WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER overly-aggressive riding? When a fellow competitor knocks you down, do you say that's racing or starts throwing punches? Everyone works so hard that it's impossible to understand why someone knocks us down to get by. I believe you make you own luck, but many people will disagree. There are only three ways you can be taken out after the first lap: Going too wide into a corner, getting brake-checked by someone or being landed on by a fellow rider. I believe that a rideris always in control of his destiny, no matter what situation. The most common takeouts are caused when you leave enough room for a motorcycle to fit between you and the inside marker. It might be an inch or 20 feet, but the reality is taht you left him room, and now he's got the check, trophy girl, and points lead! No matter how much of a jerk the guy in front of you is with his brake-checks and constant lane changes, you should always have a back-up line. Following someone through any section on the track not only means no passing, it also leaves you vulnerable. Again, if you crash, it's mostly your fault. The final way i see to be taken out is hard to understand for most of the victims. You frustrate the living hell out of the guy behind you by turning yourself into a moving roadblock. Maybe you are just slow, riding your own race, and the moron behind you can't pass to save his life. Either way, a frustrated person uses bad judgment and takes higher risks to make a pass. If i ever make an aggressive pass, this would be the reason. Twenty laps is a long time, but i'm not a patint person on the track. There is nothing that upsets me more that watching the leaders run away when I'm mired in the pack. When you make the guy behind you desperate, you'd best be ready for anything. So, is this season rougher than average? Thus farin the series (going into Atlanta) i have been ejected over the berm by Ernesto Fonseca in Round 1 (he hit me so hard that a majority of the spokes were blown out of my front wheel); Roncada and I swapped paint over and over again in Round 2 (he went down while attempting to take me over the berm); i unintentionasally took down the cleanest rider on the track, Nathan Ramsey, in a final-lap, desperate attempt to make the p; and Ricky Carmichael found two inches between the inside bale and myself at round six in Indianapolis (he took the lead and i finished eighth). And that brings us up to the Mike LaRocco incident at Minnesotta. |
| The Prospect May 2002 |
| By: Travis Pastrana |