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I’m not sure I have seen this much hype behind a rider moving from the lites class to the premier class since Mike Alessi did his “Believe the hype” campaign when he was moving up. We all see how he faced reality when he saw how different things are in the 450 class so, this is a two part question.
1) Whose hype is bigger
2) What’s your opinion on how danger boy is actually going to fair his first year
Personally I think Mike made a bigger deal about moving up and created a lot of anticipation and loved he made those funny T Shirts.
I think Deegan will have some success to include maybe winning a round of SX and a round or two of MX but I see him as a top 5-8 guy on races he doesn’t crash out of.
Mike’s hype was for when he went from amateur to pro. His hype was waaay bigger than Deegan’s at the same point in his career. Deegan is moving up to the 450s. Apples and oranges. Besides, I don’t think anyone with a brain really thinks Deegan is going to mop the floor with the Lawrence bros.
Attitude wise, it’s different ends of the same turd..
Alessi looks like a saint in comparison. Not nearly as polarizing or dirty as Deegan.
This right here.
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Quadz said it perfectly 👌 By the time Alessi moved up to 450 class he had already stood on Ivan’s bike trying to stop him from getting up and winning the 250 championship at Glen Helen. We knew what we were getting with Alessi by the time he graduated to the big boy class.
After Vegas SMX I think we also know what we are going to get with Dangerboy when he graduates.
The Alessi family rolled out their Believe the Hype t shirts for Mike’s first pro race. He went straight to the 450 class at Millville. It didn’t go well that day for him.
I stand corrected I knew that he raced 450 at Steel City and finished 3rd overall behind RC and Windham which was really impressive but I honestly thought he debuted at Millville in the 250 class but you are correct it was the 450 class 🤷♂️ Imagine an elite amateur like Alessi was in 2004 doing that these days!
Doesn’t change the rest of my original comments though 😎
You guys really weren’t around for 2005 were you. There was no bigger hype.
It didn't, but he did get 3rd overall in his second race behind Carmichael and Windham at 16.
Alessi had potential and a Dad that talked too much.
Deegan has hype.
HAHAHAHA.. God dam I laughed at that. Thank You
I was 14 years old when this happened and was at A1, the hype around Bubba moving up was insane. I thought he was going to wax RC and Reed like he was doing in the 125 class. James in SX in ‘05 on that KX250 was a thing of beauty. Scary at times, but poetry in motion.
I was at A1 2005 and was thinking along these lines too mate. 450 class (250 2 stroke at the time) had 3 major players and didn’t disappoint even though Stewart exited after his injury he still came back and won some races.
Their pro debut? Alessi had more hype by far. Like someone else said, the better comparison would be JS7 or Deegan moving to the 450 class and Stewart wins there as well. James was way more dominant in his class before moving up.
Someone ask AI the question so we can resolve it once and for all.
Great point -- but I would argue that Stewart's hype was 100% justified. He got 6th in that mudder A1, so it's easy to write that off. Then he got hurt the next race (wrist I think?). Look at the results after he came back after missing eight rounds: 3rd in Orlando, and then his first win the next week in Texas, followed by two more down the stretch.
Hot take: There is no universe where Deegan wins his third-ever 450SX, or wins three 450SX races his rookie season even if he makes every round. Not. A. Chance.
Agreed.
Pit Row
Alessi came out of amateurs and into Millville running as a privateer effort because, in Tony's words, " Your sponsors through the amateur ranks get you to the pro level, and then once you go pro you leave them.....we dont want to do that and we can run with the factory teams just as we are".
Only years later did we find out that Mike had a Honda contract ready to sign, Tony said they wanted to do a bike test first. Only Tony showed up, ripped the bike up and down the parking lot, told the Honda guys "your bike is a 7, ours is a 10".....Honda loaded up the bike and threw the contract in the shredder.
If someone with no intimate knowledge of Mike Alessi looked at his amateur career VS his pro career, it would make absolutely no sense.
I have always believed that Mike's incredible LACK of race craft stemmed from his start ability and never having to work through the pack, and that was confirmed by Tony on Pulp a few years ago.
Tony has now said multiple times that he should have held Mike on the gate for 30 seconds/start backwards, but they literally paid the mortgage with Yamaha/Honda contingency money....Tony couldn't risk losing the house because he wanted Mike to learn how to pass people.
Mike is a good man who got a really bad rap for a lot of years because of the environment that Tony created. Tony is a good man that went bat shit insane for 20 years doing what he thought were the right things....If you met the Tony of today you wouldnt have a clue that he is the same Tony that told Vuillemin that there is a Drug Ring inside MX sports or the same Tony that spit in Millsaps dads face at World Minis. Tony runs a MX for kids race series and is the cheerleader for every kid on the side of the track......
Mike made millions racing. His career is the polar opposite of a failure. All that said, the rider he was VS the rider he should have been are not even on the same planet.
I got lost in the weeds there, but to go back to the original questions.... Alessi & Deegan are only comparable in their controversy. Outside of their ability to make headlines having nothing to do with results, they are not even in the same conversation.
Is that copy and pasted from ChatGPT?
Ringo nailing this one!
Wether it was or wasn’t, I just read that whole thing lol
I think a lot of people missed or forgot Alessi went right into the premier class to battle Carmichael in hopes to prove something right out of the gate.
So I don’t think it’s apples to oranges since my question was based on Deegan competing in the 450 class against the heavy hitters we have today. If anything, he should have a better shot at it considering he has had a couple years to season, unlike Mike did. But ultimately, yeah.. Alessi FAFO. I like Mike btw he is a good dude.
Yes sir there was a lot to unpack there When you bring Tony into the picture. I don’t think I’ve ever met him in person but man, he was wacky as shit and a role model on how not to do things in the industry. Funny thing is.. there are still dads out there who just can’t take a step back when good things are coming their kids way.
ChatGPT and AI got me suspicious on everything I read/see these days 🙈 I would love to be proven wrong in every single instance! We are living in crazy times 😬😎
You can tell it isn’t ChatGPT because what he said was all true and not filled with falsities. You guys need to retune your AI detectors! Just because someone wrote more than one or two sentences doesn’t mean it’s AI.
Before going pro, Alessi had wayy more hype, so did Stew and AC.. Deegs was a top AM rider, but not AC/Stew/Alessi dominant...
Calm down Bro we aren’t all as smart as you 🙄
lil Deegs is gonna be Barcia2.0. Stamp it. He'll get a win here and there when stars align, but for the most part, his headlines will be reduced to 20 vital threads about whatever boneheaded bullshit he pulled on Sat night each week. Nothing more.
Thanks for that, Mossy. Good info.
I hadn't heard about the Tony Alessi "test ride". hahhahhaahaah. Oh man, to have been there would have been something. I do recall on Pulp, Tony saying he is 60% less crazy these days. hahaha
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