................................
from the editor
................................
going down to the wire
I had ear-marked this editorial to talk
about the Supercross, which since
the departure of Ryan Villopoto has
been as-good-as in the hands of
Ryan Dungey weeks ahead of the
finale. After Ken Roczen’s crash
I was in the camp of “season’s
over, Dungey’s gonna walk it”. But
man, was I wrong. We’ve had one
of the most closely-fought title
scraps I can remember – and with
any luck it’ll go right down to the
wire. Kawasaki’s Eli Tomac fought
back from a tough start to the year
to gradually reel in and overturn
Dungey’s substantial lead with a
couple of races to go. It’s the close
to a season we’ve been dreaming of
but it’s ruined my editorial!
So if you can grab a pen and delete
as appropriate, I’ve found a way
to be on the right side of history:
Congrats to [ Ryan Dungey / Eli
Tomac ] on snatching the title after
one of the best seasons of racing
I’ve seen. Commiserations to [
Dungey / Tomac ] on just missing
out!
Whatever the outcome, it’s been a
herculean effort from Tomac and
the usual display of measured class
from Dungey. We can only hope
2018’s championship manages to
cause me the same problems.
On the mag side of things, within
these pages we have Simon Makker
checking in for frank chats with
Levi Sherwood and cover star Matt
Jones (who you can win a day riding
with and an awesome Marin trails
bike on page 86). Michael Laverty
spoke to TT legend Ian Hutchinson
and Jeff made his way to the Alps
for DC’s Hit & Run. We also saw
what it’s like to make a last-minute
dash to a tattoo festival and spoke
to Sam Reynolds about DarkFEST.
I also took my family to Vienna’s
leg of Masters of Dirt to see just
how family-friendly a show with dirt
bikes, lots of fire and under-dressed
girls hanging from the rafters could
be. Spoiler alert: it was a blast.
Much love,
The 2017 season is now in full flow,
with the MotoGP, F1, Supercross
and MXGP keeping me busy every
Sunday. I really want to talk to you
about how awesome they’ve been
so far, but – thanks to the magic of
print deadlines - my views are going
to be at best three weeks out of
date. So as much of a clairvoyant
as I might fancy myself, I’m no more
accurate than a Magic 8-Ball at this
point.