Tyler Bowers on his Justin Barcia incident
A much-publicized accident occurred in Arlington between Tyler Bowers and Justin Barcia. This Incident led to the disqualification of Bowers who shared his account of the facts with us via Instagram. In his statement, Bowers mainly criticizes the arbitrariness with which these incidents are punished, and that there is no consistency in the jury's decisions. Read Tyler Bowers' full statement here on MXMag now!
Tyler Bowers:
First of all, I would like to apologize to my team and fans for the events that occurred. What I'm about to say is not an excuse for my actions, but hopefully I can shed some light on the fact that I feel there is a lack of consistency among the officials who have to judge these incidents. I myself have not always been an angel in the past, but I have been careful in recent years to keep myself out of situations like this. I believe aggressive racing makes our sport what it is today. I have certainly made some aggressive maneuvers myself, so I should be able to tolerate them. Although there is still a line, and as a professional racer you know when you've crossed it. What I tried to do last night was to ride an aggressive race, just like I had to go through in reverse. Instead of just putting up with the aggression of other pilots, I paid back in kind, which unfortunately caused both of us to fall.
While I personally find my imposed sanction quite extreme, I do not 100% disagree with the decision of the AMA or the FIM (particularly John Gallagher). My problem mainly lies in the lack of consistency on which various committees rely to make these decisions. Myself and other pilots have already reported several incidents to the officials regarding Justin Barcia's over-the-top aggressive racing tactics. For example, I weigh 90 kg, which means I don't flinch so easily when someone else hits me. So I don't always fall, even if the impact is strong enough to break my fibula, rip spokes out of my wheels, put holes in my swingarm and bend my brake rotors and brake levers. So when I am hit hard enough to sustain physical injuries, I can sometimes tolerate these impacts better because I am a more heavily built pilot. Although just because I don't fall does not mean that this maneuver was not used without bad intentions. Unfortunately, the AMA and FIM never did anything when I or other pilots brought this to their attention.
These organizations are there to handle incidents like this appropriately, and now they want to use me as an example by punishing me for something that previously went unpunished. I spoke with Mr. earlier this year. Gallagher in Oakland and she “If you don't do your job then it will soon be the wild west on the track, do your job Sir.”
When she informed me of my punishment, I could hardly defend myself, as I was constantly interrupted by an official who has never participated in a professional motocross race. It bothers me enormously that this official, who is in a position of power, started arguing with me about facts that I have seen happen on the circuit, facts that he himself is not aware of, such as: cross jumping in the rhythm section, shouting, etc. . All this happened prior to the incident that the camera was able to capture in that one particular bend. If the official in question had been a police officer with a gun, he would have trembled with fear and anger before pulling the trigger in a hasty decision. This was before he even attempted to communicate with me and my team in a rational manner.
There are too many examples from the past where no disciplinary sanctions have been taken. The most comparable example occurred shortly after I was assigned my own sanction. Sorry Mitchell Oldenburg, but I'm going to use your example (see video). When I was given my punishment, the same incident occurred again in the exact same corner, but this time it went unpunished. Then where is the constant! #doyourjob
By the way, I don't think this has anything to do with the recent chalk incident or with what I, together with other pilots and teams, are trying to achieve with the supercross promoters. There is better communication between both parties, and we will continue to meet every weekend to discuss certain matters and to better inform each other. I think continuing these meetings will only make things better, as long as everyone can share their point of view and we can understand each other better (even if we don't always agree).
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Text: Dieter Jans
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