The AMA gave the Stark a place to race and only a few people are showing up. I can't blame the AMA for not giving a crap about them. Motocross/Supercross is about 90% hardcore redneck and they don't want them. I wouldn't be surprised if Stark quits making MX bikes and focuses on woods bikes and people doing wheelies in the city. The best advancement they could make in the MX world is to get them running on diesel. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to roll coal with your dirt bike!!!11!
That's an interesting vid, a peak into a possible future.
First, I think that's great that the AMA did that for Arenacross, both the electric class and the clash for cash (non-point scoring race mixing electrics with ICE). But they've communicated on this maybe 2 weeks before the start of the championship so you can't reasonably expect to have too many riders show up. Currently it's more like an initiation to electrics for riders from the main pro class. It's terrific to see Hicks winning both the ICE and electrics class and lapping at very similar pace on his Yamaha and on his Stark.
Another point that really gets lost in this kind of conversation is that obviously, electrics as a spectator sports would not appeal to a huge fraction of current fans (rightfully) addicted to noise and vibrations of ICE. I love electric bikes and even for me it's weird, because it's different, it's new.
But the more interesting question (to me at least) is: could getting rid of deafening noise broaden the appeal of the sport, could it bring more families, crossover with MTB crowd is obvious, what will younger generations (more and more learning to ride on electrics) think about it? They will never miss the smell of 2T because they have not really been exposed to it, would they miss the ear shattering 4T?
In the end what the kids make of it matters most than what us old farts think of it. They get to decide what the future of the sport will be, not us.
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