What The Hill Do We Do Now?

I feel like the more I write for the Troy Dog squad, the more we all get to know one another again. I am going to be honest: it’s the shortest off-season ever and I am running short on topics that I want to rant about. Like, I can rant about anything, but will you care, and will Slaw approve of said rant? Probably not. For instance, I wanted my name to be T-Raw Dog, but for some reason it did not make it past the HR department.

Anyway, thankfully you do not have to read about the rant I have about that because some interesting news dropped last Friday regarding the SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda team, Broc Tickle, and Justin Hill. 

I do not want to speak for everyone here, but I thought Hill was married to SmarTop/Bullfrog Spas/MotoConcepts Honda for 2021. Yet here we are in mid-November and they have seemingly split faster than a Britney Spears marriage.

Do you kids even understand that reference? She was married for 55 hours in 2004, just Google it. It’s Britney bitch.

Anyway, back to Hill. After a decent season and his best as a 450 rider to date, it is a little strange that MCR and Hill would not try to build from the season that was. 

As always, there are two sides to every story, and we will not ever have the entire story. Was Hill the difficult one to work with or was MotoConcepts? Maybe it was like the Malcolm Stewart situation and Hill wanted more money as team manager Tony Alessi admitted on the PulpMX Show two weeks ago. Either way, shit went sideways and the two decided not to work together in 2021.

Hill is an extremely talented rider and is capable of being an elite 450 talent. He literally got a 450 ride from one heat race featuring a badass quad jump in Tampa in 2018.

With MCR announcing last Friday that they have signed Broc Tickle they have an entire new team for next season. Actually, one rider remains, and it is none other than Weston Peick’s best friend Vince Friese. MCR Honda has only one rule. What is it you ask? Friese stays. 

Oh, and poor Tickle, man. He gets passed around these teams more than… [HR has cut this line, but you can imagine what it was]. I would hire Broc if I had a team. He is a seasoned veteran with some great testing knowledge. He can put in some great results along the way, as evident by his sixth place at the final Salt Lake City round and fourth at Loretta Lynn’s II.

You have to wonder how many top tens and fives that Tickle could have put in over the two-year suspension he had to serve. That Red Bull KTM was looking so great for him and then boom, his world is turned upside down. Tickle’s had a long way back and he’s fought some huge adversity. I figured he’d be too old and not able to find the speed when he came back and I was wr..wro…wrong. 

So now that Tick has the Hill spot on MotoConcepts he’s probably going to win a main event this year. Kidding, unless it happens then I told you so. This leaves Hill out in the cold like he’s Frosty the Snowman. However, he’s posting a butt ton of Instabangers from his home track, so I think he is going to become a freerider and social media influencer. You know…like our boy Slay! 

Our options for Hill in the 450 class are slim. It’s either he joins my HEP Motorsports Suzuki squad or gets his own bike and privateer effort together. Methinks the HEP ride would be a better decision. One, he gets to be teammates with Troy Dog and two, he gets to race a factory Suzuki again. That is right, WE are assuming our role as the #1 Suzuki squad in the entire world. 

Keep an eye out for the HEP Suzuki press release this week. Will Hill be on it? Or could it be Savatgy? If all goes to plan it will be a four-rider squad and a Troy Dog. 

Main image: MotoConcepts

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Written by Troy Dog

Faster than Slaw Dog. Editor-in-Chief

Unseen: Dean Wilson & Xtreme Team Green

Joey Savatgy, Justin Bogle to Rocky Mountain ATV/MC-WPS-KTM