Scott Motosports: Swizcorner “Wicktacular”

 

I know all about the history of Southwick, the frog pond, the amazing races that have taken place over the years, the deceivingly lengthy track on a pint sized piece of property and it’s greatest asset, the sole stop on the National Motocross schedule which boasts a sand base. When the lease on the Southwick property and track expired and we as a sport were forced to look for new locations to fill it’s spot, I was a little excited. Change is typically good but apparently it is REALLY difficult to find a facility in the US that can host a National caliber track with a deep sand for terrafirma. Maybe replacing Southwick with another sand track was never part of the gameplan but there is no arguing after this weekend’s return to “The Wick” that not only was it a welcomed return, I really did miss it!

 

It’s become very commonplace for riders to complain about the tracks in our sport. Whether it’s dangerous obstacles in Supercross or track prep in the outdoors which make the track a swamp early on in an effort to keep the dust down later in the days, the riders will complain. I’m not knocking them or saying they aren’t justified, it’s just a given but a good sand track will often sidestep many of these critiques. For me, one of the most refreshing things about the Southwick track is, it still appears to be exactly what it always was, rough and gnarly without the gimmicky “wanna-be-Larocco’s-Leap” that just about every track on the circuit deems it necessary to implement these days. Don’t mince my words, I love Larocco’s Leap and Red Bud but it’s obvious that other tracks on the schedule are trying to force feed their own trademark jump. Blasphemous. I’m tired of that. Southwick is just a natural terrain sandy beast that wears riders down with it’s breaking bumps, kickers and deep, soft berms. It’s now a throwback track in a series full of “made for tv” sky shots and massive leaps. It was so much more intriguing to watch guys circulate a track with their wheels on the ground the majority of the time. Crazy, I know!

 

Ken Roczen lost his first moto’s and overall of the season that were not due to mechanical failure and it was apparent early on that Eli had a little more than Ken in terms of comfort and ability to press the bike harder through corners and harsh breaking areas. Ken was displeased with the air forks and it makes perfect sense that he noticed their negative aspects on a track like Southwick because the wheels are in contact with the ground more at Southwick than any other track so obviously the suspension components are working more and heating up more than any other race. Eli has definitely been getting his bike closer to figured out over the series but lets be honest, Ken’s supremacy has been daunting for the #3, so when he sniffed Ken’s discomfort early, he knew it was only going to be a matter of time before he picked a spot and executed a pass that would stick. He did so in moto 1 and actually two times in moto 2. Tomac and his spring forks were every bit as good as we’ve seen the 3 all year in the sand of Southwick and it is some kind of cruel joke that the three moto’s Ken Roczen has lost this year have been directly correlated to the air fork on his Factory Suzuki.

 

Are we at a point in professional racing where the air fork will be forced onto the race bikes and then develop a spring fork with external dummy air-componentry to maintain that facade of “race what we sell” for circumstances like Southwick where a guy who has been winning by 30 seconds regular, finishes 2nd? Honestly; if a “new” technology falters so greatly, creating an undeniable pendulum swing toward the negative, why risk it as a team who’s only goal is to win? I’ve always had a real problem with the factory race team mindset some of these teams have of “race what we sell”, especially when the hardware is less reliable and I certainly can’t wrap my brain around it when it’s a performance loss!

 

SPRING FORKS WERE FINE. SPRING FORKS ARE FINE. ENOUGH WITH THE CHARADE!

 

The thing that really gets me in the nd with these damn air forks is the factories try to push the positives of the air fork when in the end it’s mostly because it’s a cost savings to them and not surprisingly, that savings is not passed on to the consumer at the dealer. Did bike prices come down when air forks went on the prodcution bikes? Shocker.