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It's good to hear Mikes point of view.
Glad he commented on the incident.
“James came in ready to race,” said Yoshimura Suzuki team manager Mike Webb. “Everything was going to plan, maybe even better than we expected. He was strong in timed qualifying, went out and qualified directly into the main from his heat race, had a great start in the final and then out of nowhere he ends up on the ground due to no fault of his own. It’s a real shame for all the work he put into this comeback, but I’m hopeful he’ll be able to bounce back soon and quickly put this behind him.”
http://motocross.transworld.net/news/2016-anaheim-one-sx-james-stewart-update/
Just sayin'- Bummer regardless
But, regardless of intent, it was definitely Dungey's fault. I don't understand all these people saying it was nobody's fault, or both of their fault. Some idiots are even trying to say it was Stewart's fault.
I saw it happen live in the stadium through some good binoculars, and have watched the videos and different angles several times, and it is clear to me that Dungey was trying to throw his bike in there for a block when he simply wasn't close enough. Sure, Stewart was squaring up to cut down the inside of Anderson, which put him that much closer to Dungey... but that is a perfectly reasonable line / move to take in that corner. He took that exact same line in that corner the previous lap, and had used that cut-down move in that corner in the heat race as well... same as all the other riders.
So all this talk about Stewart making an 'unusual' move that Dungey could have never expected... that is complete BS. Dunge saw Stewart square that corner the same way one minute earlier. Dunge even said afterwards (as I remember) "I knew it was coming, I expected him to cut down the inside, but he cut down like no other and I had nowhere to go. I grabbed my brakes but couldn't stop."
Yeah, you couldn't stop because you were trying to jam a block pass into the situation about 1 second too late, and ended up T-boning a guy who was already exiting the corner in a way you should have totally been expecting him to.
I think Dungey is a stand-up guy for the most part, but I don't like the way he insinuated that Stewart's "unexpected" move caused the contact. C'mon Golden Boy, just own up to it and say that you had no ill intent, but it was definitely your fault. Which it totally was.
Pit Row
Dunge made a very bad judgement. Terrible mistake. It is Lap two of A1. The first race of the season. You are in 3rd PLACE!. A guy you know well is in 1st...and the guy in 2nd is Stew...who probably will fade towards the end...you know he did not get the prep in pre-season.
There is NO NEED to jump straight to the inside of the turn. Everyone talks about how RD could not stop because he clipped. OK...that was not his mistake. The like he took jumping in was the mistake. He had no business tripleing into that turn on a straight inside take out line. For the championship....at the end of the season...sure. But not at A1 when you are within 2s of the leader....and you know you have the speed to hang with him.
RD's comments about Stew cutting down faster than he expected are complete and utter BS. That would make sense...if he collided with Stews front wheel...or T-boned him square in the middle of the bike. But he hit Stew's swingarm. If Stew had blown the corner, and dropped some speed, and then RD clipped his rear...THAT would make sense. But to say Stew went faster than he was expecting...therefore I clipped his rear makes no sense at all. Does he really believe that Stew went so much faster than he was expecting that he clipped his rear in stead of clearing the front of Stew completely?! How exactly was this "move" supposed to work? Previous comments about RD trying a move that he does not really know how to pull off are right on the money.
I know Stew and RD get along pretty well...but that does not change the 20+ points Stew lost, and the potentially serious injury he suffered. Friendly or not...If I were Stew...I would chalk that one up, and at the end the season when RD needs the points...I would put him on the dirt. Karma is a bitch nice guy. (But I am a bit of a hot head...and Stew is not. He will probably let it go...)
The only thing I ponder is, what Dungey was thinking in the first place going in that low, or did he just screw up ??....the lap prior, Stew squraed that turn the exact same way and Dungey was right behind him - so its not like Stewart did something out of the blue....shitty situation all around....
If you watch the re-start, RD5 basically takes the same line that Stew did on the 1st lap of the restart.
D
I just think the broadcast and heck, even Vital is shielding the champ a bit calling it an "incident". Dungey caused the crash, period. If this was Friese against anyone else the headline would be Vince knocks Stew out. And YES, I know Vince has a deserved rep. But call it as it is. RD5 came in way too hot, lost control, and then hit Stew hard which ended up leaving him concussed and out. Racing incident? Sure. But it still was Ryan's fault, 100%.
What bugs me most is how RD5 just tried to act like James made the wrong move and deflect the blame. Yeah, Stew cut down. He had that right. He was ahead of Ryan by a good little bit and can choose his line. But Ryan saw the whole thing yet chose to go in that hot, then lost control.
It's beating a dead horse. Just wish he hadn't basically blamed Stew on the podium and post race. I just think that is lame. I think the fans were right for booing. The takeout wasn't on purpose but he sure did go in there hot and heavy, which lead to him making a mistake and hitting Stew hard. Boneheaded move, especially for so early in the race.
If you have this mentality on the first lap of a Supercross (or practically any race based sport) you're going to end up like Stewart more times than not. When there are literally 20 riders within a second or two of each other you need to let common sense take place and stick with the closest popular line or go wide – cutting down into basically un-touched dirt across the front of 18 other riders is going to leave you extremely venerable with a huge potential to get caught – which happened to Stewart.
That's my issue, not so much the incident, but the lack of saying, yeah, I came in hot, hit a kicker, and lost control a bit and nailed him. Just man up. It wasn't intentional. Shit happens. But it was still an error by Dunge. Don't deflect.
In my opinion.
Post a reply to: Stew out.