Troy Dog
Notice that this column now has a sponsor? That’s right! Troy Dog joined the Blu Cru and you should too! I have one in my garage right now and I can’t wait to go shred it! Thank you to Yamaha for believing in my ELITE columns on this dirt bike website enough to sponsor me. What a dream come true! BTW: Have you seen the all-new YZ450F? OH. MY. GOODNESS. I can’t wait to test that bad boy.
With all of the talk of the FIM World Supercross Championship the past two years, it’s hard to believe that we’ve only seen two rounds. That’s not a bad thing, as Adam Bailey told me last October that they were going to start with a soft launch to see how everything worked and have 2023 be the first legit year for WSX.
So far, it’s been a ton of hype as far as the purse announcements, to the official team announcements, to the actual rider announcements, then the Chad Reed announcement. It’s basically been a corporate company’s dream. We are going to have meetings about meetings, but yet nothing is actually getting accomplished. Well, now all of the talking stops and the racing begins THIS WEEKEND in Birmingham. I’m excited and I hope the WSX Championship is here to stay for the duration of forever.
The coolest part for me is that I don’t have to travel to any of these races. I can just sit at home and watch and I get paid the big bucks to report on what I see from the event and talk to the riders involved. They get to do all the fun traveling and I can just not get lost in airports. It’s a win-win. The more racing opportunities for everyone the better off the sport will be. The amount of money that is up for grabs is the highest payout that this sport has ever seen. The guys over at WSX are who we have to thank for that.
I like the inclusiveness of WSX. I like that you have to be an official team and that each team must field four riders and two per class. It’s different and if you’re a WSX athlete then you have a bit of clout. If you’re a guy who doesn’t have much support in America, you can be a WSX factory or private team rider and make a lot of money.
The only downside to WSX at the moment is the amount of rounds as well as how spread out the rounds are. None of these riders are going to be able to build any momentum until maybe the last half of the season. These first two rounds are spread out more than Slaw Dog’s bun and we won’t see these guys race until the end of September. Yet, the upside is that this series will prove very beneficial for the SX only guys. They will jump straight from WSX to AMA Supercross and be really fresh after a Christmas break.
I’m not sure how these teams are figuring out the logistics on shipments or how they feel comfortable sending their race bikes to uncharted areas, but that’s not on me. I hope that we see a sellout crowd in Vancouver and Abu Dhabi. If you asked all of the WSX riders to point out where Abu Dhabi is on a map I don’t think any of them would be able to figure it out. Cade Clason would probably point to South America and try to convince you that he’s right. Either way, let’s get Supercross on the map and figure out what areas work and what areas don’t. On top of that, these riders are going to see parts of the world that they may not see otherwise.
This is an exciting era for this sport and it’s been cool to see riders get the opportunities to continue their careers. Some of them are getting their first experience with a team and it’s a dream come true for them. We are all lucky to have more racing on the schedule and each series has a great range of riders. If everything continues to grow on this path through the next five years then we could potentially see significant growth for the sport on a global scale.
I for one, am all for that.
Main image: World SX
