Here is a little excerpt from the RacerX web site. It is the story how Trey Canard won the 250 Outdoor title over Christope Pourcel who crashed in the 1st moto, of the last race, and dislocated his shoulder, thereby handing the title to Carnard.
I wonder if Chad or James would act this way, in these circumstances… I won't comment on the idiot 'fans'.
After the moto, it was official: Trey Canard was the 2010 AMA 250cc National Motocross Champion.
On the podium, for probably the 12th race in a row, Canard was greeted to chants of "USA!" which he graciously accepted, but throughout the series, Pourcel has been mocked and belittled by the American crowds at the podiums as many fans have told him to "go home" and other similar things. The implication at Pala was that, by winning, Canard had won the championship for the USA, stopping a Frenchman from winning the title.
However, those fans should’ve stuck around to see what transpired after the race, as a couple of hours later, outside the GEICO Powersports Honda rig, Chris Pourcel showed up, his right arm in a sling supporting a badly swollen shoulder, and asked Canard for one of the championship shirts Fox had made up that said, "Every Moto Counts" on the front. Sadly, the team was out of the shirts, so instead, Canard brought out his race helmet, which he had signed on the back to read, "Thanks for the great season, Trey Canard".
Pourcel rejected it, laughing, saying it wasn’t funny enough, so Canard returned to the rig, then came back and had added something about The Duck" ("Canard" is French for "duck"), and Pourcel happily accepted.
Pourcel then proceeded to tell Canard that he wasn’t happy to have lost, but he said that Canard deserved to win the championship, and he congratulated his rival on his performance. Canard was touched by the whole thing. You see, last year at High Point, Canard had Pourcel beaten in moto two, which would’ve been Canard’s first-ever AMA National win, but Pourcel dogged him the whole way, and with about two laps to go, Canard switched lines on a tricky jump and went over the bars, breaking his arm badly. Pourcel won the overall that day. And Pourcel also made it a point to go over to the GEICO rig that day to tell Canard that he was sorry he was hurt and compliment Canard on how he was riding that day.
As the two racers move on to the 450cc class in supercross next year, we may have witnessed the beginning of a friendly but serious rivalry, where the two racers have almost as much respect for each other as they do desire to win. It’s just unfortunate that the fans don’t have as much respect for Pourcel as Canard does, or for that matter, as Pourcel does for Canard.
That is why I love motorcycle racing. All the trash talk is just boring BS. It is often said that 'sport creates character'. I disagree, I think sport 'reveals' your true character.
Great stuff
VMX42
