In the wake of Atlanta’s last lap drama, KTM have issued a statement relieving Stewart of all blame.
By Hayden Gregory
The incident of note occurred on the final lap of the 450SX main while Musquin held the lead. Stewart found himself in the way, causing Musquin to bobble and sway off the track allowing Dungey to move past and capture the victory.
The statement identifies a mistake by Musquin as the underlying factor, negating the view that Stewart was the person responsible for the mishap.
The full statement can be read below.
“While racing his teammate Ryan Dungey for what would have been his first career 450SX Class victory, Musquin made a mistake on his own that ultimately caused him to come up short on a triple and lose the lead position. Stewart, who was not competing for the lead, happened to be near Musquin during his error and has since received undeserved criticism for the incident. The Red Bull KTM Factory Team would like to clarify that there are no hard feelings toward Stewart,” the statement read.
Red Bull KTM Factory Team Manager Roger DeCoster added, “After the race a lot of blame was given to James and I just want to make things clear that the mistake from Marvin was not directly caused by James and we shouldn’t blame him for it. Credit to Marvin, he rode an amazing race and was under tremendous pressure from Ryan for the majority of the race. To lead for 19-consecutive laps is no easy task and how quickly he has adapted to the big bike class in just eight rounds is very impressive.”
