When Casey Stoner confronted Valentino Rossi in Jerez on Sunday with the words, "Did your ambition outweigh your talent?" fellow Aussie Chad Reed no doubt felt he could have uttered the same words to nemesis James Stewart, with perhaps even more accuracy.
Stewart had once again got out of control, this time spearing into Reed knocking Chad off the track and ultimately costing him the points lead, just as Rossi had done with Stoner, and just like Rossi, the culprit ended up with a better finish than the innocent victim.
Asking the same question to both riders however is maybe where the similarities stop. Looking at the big picture and not just this one incident Rossi is known for his smoothness and intelligence on the track, he has a record breaking nine World Titles to his name and most people were shocked not just that he had taken out Stoner but that he had crashed in the first place.
In direct contrast to Rossi Stewart isn’t known for his smoothness or his racing brain. Fans now don’t seem to be shocked that Stewart crashed. In fact they aren’t even shocked that he crashed AGAIN, because now people (including his rivals) seem to EXPECT he will crash.
But what is the reason for all those crashes, does Stoner’s question apply even more to Stewart than Rossi? Is it Stewart’s ambition outweighing his talent that has led to these crashes? On the face of it, Stewart is the most talented rider in the sport and it appears, at least from the outside, that if James just rode to the edge of his talent that he would have won even more championships. But then would James be any faster than the rest if he didn’t ride over the edge of his talent? Only James knows the answer....
Even when he is comfortable in the lead and his talent is taking him to victory, Stewart still has the ambition to do more, in the 125s he wanted to win by minute - and usually it works. But when he has pressure with rivals on a similar pace the ambition seems to get the better of him. At Daytona a few weeks ago he was two seconds quicker than the rest and had the win in the bag within the opening laps, but that wasn’t good enough –Stewart wanted more and he kept pushing until he had a huge endo, gifting the win to Ryan Villopoto.
Stewart’s ambition seems to be even higher than his talent level, which is already absurdly high, but perhaps the two go hand in hand. If James didn’t have the ambition, would he have become as fast, would he have won those championships? Or has his talent and race winning dominance from he was on 50s created the expectation of crushing victories, which has created the automatic mindset to dominate every race at every level.
Stewart’s ambition to win at all costs has brought him a legion of fans, but it appears to be his ambition to win that is ironically also costing him some fans and now wins.
Maybe James needs to learn to accept that with the current competition level he will have to lose a few battles in order to win the war... something all the greats have learnt to do. You don’t always have to be the fastest to win a championship you also have to be the smartest and channel your ambition in the right way...just ask Chad Reed.
But then again, do the fans really want a smart James Stewart, or would they miss the ruthless ambition to dominate every race even if it means riding above his talent level... because that until now is what defines James Stewart and that is why we love to watch him race.
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