Did I read Roczen kicked out?

I think WSX canceled their contract with him and the Cooksey crowd is turning into a thing.

Roczen commented a day or two ago on a WSX IG post about someone being DQ'd for not completing their site lap. Said something about it being ridiculous because the guy had a bike problem. 

Just looked and post seems to be gone so I assume it had something to do with that.

Simonson was DQ for not doing the sight lap. 

That is a crazy rule... like why does it matter if a rider does a sight lap? I mean when it is muddy many of the riders decide to not do a light lap. 

Seems a weird rule for WSX to make, let alone enforce. 

Guessing it's a safety/precautionary thing. 

Wsx dropping the ball on not paying kroc to do all the races... not a good look

Buying in riders is one thing (definitely made for way better racing here n there for sure), but letting the championship leader randomly drop out after three races is a super weird look for not gonna lie.

I asked about Kenny and his contract in the Vancouver thread and I think aeffertz said that he was only contracted to race three races per year in the first place, but Kenny in interviews at least seemed rather surprised that he doesn't get to race the whole series this year? So yeah.. I don't think we'll get to know the whole story..

If I had to guess, he was originally contracted to do all the races in the series at a set amount per race. When the promoters started crunching the numbers they came to the conclusion they could only afford to pay him for 3 races at that per race dollar amount.

So to put it in regular everyday working man terms, he is getting paid the same per hour but his hours are getting cut back.

But I'm just speculating.

The dude got to the line the second the gate dropped. No time to set holeshot device or nothing. He came around the side, started into his slot and the gate dropped the second he rolled up. It was almost perfect timing.

 Sucks if they dq'ed the guy for having a bike problem. It's understandable if he just said fuck it and waited on everyone else to get back. I hate to hear that. 

Main website still shows him on for Saturday 

The Roczen level of participation has been strange since the original announcement.  He was on pulp a while back and was asked if he was doing all of them since he was not listed as a wild card....he declined to answer the question.  

Achtung !

WSX messed up the contract.
 Roczen was locked in for 5 races, but because WSX has 3 main events, that's 3 races per event. 
Roczen realized he only had to attend 2 events to get his full payment for 5 races.

Imagine having to pay riders just to attend your event to falsely advertise it has any prestige or world class tier capabilities.

I thought I just felt a cold draft enter the thread.

In business, or anything in life, building anything costs money, Bro.

Seems like a futile enterprise. After all the whole thing started as a way for the Arabs to launder/wash their captagon drug money. 

Kind of shows that it is a paycheck racing series rather than a prestigious championship. If Roczen was after the title I would think he may race without the start money.

He isn’t racing smx for free either. 

Welcome to the 21st century sporting events. No professional athlete plays for free...and why would they? 

if WSX is gaming the system to avoid bigger payouts, then their series is basically an exhibition not unlike Paris SX or any of the other one-off SX races during our off-season.  Not saying that's what they're doing, but Kenny's cryptic responses about initially planning to race all 5, but then being reduced to 3 was weird.  

Of course, WSX is also paying big names to race their series (again - very similar to Paris SX or these other off-season races), so I'm sure they are trying to bring legitimacy to their series without going bankrupt in the process....

The fact that they felt the need to bring Ralph in to announce was the honestly the biggest turnoff for me.  He's a nice guy, but his voice is like nails on the chalkboard....

Just another Safetyism enforced by The Cult of Safety. 

You're not wrong but professionals don't race for free. If the team isn't paying him, he'll need that income to come from somewhere else. 

"Bro", you obviously don't understand the point. If WSX was where the riders want to race because it has the best racers in the world and best venues and organization, they'd all be there without needing a direct payment bribe to show up.

WSX should combine all the normal off season races to create their "series". Bring back the U.S. Open SX. Add Paris SX, Geneva Supercross, Aus-X, and the Vancouver SX all into 1 series. That would make more sense and cost a lot less to tie your name into those races than it would be to try and start something completely on your own. But hey, what do I know..

Top tier pros get paid to race. Either the series, sponsors, team or all 3. It costs a lot money to attend races in the middle of fkng nowhere...basically 5 rounds none of which are near each other on the planet. You don't think racers just say, sure, I'll show in Argentina and hope I'll make $5k for a race win do you? KR got paid for a specific number of races...of which he raced. You want him to race more??? Pay him. 

I don't think any sane person should race a dirtbike, professionally, for free.

Not sure anyone is saying Kenny (or anyone else) should race for free, but there's a big difference between paying for finishing positions (i.e. purse) and paying for names (prestigious riders like Kenny, Eli, Jason, etc.).  The former is the hallmark of a professional competitive series, and the latter is an exhibition race.  I think both are fine, but it seems WSX wants it both ways....IMHO

Reminds me of that time Lorne Michaels offered the Beetles THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS to come on Saturday Night Live and perform.

When only George Harrison showed up, Lorne, the head of WSNL only gave him $1000.

So there is a history of dirty dealings like this going on not only in SX.