Wowzers! haha. Let me start by saying I am glad Tyler and I both are walking and traveling home today. It really was a gnarly crash. Ill give you my honest play by play from my point of view.
Lets start with the lead run.
I had been doing the hand brake entries all weekend, and in my run I did the same late hand brake entry that put my rear end on the wall. During this run, my initiation was not aggressive enough to get the car at comfortable angle, so I had to steer the car to that point. Which I DO consider a bobble (similar to Daigo in his follow run against Chris). From all of my footage, this caused Tyler to have a bobble as well. The rest of my run was at large angle, on line, and lots of smoke and speed, keeping a gap between Tyler and I while he did hit the transition clip in front of the crowd, and lifted the rear tire onto the bank.
Following run of DOOM!
Tyler had been doing a super gangster entry all weekend, I was actually jealous of it! But I also knew it would be tough to follow. I went into the run knowing I would have to leave a gap and close it by the 2nd outer clip by the stands. My speeds from the outer clip to the inside bank were 7+ mph faster then Tylers, So that was my strategy.
We leave the line, I leave the gap. He enters with a low line, So a stay slightly shallower so that I am able to close the gap. As I was reeling him in I noticed that there was a change in his angle, I added angle and followed his line for another 100ft. I then started pedaling the throttle to lower my speed because I could see that he was going towards the wall. At this point I had to make a decision. I was either going to go directly into Tyler with my side of the car on throttle, or put the (already been smashed 4 times) rear of my car into the wall with large angle and throttle and try not to smash my front. I chose the wall. I would like to say my decision was based in favor of a lesser injury for the both of us and my car, but it happened so fast that I can only admit choosing the wall instead of the Camaro.
I understand that judging is a very hard job and would not want to be in any of their shoes.
Here is my slight issue. Please understand that I am just stating my point of view and understand the decision has been made.
If my bobble in the lead run (which I completed) was the reason Tyler who hit the transition clip and put a tire off course took the win, Then how was his wall hit (not finishing the run) not equal or more of a bobble.
I have learned a lot from this accident, but I will continue to push the envelope and drive as aggressive as possible. That is a promise! I am glad Tyler and I can keep this website true to its name!
