Reed - Canard

A lot of axe grinding going on by both sides tonight.

Initial contact was just a racing incident. No, Reed did not cross lines mid-air. He was simply protecting the inside. He had no way of knowing Canard - behind him - had committed to the same line. He most likely suspected Trey might try for the inside but as the guy in front you are certainly allowed to, and expected, to protect or even block any line you choose to. Just bad luck on the timing of each riders moves.

Trey rolled the dice and came up short. Was it reckless? Depends on your racing strategy, but if you want to move forwards you have to take risks somewhere. It was a relatively low-speed / low-air obstacle.

Reed's retaliation was dumb but certainly understandable. I think that again it was just bad timing that Trey took a hand off the bars at that moment. I doubt Reed thought it would end up looking so bad.

Deserve a black flag? Depends on how you like them to race ... but the AMA was probably looking down the road and trying to send a message that they were not going to see things turn into a take-out fest. ( Although the flagger pulled the trigger fairly fast. Maybe they were already under orders to squelch any incidents? )

Bad luck for Reed that what should have been a hard bump ended up looking much worse.

Will be interested to see the interviews after both Reed and Canard have seen the video of it.

Flame away!