This is great news. Can Feld, the AMA, and Fox Sports use these signs of increased exposure and interest to raise standards and run the operation more like the major motorsport it is becoming? They need to:
1. Improve track design, prep, and maintenance to provide more racing potential and especially less hazardous conditions for riders. Dirt bike racing will always be dangerous and injury-prone, but they can and should do better.
2. Hire better producers on the TV side. The between-races segments, except for the taped features, are usually amateur hour quality. Ralph and Jeff are going to be the announcing team for now, and while they aren't great, they have strengths. During the races, all too often the broadcast becomes fixated on a race for 7th place while a battle for the lead emerges and is missed. I watch top notch racing broadcasts, and I watch local short track ones done on a shoestring. The biggest difference is made off camera in the production booth, having eyes on different parts of the track and knowing when to cut to something else. This is still lacking.
3. Increase payouts through the field and encourage a deeper pool of teams and riders.
There are also more complex issues that are harder to solve. The 450 class seems quite thin right now, and much of that is that 250 riders who would be competitive at the top level are held back either because not enough top rides are available, or because it is easier to make good money running in the top three in the 250s than running 10th in the 450s. There is something out of whack with how the two classes are conceived. IMO the top class should be far and away the priority, and the lower class should be for development. I'm not exactly sure how to make it work better, but 250 class stars who have been stars for multiple seasons should not be racing there anymore.
