It’s no surprise in the high-stakes world of Supercross racing that team bosses sometimes get the final say. Every now and then, the bigger picture of winning a championship is deemed more important than individual wins. And sometimes, riders within the same team might be told to help each other if push comes to shove. Of course, you’ll never find that on record…but really, we know who’s signing the paychecks.
Now, I completely understand the logic behind decisions like this. Championships truly are more important than a single race win, but is it really a good call for the secondary rider to play that part?
It’s a tough decision to make for the riders. Every single one of them have the same goal: beat as many guys as possible. And at the end of the day, that’s how they pay the bills. But when their boss “suggests” or “prefers” for them to ride in a way that benefits their stable-mate, what affect will it have on their career?
Nearly any move made on the track is bound to be caught on camera, the riders know this. Yet somehow, blatant moves that help teammates happen quite frequently in the sport. And usually with little effort into making it seem “accidental”.
Who could forget Kyle Chisholm’s (fairly successful) attempt in 2009 to slow down Chad Reed, while his teammate James Stewart scurried away to victory? This may have helped James in the short term, but Chisholm’s career has been in shambles ever since.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46_dfuZzVlY]
As the 2017 Monster Energy Supercross season comes to an end, the points race became extremely tight. Eli Tomac rode his ass off this year to provide the perfect underdog story our sport desperately needed.
Unfortunately though, we might as well toss that story in the trash. Tomac came into round 16 at MetLife Stadium with a three point advantage over Dungey for the overall championship. Not ideal, but a decent cushion with only one more race to go. But apparently Tomac doesn’t like cushions, because after the struggled 8th place finish, he now sits 9 points behind Ryan Dungey heading into the final race of the season.
Dungey wasn’t the fastest rider in the Main Event. Those honors should’ve gone to his teammate, Marvin Musquin, who sliced his way to an early lead and began to pull away from Mr. Consistent.
As the laps continued to add up, everyone began to wonder if Marvin would really keep his lead all the way to the checkered flag. The broadcast commentators started throwing out suspicion of potential team orders that may appear on his pit board as the final lap drew near.
Marvin’s pace began to slow, and Dungey was now only a few bike-lengths away from the Frenchman. In one of the slowest (and simplest) corners of the track, Marvin made a “mistake” that allowed Dungey to pass and pull away to victory.
Marvin even kept up the act throughout the post-race interviews and press conference, claiming that he really was trying to take the win. Right….
As I stated previously, I’m not mad at Marvin for helping out his teammate. I just hope that his Factory KTM team paid out the bonus he should’ve received if he’d kept his hand on the throttle. Although, considering that Marvin and KTM signed a two year renewal of his contract just hours before the race, perhaps he felt his current compensation was adequate enough.
Regardless of the controversy, I hope this doesn’t dampen Marvin’s confidence. In my opinion, he is capable of winning a championship, and shouldn’t be playing second fiddle to a Wheaties cover boy.
But I’d like to throw out an even bigger conspiracy theory really quick. Tomac’s performance this past weekend was very out of character. The guy has repeatedly come from outside the top ten and forced his way to a comfortable win this season. And now he gets an early lead, then starts to fade back while riding like it’s his first time in a stadium track?
Oh please. That’s not the Tomac I’ve been rooting for, and surely he wouldn’t just let the championship slip out of his fingers that easily. So perhaps, just perhaps….Marvin wasn’t the only one getting a little extra bonus to shake up the points race?
That shouldn’t be viewed as anything more than just a moron’s theory, but still, what if….?
I’ll let you take a look at the highlight reel so you can judge for yourself:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWTtGwqzNFA]
Cadbury Pringlebatch is the Lead Motorcycle Expert and Investment Analyst for The SoBros Network, but knows a little bit about everything. Known for frequenting Nashville YMCA steam rooms, he’s a firm believer that winning football is produced by moving the chains, and became a SoBro after mistaking the Power Hour Podcast for an AA meeting. Follow on Twitter:@SoBroCadbury
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