It’s weird how the Universe always finds a way to even things out, right the wrongs, collect karma and stay in balance.
It’s weird how the Universe always finds a way to even things out, right the wrongs, collect karma and stay in balance.
It was a mere two weeks ago that some may have confused me for a Feld spokesperson with how high I was feeling on the tracks through the beginning of this series. Can’t say I blame you if you thought I was laying it on thick but I can assure you, I believed what I was shoveling. I believe even more in my prior sentiments having seen the polar opposite abomination which was realized on Saturday night in Arlington.
It was clear early that this track was more oversized Arenacross than it was a Supercross track. With only two right-hand turns on the entire track, the “action” resembled more of a circling toilet bowl into oblivion than it did a race track.
I’m sure Matthes, JT, Weege and Moser have had enough of my group-text belligerence in relation to how much I hated the Dallas track. I laid it on quite thick but I could not get over how terribly one-lined and single-file the racing was. I really was disgusted with it. ( I got nothing on how Marvin Musquin managed to make moves like he did. It bewilders and befuddles me still. Sleepless I tell ya.)
Just when I thought maybe I was judging the tracks of 2016 too easily, handling them with pillowy-soft cotton gloves; The Dirt Wurx crew throws this rubbish into the mix and I realize, the opening round tracks really were great and the awfulness of the Dallas track only serves to highlight the previous 6 rounds.
As I said, I look at Dallas as the anomaly and while it’s results still count, I’ll not be looking in the mirror at this track or ever referencing it again. I already forgot about it.
There was one thing which occurred in Dallas though that cannot be ignored. Christian Craig’s move on Joey Savatgy in the whoops on lap one of the 250 main which sent the number 37 down hard, ultimately robbing fans of racing of a could-be 4-way death-match amongst Savatgy, Webb, Craig and Osborne.
I got nothing against Christian Craig. Who could? The guy has always had gobs of talent and now with deeper perspective, he also has the purpose, focus and urgency which have already realized a trip to the top step of the podium.
Christian has been pretty much the best thing to happen to this 250 class title fight. He hasn’t been the fastest but he has without question made the racing more exciting than anything else we’ve seen this series. When Webb looked unbeatable, Christian clearly didn’t have pace to outrun Cooper but he sure did know how to play tit for tat and not just in a random spot here or there. He pretty much gave Cooper the goods in every corner and as soon as Cooper sniffed out how Christian was planning to play him, he engaged as well. It was awesome. Two guys twisting their mental throttles more than their mechanical throttle.
They kept it clean, though bordering right on the edge of too much. Saturday night, Christian went too far.
There’s a couple places you don’t move over on a guy. Jump-faces and whoop sections. You can seriously injure a guy by riding wide in those two instances and halting their faster pace. Christian knew a bike was coming up the inside and though I don’t think he intended what resulted, he had to know that there was no option for Joey (or whoever it may have been) to back out at that point or do anything other than have their from-end chopped off by his crossing to the inside at a slower pace to protect the inside.
It was a split-second poor decision in an attempt to maintain the lead with a tactic he has used at multiple points during this series, though usually in corners where the opponent does have an out.
I don’t know Joey and I don’t know Christian… I don’t have a dog in the fight but that was a careless and dangerous move that no rider deserves and to essentially take Savatgy out of the points race with it is just a shame.
I don’t think Christian is dirty, there was no intent to harm but the likelihood and scope of injury in that instance in particular is so high that it was at a minimum, reckless endangerment.
