Bench Racing Ammo: RedBud Red Plate
Friday, July 1, 2011 | 11:30 AM
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Chad Reed stirred up a little controversy after the first round of the Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship. He and Ryan Dungey were both slated to run the red background on their number plates since they were tied for the series’ point lead after Hangtown. Reed said he’d rather not run the red if he were going to have to share the plate with Dungey, since he had actually won the opener overall. And if this were a one-race series, the tie would go to the rider with the most wins, and Reed held the edge there (and still does).
Of course, the same exact thing happened a year earlier heading into Freestone in the 250 class. Eli Tomac won the Hangtown overall but only tied with Christophe Pourcel in points, so they both ran the red plate in Texas, and no one seemed to notice or care. But I digress.
Anyway, Reed is hanging on to his plate with a pretty solid grip at this point, having taken three wins out of five rounds so far. While Ryan Villopoto closed up a bit last weekend at Thunder Valley, Reed has some history on his side if he can get through this weekend at RedBud with the red plate attached. In the 450 class, whoever holds the points lead after RedBud historically tends to go on to win the championship.
Ryan Dungey led it after RedBud last year. He won the title. Same for Reed in 2009 and James Stewart in 2008. Technically, Ricky Carmichael “blew it” in 2007 when he won every race through RedBud and left with the points lead. But he retired voluntarily, and Grant Langston ended up the champion.
To find a situation where a rider really rallied through the second half to claim the crown, you would have to go back to 2000, Carmichael’s first season in the 250 class. He engaged Frenchman Sebastien Tortelli in a battle for the title, and Tortellli won the RedBud race on July 4th, 2000, to take the series’ lead. They split motos 2-1 and 1-2 the next time out at Unadilla. Then Carmichael won the next race at Troy, Ohio, and Tortelli struggled with an ankle injury. RC took the points lead and was never challenged again en route to the 2000 250 National Championship.
So it’s been 11 years since someone had legitimately ripped the points lead away from someone else in the big class after RedBud. Whoever leaves this weekend’s race with the red plate then, not only has points on their side, but history as well.
Of course, the same exact thing happened a year earlier heading into Freestone in the 250 class. Eli Tomac won the Hangtown overall but only tied with Christophe Pourcel in points, so they both ran the red plate in Texas, and no one seemed to notice or care. But I digress.
Anyway, Reed is hanging on to his plate with a pretty solid grip at this point, having taken three wins out of five rounds so far. While Ryan Villopoto closed up a bit last weekend at Thunder Valley, Reed has some history on his side if he can get through this weekend at RedBud with the red plate attached. In the 450 class, whoever holds the points lead after RedBud historically tends to go on to win the championship.
To find a situation where a rider really rallied through the second half to claim the crown, you would have to go back to 2000, Carmichael’s first season in the 250 class. He engaged Frenchman Sebastien Tortelli in a battle for the title, and Tortellli won the RedBud race on July 4th, 2000, to take the series’ lead. They split motos 2-1 and 1-2 the next time out at Unadilla. Then Carmichael won the next race at Troy, Ohio, and Tortelli struggled with an ankle injury. RC took the points lead and was never challenged again en route to the 2000 250 National Championship.
So it’s been 11 years since someone had legitimately ripped the points lead away from someone else in the big class after RedBud. Whoever leaves this weekend’s race with the red plate then, not only has points on their side, but history as well.
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points should be given for overalls not motos IMO...... Dungey and Reed sharing the red plate after only 1 round was total BS. the points system is all outa whack lol.
My wife has been runnin the red plate all week!!!
There was no problem last year between Pourcel and Tomac.
But this year it involved the ever whining Reed, that is the ONLY difference.
Its always all about Chad.........................Whaaaaa
Alessi will be going for the win tomorrow. I'm felling it for ya Mike!
Maybe the top 3 guys in the series should have special colored plates, 1-Red, 2-Green, 3-Blue? Or maybe they should were a custom jersey like they do in cycling - polkadot jersey? .....hahaa
I doubt that holds true this year. The two guys with the most momentum are 2nd and 3rd in the points. That statistic is based on too many lop sided championships where a rider ran away with it. This year its a three horse race.....didn't you know Weigant?
Another good argument for the Olympic scoring system.
Reed doing his thing on a bike others said was "unridable" a couple years ago. Same for Windham & Christian Craig, actually looks like one of the more sorted out bikes I've seen to this point, easily better than the Yamahas as of now.
I do think Dungey will be "peaking" right around Millville and this could bring him back into the points race but, with the "top 3" remaing in the top 3 every race, making large point gaps is going to be difficult without major foul-ups from the other two. Will the others results remain consistent? Dungey had his black cloud in Texas, will the others have bad days like that as well?
After the '11 SX season, predictions are like sphincters.
I think Poto already had his bad day, but I wouldn't call it a black cloud, even though it may have been dark in color! Great to see it a 3 horse race, 4 would make it real interesting. It would be cool to see Christian Craig hang in there a little longer or even Alessi without signing off half way thru the race. Hopefully tomorrow we will see some real fireworks on the track. Oh I am sorry I forgot Kdub too. Senior moment here, lack of caffine. OMG I hope that was a fart? ha ha
SCORE BOARD!!! thats all that counts..
There should be extra points added for a 1-1. Nothing huge, but a little extra for the sweep.
The points system works fine and is similar in most top-level bike series around the world. My respect for Reed has grown but the whining about the red plate after Hangtown was a big faux pas. If Dungey's bike had finished in Texas, they would have been tied with an overall apiece. What would he have said then? I agree that this series is looking to be more competitive at the front than it's been for a long time ... which is great!
Millsaps for the win this weekend! Gooooo Davi!
Wow!! What he said.......
.......sef, that is....
I think Reed has or had a good chance to still have the red plate after Red Bud until you started to talk about it.Why don't you put him on the cover of RacerX and jinx him so that he'll get hurt.Has anyone noticed that for 5 races in a row when Weeg and Emig start talking about someone that is doing good in the race and they have the camera on the guy that they are talking about always seens to crash their brains out.It just seems that the staff of RacerX are bad luck.
Oh yeah I forgot.Nothing is wrong with the Yamahas people.They just don't have the top rider on one.Reed was right there should of been one red plate.I noticed last year about the red plate situation with Tomac and Porcel.The only you didn't see my b!tching was because I just started posting on here for a couple of months.I don't even think RacerX was set up where we could post our thoughts on here last year.Duh!
I agree with sef154. Reed's been impressive this year, so far, but tends to whine a bit. I could take or leave the red plate idea, and the points system is fine. But can we PLEASE get rid of the permanent numbering system and bring back the earned numbers?
I agree Sef the points are fine and it would have been interesting if Dungey Had won in Texas since the winner of the most recent race would be deemed the leader.... I think Reedy would have eaten a little crow then .....or not run the red plate even though he was still tied with Dungey suggesting his argument was legit.We will never know and I think Reed is riding awesome and making all the right moves as a business owner. A true 3 man battle for the championship with some spoilers in the class. Once again we have a great season in the books so far and much more to come. Bring it on
Thorougly enjoying the season from SX to MX. Although not a fan...would have liked to see JS7 get beat utdoors. Hey HEP, I thought you said JS7 was gonna show up to the nationals soon. Wwwwwhat happened? Oh ya, I remember the excuse. He has an SX only contract with the team HE owns. So how did he race outdoors (if that's what you call it) last season? Come on James....let's race!! Next time you talk to JS7 give us an update HEP....yuk yuk!
I was thinking about the point system the other day.
What if a perfect day, going 1-1, was worth 100 pts. 25 for each first moto/2nd moto wins, and then 50 for the overall win. so you get points for both motos and overalls. shorty's 8-9 for 5th overall, as an example, would be worth like 69ish points or whatever the actual total is . agree/disagree? like/not like?
mike a is going for the win come on home boy kick some a@@
I suspect RD1 will own it this weekend. Great season so far all top three riders are riding very well.
The points system is fine, changing it to serve a particular purpose would be futile. Reed has earned a lot of peoples respect back this year, including mine. This weekend should be epic between the top three, throw in good starts from Windham and/or Metcalfe, icing on the cake.
i was starting to gain respect for reed and then he pulls that horse sh**t with the red plate... what an @sshole
those are strong words boxer chad won the first race he deserved the red plate nuf said, if it was a 1 race series would they be co-champs too? yer an @sshole
You would think Reeds wife would of asked him he wanted some cheese with that whine!
cr125 wrote: about 6 hours ago
My wife has been runnin the red plate all week!!!
.... It deserves a re-post! lol
Seems to me the folks on here calling Reed a whiner...are doing a lot of freakin whining about it!
Also, when a rider doesn't give much of an opinion on a subject, they are considered a "robot" or have no personality.
When they do give their 2 cents worth all the keyboard jockeys jump on 'em.
If any of you had worked for something, belived you earned it and were then told you had to share, you'd be ticked. If you weren't, you wouldn't be much of a man.
I'd love it if the riders went to your job, rated you and then blogged about how they thought you sucked. I'll just bet you'd really be whining then!
At the end of this....RV will be the champ! EVERYONE who lives in the REAL world knows it!
Red rider......nice post moron!
+1 Redrider... I'd say that pretty much sum it up. And...
Quote:red riding hood wrote: about 3 minutes ago
Red rider......nice post moron!
And this guy ^^^ well WTH, that's just wrong.
What about tha'duck man? Ain't he gunna get any plates? Canard will skew the points at the very end
Reed has had a great year and even though he ran the red plate he did not say one thing so who the heck cares it was one race and all I care about is who stands at the end with the red plate !
Reed is going to tear it up this week you watch and see !!!