Scott Motosports: Swizcorner: “Waning Energy Cup”

 

Remember when the first running of the Monster Energy Cup came around? It was like the Superbowl of Motocross for the first time, all over again. The excitement surrounding the event was insane! It was supposed to be a super prestigious, invite-only event which would combine the best of Supercross and upscale the obstacles, send the riders out of the stadium into a more “roots of motocross” section of race track, which also worked as a lure to get top stars of the GP series to come over for the event. It all sounded so good.

 

We saw a few falters in that inaugural year. It didn’t really draw the GP stars, the outside “motocrossy” section never really had much of a chance of filling that description (and it didn’t) but all in all, the event really was special and served it’s intended role; as a revamped US Open and the Million dollar prize being doled out in the events inception was a real kicker.

 

Since that initial year, the event has continued to deliver on what it represents itself to be, with the exception of 2016. In my opinion anyway.

 

There are a few issues at play here that I feel add up to the 2016 MEC being a real party pooper for me. First is the elephant in the room which every fan is thinking about and oddly not many industry folks are considering… James Stewart’s apparent self-imposed exile from the public eye and nary a word on his 2017 plans. It’s the black veil over the sport as a whole. What the hell has been going on with him since his 2015 suspension and is he going to go out like a mouse or bounce back with an honest fight? There were of course other top guys who were absent from the event but lets be honest, James Stewart is still the enigma that puts butts in seats and draws eyes to living room screens like no other.

 

The second most glaring thing about this years MEC that kind of turned me off to it was that damn atmospheric starting gate. When I heard about it, I went “Huh?” When I saw it I thought, “Hmmm”. Then when I saw how much effort was put into promoting that fearture I immediately thought of Fonzi jumping the shark on Happy Days. That elevated start was such a gimmick. It wasn’t cool, crazy or interesting. It’s the kind of idea the head honcho of a company with only the bottomline in mind thinks up and thinks it is just an incredible idea and his minions don’t want to be the guy who tells the boss it’s dumb, so it comes to fruition. All the time, the people making it happen just hope no one calls a spade a spade. Well I’m here to say, that start was dumb. And I say that as a guy who has always thought the Joker Lane was an interesting concept.

 

There’s no doubt that all the added races to the calendar year as a whole in 2016 has definitely had an impact on the “specialness” of these one-off races like the Monster Cup. I can’t imagine how the racers feel who have lined up from the majority of these races since the Nationals wrapped up. As a simple spectator and fan, I feel exhausted! Lets stick to the basics, 17 SX, 12 MX, MXdN, Monster Cup, break….. That is PLENTY!

 

I think we can all agree that the night is just too long as well. Too much time passes between Cup-class races and that’s a kiss of death. We don’t need to see Supermini’s out there.

 

The most interesting thing coming into the Monster Energy Cup this year was to see Ken Roczen on his new Honda and if he was jiving with it already or had some bugs to work out. To a lesser extent we also wanted to see if Eli Tomac had begun finding synergy with his Kawasaki. While Eli defnitely looked much improved on his Kawi, it’s clear, everybody had better be bringing their A game to A1 because with less than a month under his Red-belt, Ken Roczen looks to already be polishing his A+ game.