Ping,
I’m trying not to be a d*#@ here but I can’t help but laugh every time I see Alessi burst into tears after his heat race win. Mad props to the guy; winning that heat was awesome. I just can’t stop laughing. Is it just me?
RKB
RKB,
The truth is that every rider, at one point or another, has cried at the races. Maybe you snapped your femur in half, maybe you found out your riding buddy was sleeping with your girlfriend or maybe you won a supercross heat race… it happens and there is no real shame in it. This is an emotional sport and professionals in particular pour their whole lives into getting results on the weekends. For a guy like Mike who has had limited success indoors this was a big deal and he showed some genuine emotion. I was happy for him. It was a shame that instead of a few tears rolling down his cheeks with a big smile on his face he looked like he was watching his dog get run over by a slow-moving car. Hopefully he can parlay that feeling into some more heat wins and some good results in the main event.
PING
Ping,
I’m a JS7 fan but I’m getting sick of him giving up after he has a crash like last weekend. How does he not get up and ride around to get a few extra points? He might need those at the end of the series! What’s your take?
Mark W.
Mark,
My first thought was that he was hurt and I was really bummed. That was the most solid I’ve ever seen James look on a supercross track and I thought his season was over. It turns out he just bent his bike up really badly and finishing the race wasn’t an option. I actually found a thread on Vital discussing this same question and there are people, like you, who believe he bitched out by not finishing the race no matter how bent up his bike was. That led to someone saying something like, “I’ll bet Magoo would’ve finished, bent bars or not!” That led, of course, to a photo of Magoo riding with bars bent so severely that he had to hang on to the bar inside the grip. Look, Magoo was a stud but that photo was shot outside and I can assure you he didn’t have to negotiate supercross whoops, triples and rhythm lanes with bars like that. The structural integrity of the bar is compromised at that point so jumping anything would be foolish. James wasn’t going to gain anything by rolling around the track for three more laps and his crew made the right call to send him up the tunnel. Remember that you are talking about a guy with two supercross titles and a perfect outdoor season. You absolutely cannot question his resolve. Period.
PING
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