We talk about the mental state of riders in the sport a lot. Confidence in your program and the bike are huge evidenced by the many times riders site making changes to what they do during the week or changes to a bike setting.
Since 2016 when savatgy melted his lead in the outdoors, which is when i would say he was at an high all time high in confidence, he has slipped further down the hill mentally. 2017 I feel he was just holding on knowing he should be up top but only to lose at the end and outdoors being having all sorts of highs and lows.
needing to secure a contract for 450's and coupled with a 'relatively' mediocre SX season and a rough start to outdoors, he has to be struggling to show up at this point.
To me his attempt to pull the outside start at Lakewood shows more of a move of desperation rather than a move of confidence knowing his strengths at this track would carry him through the pack.
He's a good guy and i was rooting for him to win SX but his current path seems destined for more struggle
"If you feel in control, you're not going fast enough" ~Mario Andretti