Holy Bar Banging the Big Bikes Batman!! OMG!
You do not want to miss this one folks... Sure, the results if you just look them up were as expected. Chad's fastest lap 3 tenths slower than Bubbas. But, it just doesn't tell the story.
PRACTICE ROUNDS
In the first practice Bubba put on the fastest lap, and Chad the second fastest. But Chad spent a lot of time just doing different lines and portions of the track. Just before the finish line there were two short doubles leading into two short whoops sections. During that first practice Chad found a line that allowed him to land at the right angle off the second small double, gas hard and launch completely over the whoops into the last corner. It tried it 4 or 5 times and it was way faster than anyone else and even Bubba wasn't trying it.
Between practice rounds the Dirt Works crew knocked down that first bump in the second set of whoops so Chad couldn't do it anymore. The best Chad could do in the second practice was to land on the last bump, he tried it several times, and some of the landings were a bit wild and shaky.
Also during the second practice Chad and Bubba had a little bump, Chad's fault. The announcer tried to make it sound like there was some heated words, but it looked to me Chad, concentrating on what he was doing got in Bubba's way on a fast lap. He then made sure he got out of the way and let Bubba run a fast lap, again to have the fastest lap in practice. Chad then ran a fast lap and took second spot. After that Chad stop running fast and just went back to trying different things in different parts of the track.
THE RACE
Mike A, gets the hole shot, big surprise, Chad second, Bubba 4th. Half a lap later Chad first, Bubba 2 bikes back in 2nd. Chad comes out flying, Bubba is there, but it takes him about 5 laps to get close enough to look for a place to pass. One of the key places is the back triple and the rhythm section after it. Most people were coming out of the corner and doing it double, double, single. Chad came right out and did it double, triple. But he could only seem to set up for it about 1/3 of the time, Bubba didn't do the double, triple the first couple laps, then he was able to do it about 1/2 the time. Twice when Bubba did it and Chad didn't it looked like he would have the block pass going into the step on, step off, but both times Chad came out ahead.
Chad used the whole track, riding fast but leaving no place to pass. If Bubba was out side, he would go in and swing wide, just like he was making the block pass. If Bubba was setting him up to cut under, he would cut even farther inside and then ride Bubba wide, or he would brake check, to kill Bubba's momentum.
Bubba started using all different lines to get around, some would cause him to fall back for a half a lap or so. On lap 13 he got by, finally after several tries, getting to the inside on the back triple and setting up the pass. But before the finish line, at the first double into the short whoops section (not the one Chad had been practicing on) Chad launched off the first whoops bump and flew to last bump past Bubba and took the lead back official for lap 14.
Bubba made a similar move going into the back triple as he did the lap before, but added a slide to the outside and a brake check to set up that pass going into the back rhythm section again. Neither could double, triple after that. When they got back to the place where Chad had passed by jumping long into the whoops, Chad was right there, but he didn't try it again. I guess he figured he figured landing that wild move clean twice in a row was pressing his luck.
Next lap, Bubba double, tripled the section and Chad didn't giving Bubba about 2 bike lengths. For two laps it stayed exactly that, then on lap 17 Chad made a mistake in the front triple section and went off the track giving Bubba about a 7 bike lead. Both continued to run hot through lap 19, and the gap stayed about the same, then both backed it down on the last lap.
And Kdub, rode great. The announcer called him the loneliest man on the track. Way ahead of 4th, but not even on the same planet with Chad and Bubba.
Chad and Bubba stopped after the race and talked for quite awhile, both patted each other on the back. They acted like they thought it was the best race of the season, I know I thought it was. And being there was SWEET!!
I expect we will see this intensity right up until the last race, and with both of them riding the edge, well a few weeks ago I would have said IF anyone would go down and throw the championship away it would be Bubba, but then of course the odds favor it. But now, Bubba has back just slightly off the edge, and kept it on two wheels under extreme pressure, and Chad pushed the envelope farther than I've ever seen him before. Now, anyone's guess.