Shack, he said he's sorry, and I think you need to go take a look at the demo again. I was not there last night, but I did take the time to watch and analyze the incident in question. Here is my take.
This is the first jump of the rhythm section after Shack passed KWIC. As you can see, there are about 1.5 - 2 bike lengths between the two riders.
They both triple onto the tabletop, KWIC has gained a little on Shack.
The last jump of the section, KWIC has carried a little more speed, but is still back.
Different view of above jump. As you can see, Shack has started to turn in, closing off KWIC's line.
This is where Shack landed, at the base of the berm.
Same angle as above picture, this time at the moment KWIC is landing.
As you can probably guess, KWIC had no chance of stopping before he "blatenly punted" Shack. We shall now take a look at the entire section from above.
If you trace the line that Shack took, there is no doubt it carried over into KWIC's line. As they are taking off from the last single, into the corner, KWIC has very few options:
1. Take and immediate right turn and fly over the berm, maybe missing shack.
2. Turn down into the corner and try to stay on the inside.
As you can imagine, every racer on these forums would choose option 2. Who in their right mind is going to fly off track so that someone else can take their preferred line? And for Shack to say he was Chad Reed'ed in that turn, he'd have to go take a look at the video of Reed's pass. KWIC collided with Shack in the middle of the turn, not the exit.
So, in my opinion, this incident was bound to happen and would most likely happen to anyone really. I know if you are the one getting knocked around, it will seem like the guy did it out of anger or rage, but I don't believe that is the case. I also don't think you, Shack, should tell a guy to go watch the demo, when you obviously have not analyzed it OBJECTIVELY!
NOW: Shackattack12, I'd like to show you a couple things and possibly open your eyes into some ways to go faster and avoid the carnage that so often seems to find you(coincidence?).
This is the first rhythm section on the first lap. Shack was taken out in the first turn by a rider that clipped the back wheel of another and lost control...not much you can do there. But riding like you're all alone on your private track is not okay during a supercross main event. In this image, the surrounding riders are there at the time the first image was taken, they have been removed from the rest for clarity. As you can see though, there are riders around you. I'm sure you will argue that you turned in slightly in the middle to avoid a fallen rider (Jonesy). That is understandable, and if you would have been landed on there, theres not much you can do. But nearing the end of the section, you begin to turn down rapidly, eventually exiting the section at around 30 degrees from center. You did this so you could get the hot line through that next corner. This is all good when youre alone on the track. But when there are people around you, you can't do it! Of all the times you raged about people not holding a line, you yourself have some trouble as well, apparently.
And for the final image. There are downed riders in the corner after the first(on the first lap) supercross triple. Again this is on the initial lap of the race. As we can see, you grab the brakes and hug the inside to avoid some downed riders. In this image, the honda rider was left in for a few frames to show how things can go wrong when you don't hold a line. You didn't actually collide, because he grabbed a handful and jumped over you. Watching the demo, you slip going off the face of the first jump and careen across the track out of control. But even before that, look at your line. you are a solid 35-40 degrees from the direction of the section. If you (1) are that far from center, you will most likely slide when you grab the throttle. and (2) are going slow around the corner, you should just roll the first jump and continue through the section. If you had gone single, step on, step off, single, you would have lost way less time that you really did. But you decided to go for a little bigger line, and look how it payed off. Even though there was no carnage here, you can clearly see that something could have happened. Imagine if someone else took that line in front of you. I can imagine you would not have been happy about it. So I really think you need to start backing it down, and the races will start to go a little more your way. It is ridiculous to hear a guy complaining about sketchy riders and lappers, when they are riding out there like the track belongs to them. Your riding style really reminds me of James Stewart. The dude is fast, but gets caught up in too much carnage because he is not about to back it down.
I have been caught up in some crashes with you in the past and yes, some of them were my fault. I realize I am a mediocre rider and you probably consider me sketchy. Problem is, a lot of times that we have gotten together it is because one of us cuts down a turn, as if to shut the other one off. If you're going to ride like that, you have to be ready to take some hits, and you have to accept the fact that everyone out there is going for it. Heck, if you know a guy is coming in hot, go wide...square it up...and watch him head straight over the berm. You are faster than most everyone on here, and you have the ability to pass people. If its going to be close, shut down and pass them in the next turn. I seem to remember someone saying that about the Chad Reed/James Stewart incident.
Can someone get me some fire retardent? I think I'm going to need it!
