P130
CN
III EMPIRE OF DIRT
BY STEVE COX
A
t the end of the 2017
Monster Energy AMA
Supercross Series, you
probably recall Red Bull KTM's
Marvin Musquin moving over
for his teammate Ryan Dungey
to secure Dungey three more
points toward that year's 450SX
title, which Dungey eventually
won. You might also recall that
Monster Energy Kawasaki's Eli
Tomac had a terrible day that
day, finishing eighth behind his
teammate Josh Grant, and that
Tomac was very vocal a week
later about what he thought
about team tactics like that.
"If the championship does
go down to those three points,
that's a bummer for everyone,"
Tomac said at the Las Vegas
press conference a week later.
"But, hey, if you want to take that
home and sleep on that at night,
knowing that someone pulled
over for you, then it is what it
is..."
At first glance, it might seem
hypocritical for Tomac to benefit
now from his new teammate
Joey Savatgy pulling over for
him in the final main event at this
past weekend's Monster Energy
Cup, but I'm here to explain
why the 2017 KTM team tactics
that Tomac denounced are not
the same as the 2018 Monster
Energy Cup team tactics that he
benefited from.
1: The Red Bull KTM team
must have had a plan in place
prior to the event in 2017, which
was evident by the somewhat-
cryptic pit-board message that
Musquin's mechanic showed to
Musquin late in the race. That
message simply said, "Ryan."
On the other hand, it's highly
unlikely that the Monster En-
ergy Kawasaki team would've
discussed having Savatgy pull
over for Tomac in the final main
event of the night in order for
Tomac to take home a million
dollars this past Saturday night.
Tomac had dominated the first
two main events, and Savatgy
went 5-6, so even if Tomac or
his team would've supported
"TEAM TACTICS"