No, he's right, he said "hasn't been since...", so he's refering to Fusion, Pure and Pulse not featuring an instant kill Plasma.

how deliberately SL put these little grinding opportunities in some of the tracks-- it must have been on purpose, right?
I think they built those little ramps to make things a bit easier for newcomers. While a solid wall would be better to prevent those stupid grinds, it would also stop you dead if you lost your line. The little ramps (and there's lots of them throughout the tracks) on the other hand give you a second chance: React fast enough, win back control over your ship and you won't lose too much time in a race. Also the average gamer would never think of riding those walls for additional BR opportunities, it's way too risky. Unfortunately though, SL should've thought more about the better gamers practicing hard to make the very best out of such "unlucky" track designs, i.e. exploit the game wherever possible. It's just another aspect of Pulse's trying to cater to casual gamers.