Paul definitely has something to be upset about for that pass and I acknowledge that and am glad he came to me and talked about it the way he did, very cool and good of him. From his perspective, I moved over on him while passing on the inside of 6. From my perspective, I passed him on the exit of turn 5 and went to turn in for 6 and felt a hit on my rear. I actually thought to myself "wtf, that dude is outta control, why would he bump me like that after I already got him." I didn't realize until he talked to me that I didn't complete the pass out of 5 and that we were actually going up the hill side by side when I moved over on him. I didn't see Paul because I was slightly ahead and already looking at the corner entrance and realize now that I should have paid more attention before changing my line. I'd like to think it's a racing incident and not just reckless riding, but I'm glad I got talked to about it and did learn something from it.
As for the cartwheeling incident well... Aaron and I also talked about it and it seems like it was another unfortunate racing incident. He didn't just brake a little early, he told me that he accidentally downshifted and that's why he slowed down so early. In the video he was actually pulling me when you hear his bike all of a sudden start to rev high. I was racing Aaron all weekend (the last race he beat me by like 3 feet, and even slapped my leg on the straight once :) ) and know pretty well where he brakes for that corner so I felt quite confident following him in, but then we ended up colliding. It's definitely not his fault and I'm not trying to say that it's not my fault either, I mean there are so many things I could have done differently (like try to take him on the brakes on the inside for example)
And as for me and Dan with the passes at MAM, I never thought they were too aggressive but can see how you might have been upset about it. I'll just say this... the few times I passed you and stood you up, there was about 3-4 feet of space inbetween us, on the borderline of being too close, but if you didn't expect it I can see why it spooked ya. As for why I passed there instead of on the brakes earlier well... you pulled such a huge freaking gap on the straights that it took me over half a lap to make it back up every time. That bike is sweet! (wishing I could afford it and that it wasn't carbed) I was hoping to get by you - knowing that you would repass me on the straights, but that I'd close the gap enough that I might be able to outbrake you earlier in the lap instead of at turn 10. But if you had taken tighter more defensive lines instead of swooping way out wide then there is no way I could have even attempted to go up the inside of ya in the right hand part of that chicane.
I actually hate that the passes upset ya and you talking to me made me think long and hard - enough that I ended up settling for a couple of crappy middleweight finishes the next round because I didn't wanna piss someone else off by stuffing them even though they were going a full second slower than me. I realized I was shooting myself in the foot though by doing that and that the goals of winning an overall regional championship and riding nice and not pissing off anyone are incompatible goals.
As for how close I feel is comfortable in a pass... ask Jay Smith. On the last lap of a LW race, I stuffed him in the bus stop and then one corner later he divebombed me on the inside of turn 5 at Blackhawk and freaked the shit outta me but instead of standing up, I rested my elbow on his knee and fairing while we went through that corner. This is after 2 or 3 laps of constant position changes. He won because I just couldn't safely pass him on the last corner. The next time we saw each other we agreed that it was the best fucking race we've ever experienced and coolest thing in the world and that we were both cool with each other.
Actually, at this point I'm not even sure what the point of this post is anymore. I'm just bored and should probably stay away from the keyboard before I piss off anyone else lol
