agreed. hacking is paid to win. he needs to race. ben and mat's situation is just that, ben amd mat's situation. it's not his problem

Worry about your teammate's position in the championship - short of that it's just the opposition.

If Jamie found himself in a posistion to actually win a race,which isnt going to happen,sure,he would go for it.If it comes down to Laguna and the points are close between Spies and Mladin and Jamie has 3rd secured,i say he would defer from racing those 2 hard so he wouldnt be a foot note to history in case something stupid happened.It would do him no good to stuff either contender for a second place finish at one of the contenders expense,especially Spies,since they are best friends.Purely hypothetical,situation,it comes down to the last race at Laguna,Spies leads Mladin by six points but Mladin has led the most laps and is leading the race and Spies is running 2nd with Hacking 3rd,all three in lock step,'remeber i said hypothetical'.Would Hacking pass Spies for a
meaningless second place finish and cost his best friend the title.I say he wouldnt

povol - 06 August 2008 01:01 PM

Purely hypothetical,situation,it comes down to the last race at Laguna,Spies leads Mladin by six points but Mladin has led the most laps and is leading the race and Spies is running 2nd with Hacking 3rd,all three in lock step,'remeber i said hypothetical'.Would Hacking pass Spies for a
meaningless second place finish and cost his best friend the title.I say he wouldnt

My point exactly. I guess I didnt' spell it out clearly enough.

man, you guys should write the script for these races. isn't that how they do it in nascar?

hi-zoot - 06 August 2008 04:16 PM

man, you guys should write the cript for these races. isn't that how they do it in nascar?

It's not that far fetched really. Spies and Mladin are always 1-2, and lately no one else has had anything for Hacking, so I think it could happen.

Seriously though, I know these guys are paid to win, and I know that Hacking wants to win. I'd say in either 3 or 4 of the final 5 races, Hacking will race for position no matter who's in front. But if Mladin can win the title by beating Spies at Laguna, I think Jamie will allow the two of them to settle it themselves, and take a very impressive 3rd in the championship.

i think i have no idea what jamie is thinking.

Don't forget that Mladin isn't the picture of health either. He is supposedly having issues with Epstein Barr virus (some type of infectious mononucleosis) that can have a 1-2 month recovery time. It didn't seem to stop him at Mid Ohio but he left testing at Road Atlanta early to go home and rest so he can be healthy for VIR.

hi-zoot - 06 August 2008 12:39 PM

agreed. hacking is paid to win. he needs to race. ben and mat's situation is just that, ben amd mat's situation. it's not his problem

I think Eric Bostrom would disagree with you if you told him Hacking wouldn't play spoiler to help a friend.

povol - 06 August 2008 10:02 AM

Seems to be a forgone conclusion.I know there is still a lot of racing to do, but if you do the math,this thing is
over,obviously barring a get off and no point race on Spies part.With 5 legs left,Mladin could maximize the points in every race and still fall short as long as Spies finishes second.Which brings up another debate,the points system.It doesnt put enough emphasis on winning and on the other hand,1 non point race is the kiss of death.You can win a race and only make up a couple of points if the second place guy got the poll point.With the competition
at the front consisting of 2 guys,one no points race is basically the end of your hopes for a title.Mladin was also very luck that the AMA has some silly rule that a restart before the 1st lap is over results back to the original grid spot.How you can go out and wreck,all on your own,Cause a red flag,be allowed enough time to rebuild your bike and still re start 1st is beyond me.

Even though its a stupid rule,there was extenuating circumstances to Mladin and Hackings wreck at Mid O, so i have no problem with the restart. It seems some dumba$$ spilled his cooler crossing the bridge and that is what they hit at high speed left lean causing the crash.