ASK THE MXPERTS: I NOTICE THAT MXA NEVER SAYS "LITES" WHAT'S THE REASON?
Dear MXA,
As an avid reader I notice lots of things when browsing through magazines and websites. One of the things that I have noticed, and I'm sure most people missed, is that MXA never uses the term "Lites" when it refers to the 250 class (in the magazine or the website). It is always the "250 West," "250 East" or "250 National Championship." It doesn't bother me, but it is obvious that MXA has gone to some strides to expunge "Lites" from the language. Why?
We find it hard to encourage or endorse stupidity. One of the stupidest legacies from the reign of the previous AMA regime was their changing the names of the 250 and 450 classes to "Motocross" and "Motocross Lites" and "Supercross" and "Supercross Lites." The result is confusing press releases that say, "At the Anaheim Supercross Josh Grant won his first-ever Supercross race." Of course Grant has won the 250 class several times before, so, in truth, Anaheim wasn't his first Supercross victory, it was his first 450 Supercross victory. Calling a class by the sport's name leads to such gems as, "James Stewart Wins Houston Supercross Supercross class."
Our goal, with MXA, is to make things as clear as possible for the readers. We think that 250 West, 250 East and 450 Supercross work a lot better than the "AMA Western Regional Supercross Lites Class." Not only do our simple numerical names define the class, but they allow the reader to draw a mental picture of what bike the rider is on.
The good news is that the AMA outdoor National organizers have dropped the stupid AMA ordained names and replaced them with "AMA 250 National Championship" and "AMA 450 National Championship." Kudos.
We never expected the Supercross promoters to be enlightened enough to change the names...and they didn't. We also don't believe that they will change them in the future either. As for the public, they can call the classes whatever they like--but MXA will never call the classes "Supercross, Supercross Lites, Motocross or Motocross Lites." It is wrong. It doesn't help the sport and, if you knew the real reason why the AMA braintrust chose the names in the first place, you would understood what a bunch of tools they were.
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