Swizcorner: Oakland

I gotta preface this by admitting that I honestly like Tyler Bowers.

Lead Photo by: Ray Archer

There’s really no way this is going to come off sounding genuine but I really do like Tyler Bowers. I remember a few years ago when I was couch-confined due to a problematic knee surgery and spending way too much time on the Vital forums, there was some type of Web-series show which Tyler Bowers was a part of and there was quite the stink surrounding him and some sort of bullish tactics on the show. I never really paid much mind to it, I just remember coming away thinking, “man this kid is really big and he’s either a really big douche or there are a lot of people who stand to benefit from him not progressing in pro racing.”

Well, four- rounds into his full-time Supercross debut, I can kind of see both sides of the coin. Tyler seems to walk on that thin line between outspoken bad boy, and super charismatic guy who is diabolical in his brushes with media and keeping you on your toes with where he’s coming from. I can’t tell you how many Arenacross titles he’s won but I do know that if it’s even just one, then he has the skills to survive a battle royal on a Supercross track. At Anaheim 1 all the talk was around a block pass he made on Zach Osborne and I gotta tell you, looking back at that move now, having seen what we have since then, I am absolutely astounded that John Gallagher even raised an eyebrow to that pass, let alone holding Tyler after the checkered flag to give him a tongue lashing.

Bowers vs Osborne A1

That pass was Tyler’s response to what he felt was a little excessive chin-music Zach gave him a few corners earlier. Having raced a few rounds in 2013 and being shown the dirt surface in one pretty memorable episode with Blake Wharton, Tyler’s guard was up and he was intent on making it very clear that he was not going to let anyone get a soft impression of him in a series he was aiming for the title in; not just a temporary fixture. The circus surrounding the incident with Tyler and Zach was definitely elevated and inflated beyond what it should have been looking back now and comparing it to what we saw this weekend in Oakland; but Tyler drew first blood with the intent of sending that message. And send it he did.

Before the Webb/Bowers bad blood, they bro down just before Gallagher rips into Bowers for Osborne altercation.

Unfortunately for him, he may have struck that first blow a little prematurely, because ever since that Gallagher-talking-to he has had that “X” of “part-timer” from 2013 painted more boldly than ever on himself in 2015. By identifying himself as a target years ago, he showed a vulnerability in his armor that opponents target and exploit; of course most obviously, Cooper Webb.

Bowers lays out what Gallagher said and states that he is not here to be anybodies bitch.

This 250 regional series has been balls to the wall unpredictable due in large part to the physicality of it. There are recurring instances of payback and retaliation with more than just a handful of riders but one of the common denominators in the most vitriolic of these instances is, Tyler Bowers. With the “Black Flagging” heard round the sport last week, everyone was waiting for the follow-up in Oakland. Well, I can tell you, if we didn’t see a Black Flag thrown against Bowers for his one-week delayed retaliation on Cooper Webb, I’m pretty sure Chad Reed is the unfortunate collector of that penalty being an anomaly. That or Gallagher is even more unbelievably inconsistent than we feared.

Tyler made reference to Cooper Webb taking out other riders without cause such as Jessy Nelson and Mookie. I went back and watched the previous rounds and found a little cat and mouse game between Cooper and Jessy that went both ways. Apparently they have their own little tiff to flesh out. And the Mookie “take-out” from the Oakland Heat-race, there was nothing take-out about it. Pookie made an error in the rhythm and as Cooper took advantage of it on the inside, Mookie made a last ditch effort to knife to the inside but Cooper was way past where Mookie could do anything about it. Now THAT is a racing incident.