This was the worse layout I have ever seen for SX. On the middle straight a steep jump that had to be rolled due to the following whoops and another one near the finish. With all of the decent designs we have seen out west plus Windham's in Houston, what were they thinking? Did I hear them announce that Bubba designed this? He must have been laughing his ass off! Come on AMA SX: race fans want to see speed, flow and close racing; not stops in the middle of the track. I was happy about the winner and runner-up though! Watch it today on CBS. mmfoor
They added a few obstacles like the one you mentioned so it wouldn't have been 30 second lap times. SX fans are complaining loudly about lap times being too short, making for 13 minute main events. Without that stop in the track, you would have been treated to a 10 minute main....how's that for getting your money's worth.
I cant find it on the CBS schedule.....and what channel on directTV is it...? And who knows.....ahhh forget it...
I really liked it. (Didn't have to ride it though...) The smooth/rhythm/flow tracks of late have been getting a bit boring. If it weren't for the start, they might as well run 1 speed bikes as everyone pretty much just leaves it in 3rd and fans the clutch whever they slow below 20mph. The "Retro" track they had at Anaheim III was the first time we've seen a "wall jump" type obstacle that CAN'T be doubled, tripled or rolled over, making the ridersjust about come to a stop, then accelerate away. I think both the riders and the fans liked it as it looks like they added another one for ATL.
yeah i didn't particulary like the deadstop jump right before the finish, and well I don't think Chad liked it in the end either. He was the only one jumping it, yet it bit him in the ass.
I was thinking the same thing as I was watching it on T.V. today. It looked short with no flow and very few turns. If they are worried about lap times they need to build bigger tracks. If the venues can't hold bigger tracks, then they need to pick new ones or get creative.
The layout was great. If they designed it for speed and fast laps, it would spread the field too much and allow for less than spectacular racing. SX isn't supposed to be that way, anyways. If you want that, they have the outdoor series. I thought the track was great. The walls added an element that really threw riders for a loop. Turn one being a sand turn was awesome and had a lot of riders struggle. I think it was an issue in that it was a ball up ordeal for both classes, but overall, I'd say it was a great and gnarly layout. Definately had James' touch as he would have destroyed the field on that track. It was VERY technical and aggressive. How can that be a bad thing? The tracks shouldn't be bigger, either. It isn't AX, but it isn't outdoors, either. There was a flow to it - the riders that figured it out, did great. Those that didn't (And there were a LOT of crashes due to this), had a tough night. I would have liked to see the whoops not have the wall, but in reality, the amount of energy it had to take to go through the whoops and then the wall and then the last half of more whoops was seperating the men from the boys. However, I like watching full length whoops because the skill it takes to blast through them the way some of the guys do (Read Stewart) is amazing...
It was an awesome track according to the worn out old know-it-all former mxers in my seating area. A real equalizer. It makes you ride more technically. Look what happened to Reed. Anyway, Millsaps won his first ever and in front of his home crowd. Much better than watching Carmichal and Stewart destroy the field with Reed in the distance, still way ahead of the others. Now that they're gone and Carmichal and Stewart doing more track design, look for a lot of this type of track. Want high speed? Go watch outdoor
I think the Atlanta track, and the retro-throwback track they had on the west coast, were some of the best. I'd rather see a technical track....
