By Race Chapman

Viewers of the Red Bull Straight Rhythm at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA, last Saturday had a couple nagging questions as the brackets filled up and the dominant racers trickled through the standings. First, why was a Red Bull video feed for a major event so inconsistent that it dropped for a large contingent of streamers? And second: where were the rest of the racers?

For those who located a reliable feed, the action was actually quite good. There were some big upsets, some thrilling finishes, and a harrowing crash by the infamous "Ronnie Mac." But the way that Red Bull seemed to handle the technical difficulty left many fans frustrated and disappointed.

In fact, for most people the feed was fairly good — right up until the most important part of the night.

As soon as the semifinals were closing up, just before the all-important final rounds, the stream on Red Bull's site died for a lot of people. Whether this was due to an influx of viewers or some other issue was never revealed.

What is even more disappointing, perhaps, is there was an alternative that was never offered on the website. Red Bull seemed to acknowledge that there were issues with the stream, as a message about "technical issues" came up during the downtime but didn't direct viewers to other options. The official Red Bull YouTube channel was streaming the event without errors, presumably because YouTube has a much greater capacity for broadband than does the Red Bull site itself.

Some might find it nitpicking to complain of a dropped feed during a live event. But this was a highly publicized, much-anticipated race. And the fact that no TV coverage was secured this year makes it even more of a disappointment for fans. As racing doesn't have the same "no spoiler" common courtesy as a TV show or movie, fans have a narrow window to watch the event without inadvertently finding out who won.

As for the second question, the gates truly seemed to be rather light for 2017.

Now, that doesn’t mean the event was without some heavy hitters. Former multi-time champion Ryan Villopoto was racing on a two stroke. Fan-favorite Ronnie Mac appeared on his old CR250. Freshly crowned Monster Energy Cup winner Marvin Musquin showed up, along with a slew of various Lites-class racers.

But of the current-day top contenders in the 450 class, it was just Musquin by himself, with his new teammate Broc Tickle there for moral support.

Eli Tomac was absent, which is really no surprise since he's backed by corporate rival Monster Energy and since he suffered a crash in the MEC. Barcia was nowhere to be seen, which can perhaps be chalked up to a lack of experience on his new bike and uncertainty going into the 2018 season. Jason Anderson didn't show, which is a little surprising since he had a good run at the Monster Cup, finishing second. In addition, there was no Blake Baggett (injured) or Dean Wilson, Cole Seely, Justin Bogle, Weston Peick, or Martin Davalos for unknown reasons.

The 250 class had some better competition but was missing some of the top guys including Zach Osbourne, likely to the relief of everyone else. Possibly Osbourne, Anderson, and Wilson were all absent because of the conflicting Rockstar Energy sponsorship for their Husqvarna team.

Marvin Musquin fans would have been excited to have seen his win streak continue and his momentum increase but probably weren't at all surprised. He dominated every head-to-head battle with apparent ease. Only Josh Hansen seemed to be able to keep tabs on him, and it was mostly academic at that point, as Musquin was clearly the superior talent.

In that respect, the 450 class went just about as predictable as it could be. Perhaps the biggest surprise was Hansen knocking off Tickle in the semifinals, but that can be explained by Tickle's short time on the factory KTM Red Bull machine.

Villopoto was involved in what was without a doubt the biggest upset of the evening, as he was knocked out of contention by Gared Steinke in the semifinals. Villopoto's rustiness on the two stroke was apparent, as he was clearly caught off guard by the power band and different handling characteristics on more than one occasion. He nearly crashed in the second matchup with Steinke, which gave away any hope of advancing.

Unfortunately for Villopoto, that wasn't the last upset for him. In the consolation match, Ryan Sipes was also able to best the former champ, despite Villopoto winning the first battle in the best of three.

Ronnie Mac had supporters buzzing with excitement, as the redneck caricature advanced all the way to final matchup against Gared Steinke. But sadly, Ronnie Mac hit the dirt hard in the first race, costing him the first round. After a slow walk back to the starting line, he clearly didn't have the same gusto in round two, and Steinke won the $10,000 prize.

Enzo Lopes, a rookie in the Pro class, had perhaps the closest photo finish of any Straight Rhythm race in the event's short history. While battling Sean Cantrell in the first round, Lopes' win came down to 0.004 of a second at the line. Despite this close victory, Cantrell was able to win two of three over Lopes and advance.

Ryan Sipes took his two stroke 250 to the consolation round against Alex Martin in the four-stroke dominated class, but the Red Bull rider was too fast for him and earned third place.

Shane McElrath was putting on a scrubbing clinic in the finals against Sean Cantrell, and was able to best Cantrell in the first and third races, giving him the overall win. Cantrell kept him honest, and even won the second race, but didn't quite have the speed to make it happen at the end.

Overall, the event was fun for fans and held some exciting back-and-forth battles. The quick, bracket format is easily digestible for new fans and seems like it would be well-suited to TV broadcast. Plus, it's always great to have more racing and more prizes available to racers. And the Straight Rhythm is a fairly low-pressure event, at least relative to the Supercross and Pro Motocross events the guys are used to, which makes things more lighthearted.

But the dropped feed and lower turnout of talent presents a worrisome image for the event. And it seems that some teams are becoming uninterested in risking their racers' health on an event that doesn't have championship implications, which is an understandable viewpoint.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of the Red Bull Straight Rhythm going forward — if there will even be one.

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