Does anyone else want to weigh in on Jason Lawrence? At this point the J-Law scenario has been discussed to death. Every pundit has said their piece, from rival racers, to retired racers, to fans, to industry types, everyone has said what they wanted to say about Jason. We just keep throwing more logs on the fire, and everyone basically says the same thing: "He's such a talented racer/love him or hate him he brings something unique to the sport/who are the people surrounding him? etc etc etc"
There's a reason everything he does is getting discussed to death, a reason everything keeps getting rehashed. The racing is boring this year. And for that, I kind of feel bad for the guy. In a normal year, the J-Law drama wouldn't get as much attention as it is getting right now, but this is no normal year. No one is battling, and hence, we've all turned to the off track stuff to find some drama.
The top topics getting buzz in this sport right now are J-Law and silly season contracts. And why not? Not only are Stewart and Villopoto destroying people, but we're really not seeing much racing even behind that. Over the last two weeks, the only real battling up front came in the second Lites moto, and this weekend that battle was a race for second. What's more, we could all be banking this year as a warm up for Stewart v. Villopoto 2009, but for whatever reason, that's not bringing the hype like 2004, which was a warm up for Carmichael v. Stewart 2005.
After watching the pre-show we put together on Saturday, I realized what we are up against. Lawrence became the main topic of the show, because there are no other topics to choose from. If this were last year, when Carmichael and Stewart were still battling, and Villopoto was squaring off with Ben Townley in the Lites class, the Lawrence thing may not have led off the show. Yes, Jason Lawrence created his own destiny, but unfortunately for him, no one else has created anything else to help shadow it.
Monday, July 7
The Real Action
Posted by Jason Weigandt at 11:04 AM
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15 Comments:
Weege... what's your take on training flaggers at current race tracks... I'm pretty sure after watching the Alessi crash at RB... people will want to know... should volunteers really be the answer to saving our riders or would payed trained flaggers be better suited for the job?
Everyone needs to take a deep "breathe".... and regroup to take another swing at Lawrence. No, seriously, the next big story will be when Stewart gets hurt and the likes of Short, Ferry and Hamblin battle for the championship.
Man, it is boring.
In the video did you see the flagger through his flag?.....then moved the bike. Leaving Mikie totally exposed. How did the flagger know there wasnt 4 guys down in the first turn that were about to come charging down the hill and hit him again. F the bike protect the rider. Then he walked over to Mike looked at him, and got off the track and just stood there. (Probably scared) at least Nobody touched him until the Doc got there. Maybe a training video, seriously like a CPR class. Watch the video and take a flagger class get a card, renue the card every two years, I dont know?? Like most situations its easy to sit back and evaluate, actually being there "in the moment" is totally different.
throw
I told you I spell like a second grader!!
As a former impromptu flagger at both the High Point and Steel City Nationals, I can without doubt say there is no such thing as a "Volunteer" flagger.
Timmy Coombs and his mom, Rita had to bend over backwards to ensure that there would be adequate coverage for every event, not just the Nationals. There were signing bonuses, food and lodging, and the occasional cash advance just to make sure there were enough to show up and work the Event.
The flaggers at Racer Production events (and MX Sports) are generally locals who know every inch of the track as well as anyone. The idea of Professional Flaggers would be an undue cost on the promoters and the AMA or DMG with questionable return on their investment.
Some flaggers are more Track Aware than others, no matter where you are. The heat and the mind-numbing parade of bikes and the Thumper Hum can dull even the best.
Flaggers are an essential part of American Motorcycle racing, from the outlaw local Track to the heights of a Pro National Weekend.
Mistakes are made everyday, unfortunately, but running off the locals that work for $75 and a hot dog for a 14-hour day would be an even bigger one.
Also, congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.
Jason Frame
Former Racer Productions Employee
Okay... I would say there is not enough talk about Jason Lawerance.
So far we have two very short stories on racerxill.com
That's it.... Everything else if from?
Where is the AMA press release or ruling? Where is the YoT press release or press conference? Why aren't the journalists hitting this story hard.
If you don't research the story and provide the public with information all we have is idiots like bobbyM talking. God knows we need alot less of that an more facts from guys like you, guys we trust.
Weege... Can't thank you for your insight. But I'm super-pumped about the perfect storm of Villopoto/Stewart in 2009. yea i went there.
With JLaw out at least Brownie has a ride for the rest of the year.
Jason Freaking Frame?!?!?!?!!?!?!?! Where the heck have you been??!?!?!?!
Wow, that was quite the opus, Jason.
As for the flaggers, you can't blame them for the Alessi deal. This crash happened on the very first lap of the second moto, in fact, the very first jump. By the time the entire pack had launched off the ski jump, Alessi was already down. There was no way any amount of flagging could have helped.
Jason Frame>
That was such a fake response from the Octopus, it makes me want to toss my royal cookies!
Moto King may have to rip it apart in Real Racerhead this Friday on Racetime.
MK=LFM!
Anonymous (On not enough Lawrence stories),
Excellent point. The problem is that message boards have become media in our sport, and for that matter, probably in many others. So when BobbyM and the boys on MotoTalk and what not go on and on all weekend, it looks like the story has been beaten to death.
We reported on it as soon as we knew what was going on, I posted a breaking news on the RX site, and I posted here, and we ran with it on the Racer X Motocross show. Within a few hours of that, every person with internet access and a desire to share their opinion on a board had done it.
I supposed I'm as guilty as anyone for deciding that a few breaking news posts and a weekend of internet chatter was really "coverage" of the story. Worse yet, this is Jason Lawrence, which means everyone was already following the deal based on his previous actions, and, since his reputation is already pretty well known, it wasn't like we had people asking for us to cover it up.
Good point.
As for the AMA PR and YoT PR, our sport is still so far into the dark ages of press that not only did they not make a statement or send out a press release, but no one even expected it, either. Sad but true.
Jason,
So how does motocross press get out of the dark ages?
Anonymous (last question),
Apparently, motocross press has stepped out of the dark ages, because the AMA finally did issue a press release, and J-Law sent out a statement.
That's a lot better.
I think your blogging is helping for that to happen. Thanks!
you guys say "dark ages" like it's a bad thing. wtf is up with that? [winky smiley emoticon]
I can't believe Jason Frame posted here. I know, it seems odd for a flagger to write such an articulate opus, but that's the way that guy is. I lived with Frame for a few months back in the Summer of '04. Racer Productions moved Frame into my old company apartment while I "experimented" living with an ex girlfriend, and then when the ex became my ex officially, I had to move back in. So Frame and I became roomates. The dude would watch CNN all day until Timmy Coombs would come rumbling down the hill in his Big Black Dodge truck, and off they would go for their day's work. One day it was haybale stuff at High Point, the next day it was trash collection, the next day they were up at Steel City working on the start gate. Man, the stories Timmy and his crew have would top anything you or I could come up with.
So that was Frame's deal. At the end of the day we'd end up out on the porch talking politics and science, and the next day I would go to my office job and he would go back to the grunt work. It was strange, but you really never know who is capable of what in this world.
Like that time I was sleeping and Frame and a bunch of other track crew guys came in with some girls....
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