[Paul_E_D]

This is the conundrum of racing. It's a problem even in the AMA and sometimes WSB. I have seen both sides of the problem. As a fast expert competing for championship points, I can tell you that I was erring on the side of aggressive passing, not safety. In a competitive 8 lap race, you don't get a second chance. A LOT of effort and money go into winning. It's hard to throw it away so someone whose still feeling there way around can be safe.

Don't get me wrong, I would always take myself out if possible when my judgment went wrong, but I know I've made some people shit their pants.

I can remember when motards were in the 125 class, we had to make insanely dangerous passes on the first lap, or we could forget winning. Once I went up the inside of five motards into 3. I was screaming and it became clear that I wasn't going to make it as a motard going much slower headed frrom edge to edge. I had the bike on it's nose and I was tipping it in towards the rumblestrip. The rear whel was 4 feet in the air and it started coming around, but it rested on the guy to my left's arm/shoulder. Luckily he noticed and gave me a little room I put the wheel down and we made the turn.

Another time Eric bumped a guy from the inside of 7, and I bumped him around the outside!

I guess besides being predictable, it's important not to use the edges of the track just in case someone really fast is coming through. You really don't need to strafe from edge to curbing until you're getting near the lap record for your bike...