On the broadcast Weege and RC made mentions that chase was the faster of the two due to the fact that Chase closed the gap first moto. But we have seen before that it's one thing to catch a guy, another to pass. Also, as fan of both Chase and Jett, I couldn't help but think the whole time "Jett's mindset is beyond what the announcers are saying."
Maybe it is just me being a fan of the racing, but it seemed like Jett knew Chase was fast, knew he went down, knew he had a gap, and knew chase would expend a bunch of energy to catch him. I feel like Jett was in complete control of the situation and let Chase close up, and Jett would have more in the tank for a late race sprint if needed. Of course lappers might have had lent a hand in favor of Jett, but it really had me wondering if Jett knew more than the information being given from the announcers.
Also not bagging on the announcers, just maybe something from a different perspective. What do y'all think?
Chase was the consistently fastest with something like the 2nd fastest through the 6th fastest lap. Jett had the overall fastest lap. We'll never know if Jett had him covered or not because Chase made the mistakes.
This has been beat up pretty good already in other threads. To answer your question, in my opinion they were both very, very close in speed. Jett was <0.1 seconds a lap faster on fastest lap in moto 1 and Chase was 0.3 seconds a lap faster in Moto 2. Jett didn't make mistakes. Chase made mistakes. A lapper held up Chase in moto 1 really bad but not sure it would have made a difference (we'll never know thanks to Meshy not getting out of the way..). Jett was in total control because he knows Chase can't beat him for the championship and nobody else in the field is remotely close to their speed, including DF14. Some fan bois are going to say Jett still had another gear and I just simply don't believe that. Jett said point blank in his interview Chase is the only one who can run his speed or go faster than him. Those two guys are WAY faster than everyone else out there right now. The only one who can ruin the championship for Jett, is Jett. It would take a bad crash, missing a race or two and or multiple mechanicals for him to lose it. Does he want to be the first rookie to go undefeated in a season? I think so, but winning the championship is the #1 goal. IF Chase ends up being faster than Jett in a future race coming up, I would expect Jett to ride his own race and take what it gives him. Again, goal #1 is the championship. There's nothing but bragging rights on the line for going 22-0. No point in risking the championship for going 22-0 just to say you did it.
Not crashing is faster.
I was there in person, and I reviewed the broadcast when I got back home. I saw Jett making numerous small, uncharacteristic mistakes while Chase was hounding him. I believe that is closest we have seen to a "rattled" Jett, and I believe he was giving it everything he had
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He is always looking around. Not like a guy scared Hes getting caught like we see. More like assessing and watching. He is a wise 19 and as said before. He wont throw away the title for a moto.
I agree Jett is in total control championship wise. This could be my over-analytical self thinking way too deep on the topic, but outside of championship perspective, race win perspective is what I was eluding to with Jett having the upper hand. I think Jett was humble with his podium interview, but knows deep down he can click it up if needed, and it seemed that was what he was going for in that particular moto. My wife nods and agrees at my ridiculous statements as I ramble about nonsense like this so this is my place to vent, although I'm more of a spectator here lol.
Exactly my thoughts when I see him do the looking around.
Whether he will admit it or not, I think Jett's goal is 22-0 right now. If it weren't, he wouldn't have pushed like he did in the first moto. Chase isn't a threat to him for the championship yet he's pushing the envelope the way he is. He could cruise fast enough to beat Ferrandis and Plessinger the rest of the season and win the Championship. He wants 22-0.
At this stage in the game, I want to see Jett go 22-0, but I don't want it to be a walk in the park for him. I want to see him and Sexton duke it out to the finish for the rest of the season. If one of these two get injured, the 450 class will not be interesting AT ALL for the rest of the season.
Like when he saw Ferrandis creeping up, ooops, speeds up, gap back up to 4/5 seconds...
Jett has been fantastic at managing races this year, specifically his gaps between riders and if at any point someone would start catching him, he would throw it down and stretch the gap back out. He did that against AP earlier in the year, DF14, and he did it against KR too I believe. So history shows he does what he needs to do to keep a comfortable lead (nothing more) and if needed, he throws down a heater or two to maintain his comfortable gap. So when Chase was clearly catching him, why didn't he stretch the gap back out like he did against AP or KR earlier in the season? Because he was going as fast as he could while maintaining good control (i.e. not crashing). You don't think he wanted to stretch his lead back out against Chase too like he did against AP, DF, and KR? I think we just saw what Jett has "in the tank" or "the extra gear" with the exception of going to the point of crashing. I do think people are over analyzing this. We saw at Pala Moto 2. We saw it Millville Moto 1 prior to the lapper getting in the way. Jett has talked about it on the podium. The only guy that can run his pace or slightly faster is Chase. And as we've seen Chase has a tendency to make mistakes - ironically they usually aren't mistakes from riding over his ability either. They're just mistakes. Its not like Chase is all out of sorts getting sketchy. He's not. It almost seems like a lack of focus.
Spot on again... Chase has a history of the small mistakes. And now he's got a competitor that he's not likely to beat if he keeps making them...
Just my opinion but I think Jett is like Ricky. He loved winning but he HATED losing even more.
The simple truth is...if he doesn't lose...the perfect season and the c-ship just follow naturally.
Just win baby.
Was just about to post precisely this...RC comparison and all.
There's been a couple of times Jett doing the "pissed off tear off pull" post moto when he has finished second. In SX heat races from memory.
There was even that one heat race he won towards the end of the last season that he won and he was doing this odd gesturing by himself and shaking his head like he wasn't happy with some mistakes he made in the race.
Jett only said Chase can run a faster pace than him to only keep things cool at the Honda truck. Politics in the meantime while he leaves to KTM.
Jett's beast mode will only be seen when he is behind and racing for the lead, not when he is managing a gap.
Sometimes we see it in the first couple of corners if he doesn't get the holeshot.
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