.  Like the idea of an open class where top 10 from 450 and 250 for the year compete and a support class for the rest.  And find some better venues, spend the $ to make sure the dirt is primo, maybe have one of them on an outdoor circuit.  Or go way outside the box and split up SX and MX . Run 1/2 SX up to May, mix in MX starting then, and finish with SX lste summer, early fall.  It has been done before and would keep the teams and riders on their toes

They dropped the ball with the tracks this year.  These 3 races need to be special, not just SX without whoops.

The next 3 “seasons” of SMX they need to stop talking about the money every 20 seconds. Or saying “if it ends right now Rider X will win it all”! No shiet, but it’s not ending right now there’s still 10 minutes left of race 1. Talking about how much each rider will make where they finish, is so bush league.

You don’t hear stick and ball sport analyst say “if this person plays just another 10 minutes they’ll make an extra $250k this year”! They don’t talk about how much each player on the field/court make. They talk about what’s happening in the moment and analyzing it. Talking about the season and each team/players performance.

I typically like Weege as an announcer but my gosh he was horrible in Vegas. They all were in retrospect when talking about the money. Ffs talk about the racing and what it took for them to get there.

Stop the stupid point system and it would be better. Double and Triple points ruin the series making it a one race series.  

For example Scotty Scheffler made $62,228,357 in 2024. Per shot he made $12,039.32. You don’t hear the TV commentators saying before every shot “watch here, Scotty’s going to make another $12k with this shot”! If you care to see more of his crazy earning stats, check it out here https://golf.com/news/mind-blowing-money-scottie-scheffler-season/

It’s so amateur hour! Maybe it’s a stupid Bondo thing but it has to stop…right along with the stupid points structure. This is supposedly a professional sport. Start acting like it and portray it in a professional manor. And stop with the “we need to pander to the new viewer”! It waters it down. It’s not hard to figure out. It’s dirt bike racing, not rocket science.

Yes please. Just call the got damn race, and stop trying to make a thriller out of it by hyping it up and creating a points system that make 66.66% of the series more or less useless.

A win should be worth the same every time.