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11/19/2024
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Edited Date/Time
3/13/2025 2:27am
I'm watching 2022 outdoor races and I see Anstie was doing pretty well. Does anyone know why Max moved down to the 250 class?
He's like 30 and smoking all the kids. I'm not sure if I would call it sand bagging but it's not making sense to me.
He’s able to make a nice living on a 250. Simple
Yep, plus he’s on the best 250 team and has some f the best equipment available today.
When he has no offers for a 450 ride, but a good offer on a Star 250 can be had, it would be stupid not to accept it.
did firepower offer him a 450 spot or 250 spot for the same salary and he choose a 250? If that had any truth to it thats just pure sand bagging.
Im all for guys like RJ making a living to provide for their families. Those guys have never had a 450 deal that they wouldn’t be taking a paycut for.
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Grandpa Max don't want none of that 450 SX heat...
Do you want him delivering packages for UPS?
Whats it matter? He could make more on a 250 or same and have a chance at winning a title? Who cares. Its his life. Max has a family as well like RJ and a child with expensive medical needs, why does RJ get a pass when RJ has been America based this whole time and Max has crossed seas to keep racing.
Thats why I'm asking 😉. No hard feelings. Firepower did get him a 450 and since it was the only a 250 team he wanted to try it out. He was doing well in the 450 class and could have competed with the top 10 guys easily.
Im going to guess It is not unlike the real world. Job offers available and money.
What I find interesting about the 250 class is if they got rid of the two-coast format a lot of the very young riders would lose their jobs riding. I would imagine men like Anstie, RJ, Jordan Smith, would keep their jobs but a lot of up and comers would be out of rides.
Someone knocks on your door and offers you a job that's significantly higher pay, less hours, less risk and easier to do. Would you take it?
Problem is 250 was a feeder class for us for years. Ride a 125/250 couple years and move up. I believe we (AMA) had a max age?
Now that rule changed? And some of my fellow old fucks are confused.
What he is doing is within the rules AMA has established. I liked the old way better but I thought Joe was sharp as a tack so might be wrong
I don't have any problem with Anstie in the 250 class. It's not an age class, it's a displacement class.
Anstie in a WSX interview a couple years ago: "I'm gonna milk the 250 class as long as I can".
I respect the honesty, not once did I think back then that he would ride for the best team and be a championship contender on top of that anytime soon, he put in the work and found the best way to make as much money as possible in his last years. He did everything right.
People that bash older riders in the 250 class should blame the AMA and the rule book, not the riders.
How do you sandbag a professional class?
...yet everyone complains about the GP MX23 age rule...
Bingo.. 👆
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As far as I remember the 125/250 class never had a max age. Just a points system for mandatory move up.
Injuries, injuries, injuries, lack of 450 rides.
Oh and a small group wants to drive guys him out of 250's so they stop getting smoked..
And only for the Regional SX classes, not the Outdoor MX series.
This is 4T era phenomenon - there used to be 125 specialists in the Nationals and GPs and no one accused them of cherry picking or sandbagging.
A lot of up and comers don't get rides anyway because guys like that stick around the 250 class for a decade or more.
It's wild how much time and resources the Manufacturers & Industry put into Amateur racing only to not give the kids a legit shot when they go Pro so they can hire the same guys who have been on Factory bikes for a decade doing the same thing over and over again.
Says Billy L. 😂
It is not an age class. Just stop this already.
I guess the kids could just go faster. Bradshaw, Lechein, RC, JS7 and many others managed to break in at teenage years for example. Currently Cole Davies, Beaumier, and Deegan seem to be fitting in. But like you stated, not a lot of room with guys racing 250s for a decade or so.
I suppose so, but then they crash out and never get a chance cause they aren't racing.
I don't have the answer. I'm not sure there is a perfect one. But it's sure a little broken now.
Maybe they just need to limit it to 5 seasons in 250sx? Figure it out and get a good 450 ride or go get a real job.
Or we can leave it the way it is and keep watching Vet riders battle for the Championship in the "feeder" class. 🤣
Sadly the sport and teams in general don't have a hundred 450 spots open, these vet 250 guys just don't have anywhere to go IMO. Most factory 450 teams only have one or two spots open so between like 9 teams (counting Triumph and Ducati) you're looking at like 18-20 spots max. And that doesn't include current 450 guys already on those teams. Right now the sport is just to saturated with pro's and theirs nowhere for them to go. I also think theirs a big talent gap in the sport as well, all the guys that make the night show are highly talented but the guys outside the top 10 aren't in the same league as those inside the top 10. Those guys just aren't factory material IMO.
All valid points.
So here's another way of thinking about it....
If some of these guys have been on 250s for a decade and haven't gotten to the level where they can earn a 450 ride, wouldn't it make sense to get new blood into the 250s that maybe has the pedigree to become a top guy in the 450s?
Cause let's be real, have we really seen any long time 250 guys finally move up and get much done on the 450? Besides ZachO in the covid year, has someone spent a decade on a 250 then moved up to win races and championships on the 450?
Sorry to pick on RJ, but does anybody think he's gonna move up and win races?
I agree, I don't see any of these old head 250 guys taking the 450 class by storm or they would have already moved up and done it.
If you sign up to race against men, then you get to race against men. Always been that way.
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