Are the X Games deflating Supermoto's tires?

[Hundlewerx Motovision]

Was it just me? Or did the X-treme Games Supermoto race seem like it was missing something? The Almighty King of the one-upper, let's ride bicycles in the snow, and the decider of everything extreme....the X games...has decided, that Supermoto just isn't extreme enough the way it is.

I wasn't fortunate enough to catch the first 12 laps, but at the moment, I was looking forward to a great race. But as the race went on, I noticed something missing. I hadn't seen one single battle yet. Not for first, not for third, fourth, fifth, eighth, hell not even a single one. So I watched on, and on, and still nothing. ok ok, burky battled the track(and a poor pit) to catch up to wardy, but it took him the rest of the race to catch up, and only the final lap to "battle" wardy, as the ABC commentators so wisely put it. Usually, when the leaders are spread out, good race coverage will select sporadic battles within the top ten racers, and switch back and forth between them and the leaders to show some good racing...after all, it is supposed to be racing. ABC and the X Games made it look like a non-stop Qualifier lap, or a Baja500

So, who in the f#ck do the X Games think they are. ? It's not extreme enough to have an MX start with knobbies??? You have to have one with slick tired bikes. The chance of a good crash in lew of a road-start, has their head so far up their a$$, that they don't realize it would be kinda nice to have the group somewhat together and battling it out. And while they were at it, they made it a marathon, complete with a race ruining pit stop. Why don't they just put up a drive-thru hot dog stand at the finish too? It couldn't mess the race up any more than they are.

As sweet as the track is, and as good as it is for the exposure of Supermoto, I for one, do not want to see another race decided by a bull$hit pit stop. And at 45, I'm sure Wardy doesn't either

End of my once a year rant. Sorry, I just love this sport to much to watch someone piss on it.

[SCasey]

That’s what happens when the event is strictly "MADE FOR TV"

Get used to it .TV draws revenue… and an audience.

I am sure that more people saw that one race than all the sumo races combined this year at all venues. That can’t be bad for the sport. In fact if you wanna see factory support in this sport they have to come up with an audience or it will always be a"little" sport.

[khelton]

I thought it was great, anything that gives our fledgling sport exposure is good....Right now the AMA treats us like bastard children..

[RAD]

You obviously never watched an outdoor MX race.

I'm not going to pretend like the race ended like I wanted, but the Network was looking for a good race and in the end that is what they got, right down to the checkered flag.

Funny thing I saw a post on mototalk, a while back, saying how the outdoor nationals were going down hill. The things they said they needed to improve to make the sport grow were all the things that Supermoto has to offer right now, and Outdoor National MX can't.

Some of the items listed were to go to different tracks, have different type of terrain, race in cities close to a large audience base and urban population, easy TV access to view the entire track, have good viewing access to the track for the spectators, race in stadiums where the entire track can be viewed.

Any time you have an hour long race you know the riders are going to get spread apart, especially with a pit stop. I see no down side to the X Games race.

The X Games are a made for TV affair, some of the camera shots were awesome, as the race went on the audience kept growing till it was 5 people deep standing at the top of the stadium at the end. The race probably was a lot more exciting in person to watch, because you could see the riders coming into the stadium and sense that it was going down to the wire.

The one improvement I see needed is if they are going to have the pit closed during a certain number of laps, then they need to have a red and green light to signify if the pit is open or closed, at the pit entrance.

Most mechanics are concentrating on their own riders and it is hard to keep track of what lap the leader is on for pitting purposes, especially if the leader is not going to pit on the first or second lap of pitting eligibility.

[jamesp]

Pit stops are definitely a downside.

The last thing we need to do is NASCARize Supermoto.

[barnes603]

pit stops defently ruined the race

[Hundlewerx Motovision]

You obviously never watched an outdoor MX race........Funny thing I saw a post on mototalk, a while back, saying how the outdoor nationals were going down hill. The things they said they needed to improve to make the sport grow were all the things that Supermoto has to offer right now, and Outdoor National MX can't..........Any time you have an hour long race you know the riders are going to get spread apart, especially with a pit stop. I see no down side to the X Games race........... some of the camera shots were awesome....

I have watched plenty of outdoor races and enjoy them. Are the Nationals slipping? I don't know. I sure don't think supermoto racing should be compared to that type of racing by the general public.

I am in no way stating that I think Supermoto is going downhill, or needs to improve. I just don't agree with the changes that the Xgames are making.

An hour long race with a pit stop are the only downsides I see in the X games race.

Those were definitely some cool camera shots.

I want the Xgames to hold a race. I just would like to see classic supermoto style racing, with the X'tra crazy dirt section of course ?

BTW, your mag rules! Keep up the good work.

[thumpingoz]

get over it the coverage and camera shots were cool it can only be good for supermoto

[thumpingoz]

maybe you should get out there next year and mix it up with them to see if you can draw the crowd and fans they did champ

[khelton]

+1 w/ Rad, there is no downside to the X-GAmes Supermoto, as far as tire selection, better for them to crash w/ street tires in the dirt than dirt tires in the 100 MPH street section.

[blndebmbr]

My only request is that next time they need some commentators that understand the sport. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to reach through the TV and strangle them.....

[kelsow]

I also think the lack of the European riders made it a but boring.

I know Seel got hurt, but where were Chambone, VDB etc.

It would be great to see the Americans kick their ass's.

[RAD]

Those weren't my comments about MX just some of the people on mototalk.

pit stops defiantly ruined the race

Not sure about that - If there were no pit stops I'm pretty sure there would have been no drama at the end of the race, like there was, I thought it was pretty cool when they were coming into the stadium the last two laps and the crowd started getting loud.

[mikey888]

i have to agree with soolio. the x games tries to turn it into supercross in the stadium. that's why the euro's didn't show. look at keunzel, he's got the #1 plate and he never got in the top ten because of the giant dirt section. if you want supercross fine, just don't cal it supermoto. see how the euro's do it, it's a different sport....mikey

[Scott_321]

I thought the x-games race was awesome. If 45 year old Jeff Ward can do the "supercross" section through the stadium then the euros should be able to. I think everything about it was great. Everyone involved with putting the whole package together did a fantastic service for supermoto in my opinion. Also props to Chad Reed for getting out there and pulling a fourth against all those seasoned riders.

[RLucky82]

I thought it was great also. not that it couldn't have been better. I would have rather seen a 2 race setup (like world superbike) rather then one long race.

[cal_tony]

Great race, great camera coverage. Pit stop...? stupid idea.I guess networks are influenced to much by NASCAR. If the tires are still good, and you still have gas, why the pit stop??

Maybe if they ran 15 laps on the pavement, than a pit to change to dirt tires, and ran 15 in the dirt, it might make sense for the stop, but a pit just to have one. Maybe the Networks think motorcycle riders and Supermoto watchers all suffer from A.D.D. And the race was just too long to keep the viewers attention so it was split up by a pit stop.

What ever the reason, the pit stop is goofy.

[Hawker]

If the tires are still good, and you still have gas, why the pit stop?

I agree the pitstop was useless. The huge dirt section should have had more turns and less jumps.

But I enjoyed watching the race nonetheless.

[khelton]

The pit stops work for me, makes the race more complicated, more details . Whatever ESPN is doing , it works because they draw 10 times as many spectators as an AMA race. X-GAmes may be the early savior to our sport. So far, the AMA promoters can't even afford to bring the ramps to the races.

Really struggling.

[bmxr]

This brings back all my memories of 1995, and the years following, when ESPN first bought the BS Series from Mat Hoffman and started calling it X-Games. Everyone hated:

-the contest formats;

-the course layouts;

-the way they treated the riders;

-the "in your face" commercialism;

-the "made for TV" aspect overall;

-the ridiculous overuse of the term "extreme";

-the realization that the "show" was in fact more important than the athletes or the fans who were present;

and by far, 100x over, the most of all

-the announcers, NONE of whom knew a barspin from a Sit-N-Spin!

Cheer up guys! The worst thing that could happen is that all the Pro invitees make a bunch of extra money from sponsor exposure for a few years.

The best thing that could happen is that ESPN makes enough adjustments to make everyone fairly happy, and then we all wake up to a world where literally everyone knows who "Silent H" is, Darrick is on MTV Cribs, and every Japanese motorcycle manufacturer NEEDS their supermoto bike revenues

btw-I like the pit stops at X, just like I appreciate them during the Daytona 200. The only thing that doesn't make any sense to me is mandating that they all happen within three specific laps. As far as I can tell, that can ONLY be meant to artificially create Nascrap-style traffic and collisions on pit road. ?