I personally never saw Josh initiate contact once. From where i was sitting, Josh was racing clean, Danny was racing dirty.
Then you need to watch the race again. Lap 6. Eslick clearly has the inside, and is ahead of Herrin, but regardless, Herrin closes his line and makes contact. That contact is because he refused to concede the line to Eslick. You even hear the commentator say on the replay, "Herrin tried to come in but Eslick was right there." This incident is completely on Herrin. There is no way you can put this on Eslick, as once you got the advantage into the turn, you either concede or suffer the consequence of your own stubbornness. I'd say the reason why Herrin went into the grass was more a function that this happened in the wet.
Would you like to see the exact same situation with a different result? Forward to lap 11. Here you will see Clint Sellers pass Cardenas in the exact corner and almost in the exact way Eslick passes Herrin. But notice the different follow through by Cardenas, he concedes the line, everybody comes out of the corner ok. And don't tell me that Eslick ran wide because you will see Sellers runs the same line out of the turn, which is wide.
Keep in mind we didn't get to see the pass in turn one at the start of this lap. Eslick was leading Herrin at the end of lap 5 then Herrin appears ahead of Eslick out of turn. As somebody said, we didn't get to see all of the passes on eachother, so we can't rule out any "shenanigans".
Nothing happens again until the red flag between Eslick and Herrin.
After the red flag, its basically a 9 lap shoot out. Take a good look at the restart; you will again see the exact same scenario play out in turn 4. But this time its Eslick and Wesby. Eslick puts the exact same move on Wesby as you are claim was dirty by Eslick on Herrin. Look at what Wesby does, he concedes the line. So now you have two other examples on the same turn with riders executing a pass exactly to Eslick on Herrin, but with different outcomes, and the only difference is that Herrin refused to concede the line and closed on Eslick "initiate" contact!
At the end of the first lap after the restart, Eslick puts a pass on Herrin going into the straight, Herrin does not close his line, Eslick does not run him wide, very clean in fact. Now pay close attention to turn for on this lap. What does Eslick do, he again beats Herrin to the turn, but Herrin again stubbornly closes his line and again "initiates" contact! (Dude, I'm watching it on half the screen as I type this. Watch it again; you will see this is exactly what is happening.) So to this point, Herrin has infact has "initiated" contact on the very same turn! Scott Russell says "Herrin has got to know this, he needs to run a little lower on the inside of that corner on the brakes." I'm sure you got it on Tvo, watch it, you'll see I'm telling it like it is buddy.
Now finish this lap, you see with 7 laps to go, Eslick is leading down the straight but Herrin stuffs Eslick on the inside and what do you think happens next? Herrin runs Eslick so wide that he back tire clips the paint (you can't go any more wider than that) and almost has a highside!
Really, after watching this race several times over, I must admit, I've done a reversal as to who I think was actually riding aggressive. Herrin clearly was. And this is from our lazy boy perspective. Imagine how Eslick perceived Herrin's contact(s) and stuffing then running wide? ...., it would make your blood boil too.
So now lets go to the move that we deemed most egregious and openly “dirty”, the now infamous “brake check”. Well was it really. Honestly, as I rewatch it again, I’m stunned at how its clearly Herrin pushing the issue and Eslick taking more of an evasive defensive stance. Watch it again, don’t just comment without looking at the move a few times and slowing it down. Eslick begins to attempt the pass at the exact turn 4 where Herrin has “initiated” contact. Again we see the same scenario play out, watch as Herrin begins to close the line on Eslick, and puts his knee out. At this very point, Eslick sees Herrin out of his peripheral and takes a small look back, watch Herrin continue to close the line. Infact, Herrin does a bobble while closing the line toward Eslick. This bobbling gets Eslicks attention again and takes another look back. Danny looks to be a person who is waiting for Josh to ram him as oppose to brake checking. Eslick is distracted enough with Herrin that he loses slight momentum, but not enough to get a good drive out of the corner and maintain the advantage over Allison who is closing fast also.
On the next lap, with 4 to go, on the very same turn 4 where all the .... is happening, this time Eslick again takes the same line, Herrin again comes along side but then falls in line and no problems.
Speed then goes to a commercial. So we don’t get to see Herrin’s crash live. But in the replay we see what happens. And guess where? Yup, turn 4, where Herrin has been ....... around on Eslick. But this time Herrin in on the inside, Eslick is on the outside going into the turn. Herrin has trouble holding his tight line and leaves a crease. Eslick having a wide entry has the momentum and drive to capitalize on the crease left by Herrin, and this is where the contact its made. Herrin crashes out. Its this incident that hands Cardenas the title because Eslick drive is interrupted and Matin slips through.
So you tell me, we always say we want these dudes to battle for the wins, and especially in this situation, the championship, in retrospect, was Eslicks move all that “dirty”? Don’t answer just from your gut, but do your homework. Watch the race again, lap by lap, incident by incident. When I first saw the race, my first reaction was to say Eslick had ridden too aggressive. But not after watching it.
