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How can one team get track modified to their liking year after year? Even Hunter send his message after qualifying.
There were a lot of people jumping through the whoops last night. I am not sure they were easy given the conditions.
Come on man.... that doesn't fit the narrative.
You know we never actually landed a man on the moon either!
Although he has supposedly been doing this for years, it’s BS. Why does no one tell RD to pipe down and just manage the team? Earlier poster is correct - no one person should have that much say so. Nick Saban doesn’t get to choose game officials for each game and influence how games are officiated to benefit his team. Only in SuperMotoFreestyleMonsterCross is this allowed and everyone just seems to bend at the knee anytime the old geezer is unhappy.
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That would mean they would actually have to be journalist and not just lifetime bros of the industry and from the outside looking in they are one of those more than they other.
Can’t remember what lap but somewhere in the 3-5 min to go range (approximately) Cooper got pretty close to sideways and looked like he was heading off the track through the whoops. He didn’t hit the deck but that would have been the last step in what looked like a crash sequence to me. I wish Chase could have saved his mistake too. I was hoping for some last lap action like we had in the 250 main.
Speculation and rumer become gospel?
Decoster must be banished and Webb must surrender his points.
Guys could make up quite a bit of time jumping the quad in Houston.
The whoops last night were fine. There was no reason to remove a few of them.
Risk vs Reward.
They're the best riders in the world. The tracks should be challenging.
"They pretty much have a template for every other obstacle."
That's one more reason why whoops should be tough and challenging.
Ding ding ding. I love this sport so much but my pet peeve is the lack of real journalism. No one asks the difficult questions
so if a man has influence, and works the angles to his benefit, he should be denigrated?
if a man works hard to win, this is a bad thing?
being a badass and still delivering is just plain wrong?
... all you haters sound like a bunch of jealous girls.
Again. I am not saying they should not be tough and challenging.
Yes they were fine last night. But how bad could they have been if not modified?
With things like this, you have to view their reputation and history of reporting. Steve at Pulp works for reputable and large companies in this sport so he doesn’t just make up narratives for the sake of clicks like other YouTube “reporters” can and do. His brand also relies on him being accurate. This isn’t a Webb hater thing, Matthes and Webb are friendly with each other. This claim isn’t being made because Webb won.
What you also have to understand is that with a large audience, saying which team exactly was upset about Roger requesting the change only creates unnecessary backlash from people claiming “they’re just hater ass bitches” and could possibly alienate Steve from getting any information from the aforementioned team because all it does it cause needless and unwarranted backlash. Look at it already in this thread. “Coop didn’t win because the whoops were changed, here come the haters!!”
From a personal standpoint, if I was a team that had a rider that was happy with the track and benefited from the difficult aspects and a single team manager requested and successfully got the track changed that took away my riders advantage, I would also be a bit upset. A bit strange and frustrating if RD really does, single handedly, have this much pull; to change a track for his riders liking. Saying which team or team member was angry adds nothing to the story because one man changing the track is the story. Not which team was angry about the track change.
Commy
Your reply perfectly illustrates the point that I'm getting at. When Matthes (or any other journalist for that matter) tweets something that is at this point, pure speculation, it then turns into people speculating, which isn't fair to DeCoster or Cooper Webb. Is it fair for Matthes to name Roger DeCoster but not name the team who is making the claim? If Matthes has some meat to his claim, then he should flesh it out so that the issue can then be addressed. As it stands, it was a very vague tweet about some team under the impression that DeCoster pulled some strings to get the track changed, presumably to better suit his riders.
That's a pretty big thing to claim. It would border on cheating and most certainly be unsportsmanlike like. As such, it should carry with it, evidence. A part of that evidence would be for the team in question to reveal what support they have for their claim. So yes, I think the tweet as a whole is irresponsible, and if Matthes is going put speculative claims out there, he should name the team so that the team can then be questioned. If the team doesn't want to be named, then they should not be throwing around claims unless they have evidence to support those claims. If they don't have any evidence, then they are spreading rumors and it seems to be a case of "our guy didn't win and their's did".
The one guy is THE MAN and he's old too. Cut him some slack...
Mercedes f1 got the min rideheight rule changed claiming "safety" bc they cpuodnt figure out the aero. Instead ofbslowong down or raising theor ride height they whined so that other ppl (red bull) would have to raise theirs too(and lose the advantage tjeud earned through clever engineering).
As reed says... Throttle goes both ways.
These are the best SX riders in the world, there should be parts of the track that are difficult, not standardized, and can create separation. Yes whoops should be tough and a separator.
If the majority of Teams requested track modification, then Feld should listen. But if 1 person requests, that should not be considered.
Or…….Ask Chad Reed’s wife how to go through the whoops
My point is that it’s not just “speculation” though. He’s saying first hand that a team is in fact not happy about Decosters pull in changing the track to benefit his riders. Steve’s history has shown that he doesn’t report on baseless rumors and his tweet literally reports that he’s heard first hand that is the story, not “rumors are”. So the root of your argument is instantly dismantled because it’s not speculation.
Pit Row
Every time a rider in the 450 main jumps through the whoops, Kevin Windham dies a little inside.
So some people should reach out to the people in question but others don't need to bother?
To your point, RC mentioned the cut down, to your point, whoops at least 69 times, to your point, during the broadcast, to your point.
There must be a protocol for teams to discuss track/ obstacle safety with the sanctioning body…. Right?
If Tomac won last night, this thread wouldn't exist.
Totally agree with this point. Well said.
If Matthes heard this and is repeating it, then what he's reporting is hearsay. It is information that cannot be substantiated at this point. I have no reason to think Matthes is making things up here. So far though, and I will put an emphasis on that, no evidence or reasons for supposing Roger did such a thing have come forward, which makes these claims speculative.
I will also reiterate the fact that I find it unbalanced that DeCoster has been named, but not the team who has questioned Roger. Why is their anonymity protected and not Roger DeCoster's? Either Matthes doesn't know what team is making theses claims, or he is not willing to say, but whatever the answer is, it goes back to my point above: Without presenting evidence, the claim is baseless and Matthes' tweet only serves to lead to speculation about Roger DeCoster, KTM, and Cooper Webb, which is irresponsible and bad journalism on Steve's part.
Replace the name "Steve" with "Ping" and Vital would be on meltdown mode.
Changing the track for safety. Is one thing. Influence to change the track to lessen your team’s disadvantage. Doesn’t seem right. But it’s been going on for awhile.
When 100 riders have 3 practice sessions through them, they NATURALLY get smaller. If the loose dug up dirt is put back on top, it will not pack back. They are rebuilt before the night show and are always smaller than qualifying. Nearly every time. Daytona a few years ago was an exception.
Some of the 250 privateers couldn’t hit the double, triple after the whoops became because the whoops went clear into the turn. They took one or two out. Some riders not hitting the triple is asking for trouble!!
If Decoster truly can just say "cut down the whoops" and they answer to his beck and call, that's wrong. Is that what's happening? Not sure. Like others have said, it would be cool if journalists actually investigated the matter in a serious manner.
With that being said, sitting just a few rows up from the whoops, they were gnarly, all night. Not a single 450 guy was getting through them all that well in the Main. Chase and Cooper were the best through them, but still weren't exactly killing it through there.
People discussing this issue are getting too caught up in the Sexton/ Webb results in my opinion.
The big thing here for me is that one person (RD) has too much influence over the promoters and track builders. It’s been brought up numerous times over the years, with heaps of examples by the who’s who of SX. It’s not speculation, it obviously happens.
If multiple riders complain about a section being unsafe, then okay listen, but one person with vested interests, should not influence these decisions no matter who they are.
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