Watching Hangtown , on NBCGold (great job), i got to thinking how difficult it must be to pick a rider to put your money behind.
As PC, Star, Troy Lee, Geico etc look at the next bunch of riders in the AMs , (some of who'm they support already), they judge a rider on Lorretta's form and the big AM races, and give him a contract... recent riders coming this was are the likes of Taft, Tennant, Sexton , McAdoo, who have all done it with varying results.
It has worked out differently for all of them, but as we have seen , SX seems to rule, but you have to pick a guy to race SX ,when he has never raced SX. And then there is the whole 'half the guys in half the races' thing too, so how good are they really?
And then you get to outdoors... you find out what you have really got, PC , out of the 4 riders they had, the guy bought in as fill in goes best , and beats the guy who folk expect to step up and be a 450 man, ie Marchbanks V Savatgy..
So Mitch looks great for pulling Marchbanks up , but the kid might suck at SX yet.
So at the front you have Osborne, and J Mart and A Mart who should be long gone to 450 already, but you have the likes of Hill, who has a 450 contract in his pocket , and struggles to break the top 15 outdoors, and McElrath who doesn't seem to be an outdoors rider to the level of his SX speed.
So that is the 250 conundrum..
And on to 450..
So after the 250 minefield , you have to pick one of these guys to run a full 450 program .
The fact that Factory KTM are leaving a bike sitting for the 2nd year in a row, tells me they dont think anyone at TLD will ever move up. If i am McElrath, im kicking the door down, end of.
Yamaha give a 3 race deal to A Ray, and have had to pull Barcia back from the brink , to replace Millsaps.
Suzuki have 2 journeyman with no 250 pedigree at all, but who have put in the hard yards to get a well deserved ride.
Kawasaki have PC as a potential feeder , but apart from RV, RC and JS7, who were no brainers , who else have they bought through.
Only Honda, with Seely and Craig, does their seem to be a ladder to a 450, and Craig was pulled off the couch to fill in originally.
IMO there are 6 guys in 250 who shouldnt be , and while the under 23 GP rule isnt ideal, it gives a 450 class with a 5 secs a lap spread back to 25th, instead of 14, which is how it should be.
That said, i thoroughly enjoyed Hangtown, i though the track was excellent, loved the staircase , and the off camber turns, the ground was perfectly prepped, and the coverage was spot on.
