They way the sport is promoted they want it to be a cross between WWF and bike racing anyways.
It will be on all the promos and they'll be hitting each other with chairs next and rasslin'.
20 years time they will be jumping over shark cages and spears and fireballs...Oh - they do the fireballs now.....
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From his PR company.
Reed - Stewart rivalry reaches epic status For Immediate Release: 17 January 2010
The rivalry between dual World Supercross champion Chad Reed and reigning champion James Stewart reached boiling point today, with the two clashing heavily during the second round of the 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series which was held at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Both Reed and his nemesis were back in the pack at the start of the 20 lap race and followed each other through the early laps. On lap five of race Reed put a pass on Stewart going into a right hand corner and the two collided, leaving Reed with a suspected broken bone in his hand.
Tempers flared following the race but Reed acknowledged his focus is now is on having his hand assessed ahead of next weekend’s third round of the series.
“We were racing hard and we were racing for a championship where every point counts, as we saw at the end of last season,” Reed explained.
“James went high and I saw an opportunity to pass and took it and we came together end of story. The main focus for me right now is to seek medical advice and understand what sort of injury my hand has sustained.
“That’s got to be the priority right now then once I know where I am at I will take a little time to reflect on what happened,” he added.
The third instalment of the 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series will see the series head back to Anaheim’s Angel Stadium on Saturday 23rd January.
Top Ten Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series Results - Rd 2 Chase Field, Phoenix
1. Ryan Dungey, SUZ, 25pts 2. Ryan Villopoto, KAW, 22pts 3. Josh Hill, YAM, 20pts 4. Ivan Tedesco, YAM, 18pts 5. Andrew Short, HON, 16pts 6. Kevin Windham, HON,15pts 7. Austin Stroupe, SUZ, 14pts 8. Justin Brayton, YAM, 13pts 9. Davi Millsaps, HON, 10pts 10. Thomas Hahn, SUZ, 11pts 19. Chad Reed, KAW, 2pts
Top Ten 2010 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Point Standings
1. Ryan Dungey, 47pts 2. Ryan Villopoto, 38pts 3. Josh Hill, 35pts 4. Kevin Windham, 35pts 5. Andrew Short, 34pts 6. Ivan Tedesco, 32pts 7. James Stewart, 31pts 8. Justin Brayton, 26pts 9. Davi Millsaps, 24pts 10. Thomas Hahn, 21pts 21. Chad Reed, 4pts
After the race, there was an apparent altercation in the pits in which Stewart went to the Kawasaki pit and knocked Reed’s bike off the stand – a very uncharacteristic outburst from the usually cool-headed Yamaha rider.
The AMA became involved for the pit incident, and for the open-handed contact Reed had on Stewart while the two were on the ground. The Kawasaki team was notified of Reed’s penalty, which was a $5000 fine and a one-race suspension. The suspension was a moot point anyhow, since Reed’s hand was broken in the crash.
Stewart – who, unlike Reed, is a first-time offender – received a warning from the AMA and no penalty.
The Kawasaki team immediately appealed the penalty, and after hours of deliberation by the AMA and FIM into the wee hours of Sunday morning, it was announced that the appeal was granted, and Reed will not be penalized.
Maybe you guys should go back and watch it again before you put all the blame on Reed. They were both at fault in that turn. I guess Stewart going to Reed's pit and pushing over his bike was the mature thing to do.
Now Stewart moving over (and under) Partridge on the triple, easy to see who was at fault there.
HUH? JS was already coming out of the turn and Reed basically T-Boned him! Reed knew he over shot the turn, he was sliding the rear for a good 10 feet..
Seriously, guys like that need to be removed from playing forever. That kind of crap is unneeded and I'm tired of seeing punks like that out there playing.
Not me.. I like to see alittle rubbing and bumping. Thats the way Supercrooss was in the 70's,80's,and early 90's. Hurricane Hannah,Bailey,Johnson,even Mcgrath in his earlier years. It made it exciting.
After race one I thought we were finally going to have a close season with tight racing for the lead. I hope Stewart can keep going. I think him, villopoto, and Dungey can have some good races.
After watching the pass attempt and reading all the stuff on forums, I conclude that they were racing hard, nothing wrong with the pass attempt in my opinion, and it's nothing worse than I have done, have seen others do in both road racing and dirt racing. Remember the pass that Kenney Roberts Jr. did a few years back in the formula extreme at Laguna? I think it was there, 3 wide on the last lap bumping and grinding all the way to the finish. That's racing, unfortunately, Reed got what he deserved with another DNF and a broken hand, so maybe he'll think twice before he does it again. For the record, I don't like Stewart or Reed, I hope Dungey takes advantage of the turmoil on the track and takes the number 1 plate, but I do enjoy seeing a race, this is much better than watching all those years when McGrath was lapping everyone by the 5th lap of the main. There is some good talent out there on the track this year, I look forward to the rest of the season.
"It looked like Stewart’s line to me. Reed just plowed in there on him, IMHO."
Opinions aside, there aren't lines in dirt racing, its a full contact sport that requies aggresive movements to win. The manuever Reed tried to pull off actually has a formal name, its called a block pass.
There's evidence to support the other side...the collision with JS and CR wasn't the first that JS crossed another rider's line that night. Look at the replays of the heat and you will see JS jump into Cunningham's line off the face of the jump...looks like he didn't know he was there. Cunningham didn't land on JS, JS landed beneath him first. I am starting to believe that these are normal moves for JS from the past when he was out in space by himself, but now there are alot of dudes that have stepped up their game to ride his speed and he no longer owns the lead like before. He is eventually gonna have to restrain the freakish ability to 99% instead of 100% and make strategic decisions or this will happen more often. Not a CR fan, but word is he was trying to get his hand/arm out from underneath JS. Saw the same deal when JS landed on Carmichael a few years back. Ricky tossed JS's bike aside with some disdain.
Go Dungey and Villopoto!! Stewart in frustration cut the corner short to keep Reed from stuffing him in the corner...Reed had already stopped and was turning when Stewart took them both out rather than stay up high in the berm. Bad move Stewart....nobody can convince me otherwise. Gonna be a great season!!
When watching the replay of the video it looks like to me that Reed is on his way out of the corner when James is going down and James grabs onto Reeds left arm causing Reed to lose control and ultimately fall off with his hand beneath James bike. I think if anybody was in Chad's boots at that time they would have pushed James to get their hand free, especially if it had just got broken in that incident. I can only speak for myself and the 10+ years of racing I have had but when adrenaline and emotions are high between two people incidents like this happen.
As for James, he has always been changing lines and jumping into people for years or not looking when re-entering the track. He has jumped onto Ricky, pulled out in front of Preston on the downside of a finish line jump without looking, jumping underneath Cunningham. Also, if you read the interview with Ryan Dungey from last weekend on Racer X, he talks about Stewart coming over on him in the air over triples....not safe!!
I think James was hurting and knew Reed wanted around and tried to shut the door in that corner by squaring the turn tighter than he had been and Reed had no where to go besides where he ended up. It could have been due to the rider in front of James squaring the corner up very tight as well.
The incident starts about ~45 seconds into the clip:
Looks like Reed is trying for the inside line and possibly a block pass, but Stewart runs high and squares off the corner early due to the ride in front of him putting him right through the middle of the corner and in the path of Reed.
Watch closely how Stewart squares off the corner high and early due to the rider in front of him, causing him to run a different line. Also note how Reed has his bike nearly stopped and rotating around the corner with his head pointed down the next straight at the moment of impact. Reed is clearly going for a different line than the two riders ahead of him, but it doesn't look like he intentionally rode into Stewart.
Maybe they should let the sport evolve and let the disputes get resolved letting them fight like they do in hockey. Just post a few refs around the track. Or maybe there should be an MMA cage with ref closeby so any disputes can be resolved there as part of the show. (and get bonus points for fighting) When I buy a ticket, I want my moneys worth.