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2043
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Blaine, MN
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2005th
Edited Date/Time
1/17/2012 6:43pm
Does having Chad and Villopoto on the same team give them an advantage on helping close the speed gap to James Stewart. I won't argue the fact that James has always been faster (with a few exceptions perhaps), but could having a two powerhouse riders testing and chasing eachother at the practice track be just what the doctor ordered to close the gap?
How could this be perhaps? Throughout my years in the sport, one thing has always been evident for all riders; whether your local novice or top pros in the sport, racing against faster competition will make you faster. Chad and Ryan have an opportunity to test with eachother, chase eachother, learn from eachother, and benchmark off of eachother; which means they should both be getting faster. Who does James have to benchmark himself off of? He has always been the fastest guy in his class for the most part, but his competition never has had two guys so close to his caliber of speed pushing eachother to bridge the gap. I won't doubt that James will still be on the pace, and will likely still have the edge, but do you think Chad and Ryan will have closed the gap in speed?
Do you think this will have any affect on the 2010 SX series?
How could this be perhaps? Throughout my years in the sport, one thing has always been evident for all riders; whether your local novice or top pros in the sport, racing against faster competition will make you faster. Chad and Ryan have an opportunity to test with eachother, chase eachother, learn from eachother, and benchmark off of eachother; which means they should both be getting faster. Who does James have to benchmark himself off of? He has always been the fastest guy in his class for the most part, but his competition never has had two guys so close to his caliber of speed pushing eachother to bridge the gap. I won't doubt that James will still be on the pace, and will likely still have the edge, but do you think Chad and Ryan will have closed the gap in speed?
Do you think this will have any affect on the 2010 SX series?
I do agree that those 2 working together can and should help, will it be enough? who knows, thats why they run all the races.
James doesnt need anyone to benchmark himself off of.
either way, i'm not buying into the whole "bubba will be unstoppable" hoopla. all the same cheese dicks have been saying it year after year and we've all seen the end result.
that said, i really hope all three of the mentioned names, as well as the other 3 or 4 fast guys all stay healthy.
one thing i see playing a factor is last year James and Chad were light years faster than everyone else. a bad start or a small crash were not that detrimental. everyone they were passing moved right over and said "go ahead buddy"... jizzm excluded... but this year there will be about 6 -10 guys that i could see being tougher to blast by from behind.
back on topic though, i do think the two of them riding together will help their speed, not that reed was far off to begin with.
The Shop
It's possible, unless it turns sour and they start a bragging right battle within the team, push each other too far and someone gets hurt.
I think that Chad trains and lives mostly in Florida though, and RV2 is Cali-based. Not sure they will practice a lot together.
The question is, are they teammates who will work together or two primmadonnas who won't share secrets or show each other their true speed at the test track?
PROS:
- They will be able to push each other during practice throughout the week.
- They definetely can use each other as a team on the track against Stewart
- They could pick gates on both sides of him lol
- Maybe if one has a bad race, towards the season and is totally out of the championship they could hang around 17th and attempt to take James out during a race, like Kyle Chisholm's attempt at Reed (anyone who thinks his intentions were other wise are fooling themselves. If Kyle would have taken out Stewart, man that would have been great. Larry Brooks would have had a stroke!).
CONS:
- If James wins week in and week out, while RV and Reed swap positions for 2nd and 3rd, all it's going to do is extend James' points lead.
RV is gunna be on it, and I can't wait for this sx season!
Good point.
Pit Row
But, I think Rooster kinda nailed it: "The question is, are they teammates who will work together or two primadonnas who won't share secrets or show each other their true speed at the test track?"
Bring on A-1
So i'm a little bewildered why people are putting him 5-10 seconds ahead of Reed every race, I guess i'm missing something.
What bewilders me, is that, some guys don't think RV is going to be faster than last year...
the most recent end results have been a 24-0 MX season and SX championship with a DNF.
I don't believe James will be "unstoppable", but I also don't have any reason to believe that Ryan or Chad are all of the sudden going to show James the fast way around the track. If I see it I'll be a believer...until then.
The pressure is on James; he's clearly the best and on paper should win...then the gate drops.
but..... so far this off season, it sounds like RV and Reed have ridden together Very little (based on RV's last comments during an interview for RacerX)..... and who knows about working out together.... but in theory, they'd have a much better chance of working up to Stews pace while running hard against each other every day.... I just highly doubt that's happening....
Riders have on track friends, but not usually the guys they race with for the win. Look back through the years and you'll see this over and over.
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