Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 23 JUNE 11, 2019 P119 policy, from the AMA Supercross rulebook). Considering that those repeat- er banners continued even well past the point where Cianciarulo re-entered (and considering the terrain surrounding those ban- ners previous to that spot) it is definitely "as close as practical" to the point where Cianciarulo went off the track. He did slow down after leaving the course, and he did not, in the end, gain an advantage by going off the course, as he rejoined the chase farther behind than he was when he went off the track. Case closed, right? Well, not if you're Justin Coo- per. And that's what I'm going to concentrate on here. A lot of people are coming down on Cooper for what he said after the race, and for his insistence on protesting the result, and also appealing the result of that protest. He says they're going to be "drawing it out." People are angry at Cooper. Some people agree with him, but most that I've seen just seem to chalk it up to sour grapes. He's a sore loser. Of course, he's a sore loser! You don't get to be a competitor at the top level of any sport like that if losing is just no big deal to you! We've been BS'd by PR train- ing that helps athletes suppress their real feelings when they lose. Losing sucks. It hurts. And for the most part, the "aw shucks, I just did my best" thing is an act. It's not real. From Cooper's perspective, he probably thinks he was right because all he knew is that he came around a turn and Ciancia- rulo was jumping a banner right next to him. He didn't see how close Cianciarulo was before he went off the track, what he did off the track, where the banners were strung, and that Cianciarulo joined in behind him and stayed off the gas for long enough for Cooper to recuper- ate his previous advantage. All Cooper saw was Cianciarulo joining back on the track as he went by, and then hearing Cian- ciarulo back there again from that point forward. If you under- stand his perspective, it's easy to see why he felt so righteous about everything. But Cooper made some crucial mistakes that should be teachable moments for him in his career as we move forward: First, he allowed the situation to rattle him and take his focus away from what he was doing. Second, after he made a mis- take and went down (either due to being flustered, pressure or some combination), he rational- ized that he didn't have to beat Cianciarulo to win, because he (third mistake) counted on the AMA officials determining things in his favor after the race. The first one that might just come with time, but focus is something most top racers struggle with at one time or another, and this was a weird circumstance. The second one and the third one, those are the most significant errors, in my opinion. It's always dangerous to count on other people outside of your control to see things the way you see them, and you never, ever want to leave a race result up to the race officials. If Cooper could have caught Cian- ciarulo but gave anything short of 100% effort to do so because he thought Cianciarulo was going to be penalized, it was a major error in judgment. Cooper has a chip on his shoulder now, and that's okay. It might even be good. From here, though, there are a couple of ways this can likely go, and they depend on Cooper's mindset: If the chip on his shoulder is that he feels cheated, there's a possibility he could make further errors out of anger and/or a feeling of desperation, and that could just make an unfortunate situation worse. If the chip on his shoulder is that he came closer than ever, but he lost again, then his anger should be pointed inward. And if he's willing and able to take that on-board—take the blame for his own failure at the last round—he will undoubtedly end up a bet- ter racer, and a better person, because of this incident with Cianciarulo in Colorado. CN