Dom, Uncorked (Moral Incident Analysis)
What a fun race. This is sort of the opposite of what I experienced last time at the enduro. I came prepared and drove very assertively.
I started towards the back and ultimately made my way to first. I dialed the aggression back a touch for the final pass, hoping to find a clean and easy solution. Unfortunately, I slightly compromised my pass on 1, which allowed Chris Sielko to get under and take the lead away right after I took it.
Alas, in the ensuing chase #3 punts me and my dreams of podium evaporated. However, I put my nose down and make a spot back and finish in style, and, apparently the fella who punted me got a penalty.
I took no prisoners here and Chris Sielko (yellow shirt) felt the turbulence. All that bumping was me pushing Chris through the corner so that I didn’t get eaten by the pack. I was pushing us through, and, if you look at footage, he benefited, so my apologies for the tough love. He got podded by the guy in blue, not me. 
I made a number of passes here that elicited “gestural” reactions from the drivers so I was concerned us that perhaps I was driving too rough. Upon inspection of my footage, I’d say I was totally fair. Small opportunities were turned into larger ones, but I did not precipitate those mistakes. I just capitalized. I did, however, apply pressure and may have made some folks uncomfortable. #47 seemed like maybe I had him waaay out of comfort zone. Chris didn’t seem happy being shoved around, either!
Ironically, when I found myself trying to pass the leader I decided to be less aggressive and look for an easier pass. I pushed him along, hoping for a mistake. This ultimately cost me, allowing 2 and 3 to close back up. I don’t think I made a bad decision, but a slight miscalculation in my pass, resulting in a tap of the barrier which pushed me slightly wide, allowed chris to move into first and take the win once I was punted by 3. So, I guess it was a bad decision, but it’s a learning moment.
Opinions? Is the savagery appropriate?
Final thott: after the race, the photographer found me and told me that I ran a heck of a race. That felt nice.
Oh, here’s a really fun battle from Prefinal. I started pretty much pole and had to fend this fella off into t1 repeatedly. It was very entertaining knowing I had to outbrake him and he was game to play chicken.
Anyone wanna see the problem with looking back? The bit where I catch up to and then pass 47. Take a look at how this compromises his driving (timestamp at 6mins):
