“Cooksey’s Hard Truth” presented by Scott Sports is a weekly editorial written by Chris Cooksey. Throughout the year, Chris will be diving in and out of controversial subjects and bringing you his hard truth about the racing and the riders from around the world of Supercross and Motocross.
For me, going back to Glendale was much like Ken Roczen returning to A2. Last year in my budding media career I unwittingly found myself going viral as Ryan Dungey pointed and aggressively said those famous words: “There was no crown.” I was trying to ask Eli Tomac and Chad Reed if they felt overlooked after Ken Roczen was injured and no longer able to complete the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross series. Media members and pundits everywhere were crowning Dungey Champion all week. DMXS opened their podcast by talking about how fun the series was while it lasted. Unfortunately, Reed thought I was asking if they were relieved Ken wouldn’t be competing against them anymore. As I tried correcting Reed and explaining what I actually meant, Dungey jumped in with his now famous line.
In 2017, the post race press conferences were raw and not something riders and media were used too. Like many things in life, people adapt. The riders are now ready to answer real questions, and media members like myself are better at phrasing questions. In all the major professional sports, the stars of the sport are made available to the media through press conferences. While some athletes might not enjoy these question and answer sessions, they are essential for giving the ticket buying fans insight into their favorite athletes’ personalities; Supercross is no different. My job is to uncover the storylines that already exist and bring light to the struggles and triumphs of these racers.
Adam Cianciarulo is the Supercross media darling. Adam has a charisma that is undeniable, he is very likable and self deprecating at the same time. Adam is a fierce competitor with his helmet on, but not far from a stand up comedian with a mic. At one point, he actually asked for harder questions, at which point I decided to ask him about his concussion at A2 last week–which he denies having even though he cannot remember any details after the accident–and why he raced.
With the new culture in these press conferences, real questions are welcomed as the new normal. As he tried explaining the decision to race, he only reaffirmed the poor concussion protocol and lack of knowledge known about Traumatic Brain Injury inside the Supercross community. I talked to Adam after the press conference to let him know I meant no ill will with the question and that I was only trying to bring light to outdated concussion protocol, and he understood my intentions were good. I had a pretty good little interview with the charismatic rider and I was really excited to post the interview… except I never hit record! Maybe I have a concussion! Arrrgggghh!
Justin Barcia continues his career resurgence, and if it wasn’t for Ken Roczen’s superhuman return, Barcia would be story of the year. Last week, I thought the Barcia train might have derailed as his results were more like 2017 than the first couple rounds of 2018. In addition to his poor performance, “Bam Bam” was back. Barcia had a very public shouting match with his Yamaha teammate Cooper Webb. Justin didn’t flinch when I asked him how their relationship was currently. In fact, he addressed the incident and even apologized to Ken Roczen and Eli Tomac for things he might have done to them in the past. It was a funny moment and proof that steering into and owning your mistakes is the best way to rebound from them. It is refreshing to see these riders not acting like robots and talking in clichés.
The sport of Supercross is fueled by superstars, and the more these guys open themselves up off the track, the more invested fans will be in them on the track. These guys are more than a bunch of sensitive “snowflakes,” they are warriors who put life and limb on the line every time they line up. It’s nice to see them opening up and not taking everything personal. Not every rider can be as charismatic as Adam Cianciarulo, but if they show us their authentic selves, they will gain in popularity. Supercross is just a bunch dirt bike riders going around a track if we don’t know a rider’s story and background. Fans want a story; they need to either cheer for or against specific personalities. Storylines don’t need to be fabricated, just uncovered. A year after the “crown” incident, tough questions are not met with fiery anger. The riders are using the questions to tell their story and it’s refreshing.
In this era of social media team managers, agents and man friends, team representatives and riders need to understand they can no longer manipulate the information that is released to the Supercross public. When they tell the public only they want them to believe, most of the time we can see right through it. This isn’t 1985 where we had to wait a week for Cycle News magazine to be delivered in order to find out who won last week’s race. Today’s world is a big fishbowl and everything has been filmed, posted and shared almost instantly. The best way to spin a positive response is to acknowledge the truth and steer into it, rather than telling us what we just saw didn’t really happen, own it!
