Call it what you want but I call it an open letter to Jason Anderson.
Call it what you want but I call it an open letter to Jason Anderson.
Lead Photo By: James Lissimore
As a fan of racing, Jason, it’s been pretty awesome to watch you race the last few years. You came out of the amateurs as a Horizon Award winner and secured a ride giving you a shot at your dream. The transition to pro racing was troublesome in the beginning and your team, empathetically mandated a break to get your head straight.
In most cases, I would have assumed it was just another name on the list of one and done prodigies who didn’t pan out. That list is long and ever-growing. No shame, albeit heartbreaking. You broke that mold though and whatever you did during your forced hiatus (apparently you gained perspective) when you returned, things were looking promising and that was a welcome change from what had been your prior debut.
As your racing achievements accumulated and your finishes improved, the methods with which you secured these successes were equally as exciting, for fans of racing, to witness.
You notice I keep clarifying that “fans of racing” enjoy these tactics. That is deliberate. Fans of “racers” are a completely different breed of fandom, and those guys (aside from fans of solely, you) are finding themselves a quickly growing group and they are lighting torches and ready to march to New Mexico (they’ll make their way to Clermont soon enough) with their message: “Stop using other racers as berms and tuff-blocks!”
As I said from the beginning, I’ve been a fan of watching you make moves forward. You are the exception to the excuse of “no places to pass” or “one lined track”. There are certainly a few times when I have questioned my agreement of how you make passes but for the most part I would argue that your tenacity is the culprit, not poor decision making. Well, this weekend in St Louis, the move you put on Justin Brayton in the main event was easily a 10 on the “tenassity” scale. A block pass is a far cry from riding somebody to the tuff-blocks all the way up the face of a triple. That’s a fineable offense in my book and many others. It’s on the same level as cross-jumping (think James Stewart and Kyle Partridge in 2010 or Matt Goerke on Chizz two years ago). What happens if Brayton couldn’t chop off his throttle or halt his momentum in that situation? Tragedy.
Racing is dangerous enough when it’s rider vs track alone but when you start effing with people on the faces of the biggest jumps in the stadium, that’s like real deal American Gladiator shit, with real world mortality and consequences. We don’t need that.
I’m pretty sure that Cole Seely has a high quality voodoo doll of your likeness at this point and I may only be able to count on one hand the number of guys who don’t have a problem with contact you’ve initiated on them within these first 2 seasons aboard the 450.
This is not a path you want to continue on. Bam Bam’s reputation has eeked it’s way above yours at this point amongst your opponents and that guy roosted DOC BODNAR for craps sakes!!
I get it, you’re not out there to make friends and it shouldn’t matter to you if your opponents like you or not but really, this isn’t a black and white issue of them loving your or hating you. Respect comes in many levels and your actions have taken on a portrayal of having none for your fellow racers. I’m hoping this move on Justin Brayton wasn’t a sign of the next level of what you believe to be acceptable race-craft.
If THAT kind of pass happens again, you may just do the impossible, get EVERYONE to come together and form that ever elusive riders union; because I can’t think of a single person who would consider racing like that, acceptable.
