It's strange to me that Stewart is skipping one of the biggest races of the year. Something if fishy here.
This is a race that doesn't really mean anything, no points for anything, just the money and bragging rights neither of which are probably of any interest to Stewart. All he can do is lose so to speak so why show up. I'm kind of surprised that any of the top five would show up for this, good way to get yourself hurt and ruin the whole SX season. .
Seems like a great way to test their race setup in real race conditions as opposed to the practice track. And the benefit is that if you screw it all up, it doesn't cost you anything in terms of points, so it seems strange not to do it. Why wait until A1 to find out your setup is not as good as it could be? I think Stewart in particular could benefit from this since this would be his first SX on the 'zuk.
You're right, it can work either way but I think a lot of the top guys see it as a risk more than a testing opportunity. Be interesting to see if Carnard shows up, he is doing some local races. .
While it is not part of any championship it is a high profile race with lots of media attention. I am surprised Stewart's sponsors allow him to stay home.
He probably wanted a fat pile of money from his sponsors to race it, and Suzuki has made clear they had no more money for 2012.
http://stream.speedtv.com/monster-energy-cup link for watching on computer. http://stream.speedtv.com/monster-energy-cup starts at 3:30 eastern time
Musquin and Roczen are out for the Cup. Both are recovering from surgery, had some old hardware removed. From KTM. The KTM Junior Supercross Challenge will be back at a few races this year. That is cool. Always fun to watch. I'm sure someone has a Stewart joke for this.
I'm surprised Bubba's not racing either. I watched a video interview with him and he said he was doing a lot of testing, so he's obviously riding a lot. Sorta strange he wouldn't be at this high profile race. Seems like that is his MO lately though... shows up for a few races, then vanishes for awhile, and then comes back later. I don't have high hopes for him this season. I think he'll be fast as hell, but then something will happen (probably a bad crash) and he'll be out again. He's made his millions so probably doesn't care either way.
I'm actually surprised any top guys are running it.Its not a points race,is a made for TV track/race and comes at a time when Stewart,Villopoto and Reed are all coming off injuries.Not sure about Canard.I'll watch it because I'm a race fan,but I'm not a fan of Supercross in general.JMHO.
But wouldn't it be good for RED BULL if one of their riders (Bubba) won the million dollar event put on by their rival Monster Energy? I guess we won't find out though because Bubba decided to stay home.
hE might win the million, but it's definitely good advertising for the competition to have him there.
