This is the discussion I recently had with Red Bull rider Chris Birch regarding the number of, and who entries came from, for the Red Bull City Scramble that is on next week (or on May 31 if your reading this later). Of all the entries he has received for the event, which is over 50 already, all but none have come from MX riders that he knows of. No offence intended but of all the disciplines of off-road racing, Endurocross would have to be up there with SX in the ‘look at me’ factor, so we figured at least a hand full of entries might come from the MX fraternity – but sadly not. In fact, while testing the Husky TXC450 at Leighton’s up in Auckland, this deputy editor overheard a very fast Ethan Martins say there is no way he was going to ride the City Scramble because ‘I’d get wasted man!’ 

Is that the problem – are MX riders not interested because they don’t think they can win? It’s pretty common knowledge that this editor runs with the Enduro crowd more often than not. But it should also be noted that I’ve attended and raced the NZ MX nationals for the last five years straight. I’ve also raced SX, Cross Country, Trials, and done a bit of Supermoto, but that tar stuff doesn’t really count. A jack of all trades so to speak, and before you say a master of none, I do have a NZ National Enduro title to my name. 

It’s tough work being a top level MX rider and usually your not at the top for very long as a younger keener version is snapping at your heels. Maybe, due to contract stuff, they can’t ride, maybe it’s not a priority event and have something else on. Or maybe it really isn’t there thing. A few people who come to mind that don’t care what discipline they are doing, and ride because it’s awesome to ride and not just for the glory would be people like Paul Whibley, Jason Davis, Karl Power, Adrian Smith or Rory Mead, just to name a select few. All regularly do Enduro, Cross Country, MX, and pretty much anything that involves two wheels and dirt. All, coincidently I might add are Enduro based riders too. I was well surprised to see, at the last TT-R Enduro, Nick Franklin line up to get punished all day. Good on you mate.

There are three groups who miss out here, those riding in the City Scramble, those watching the City Scramble and those who have decided it’s not their thing? Those who are willing to give it a go also miss out on banging bars with the elite MX riders of NZ. There is just something cool about being on the same track as one of the best riders in NZ and letting him pass you at full clip and seeing if they have the skill to tackle logs, rocks and water holes. Spectators also miss out – this will be a huge spectator attraction. Hello – Downtown Auckland city. And then there are those who for, whatever reason, decided not to come for a play. Man do they miss out on one of the coolest things to happen to motorcycling in NZ for a long time. 

Truth be told – I’d be pretty surprised if a top level MX rider couldn’t hold his own on the Endurocross track. You boys have far more skill that reaches out much further than just having the ability do go round and round really, really fast. 

But hey, that’s just my opinion from where I’m sitting and I don’t mean to hurt anyone’s (you know who you are) feelings. As well as featuring a TXC450 which can be seen on this month’s cover, we also have write-ups on Stefan Merriman’s WR450, the Suzuki DR-Z400, Polaris Outlaw 525, a full Australian 4 Day Enduro and Junior MX National reports. Not to mention the Farm Jam, a Levi Sherwood interview, the Project Bike, How To’s, big kids section, man the list goes one. So stop listening to me ramble on, get amongst some of these seriously dirty pages and I’ll see you at the City Scramble. 

Chris