The Gossip - Big Brother

We all know what the big brother stigma entails.

Your big brother is:

strong
tall
eats like a lion
knows everything about everything
faster than you

With most younger siblings who are seperated by a fair amount of years, the big brother can seem almost heroic, imagined to be like a super hero that you always look up to. For many, this stigma never leaves, as in life, the big brother will always have those traits hidden within the inner depths of the younger sibling. This will always lead to a wall that cannot be overcome, gone around, or dug under, whether the wall be motocross, school, lifting, or dating. The younger brother will always look up to, instead of ahead and beyond the big brother.

Austin Stroupe needs to smash through the wall Ryan Villapoto has created as a big brother image to Austin. Stroupe-a-Loop has the raw speed to make it happen, and when he realizes this, his results will realize this.

Leading into the season, when listening to any interview he has done, he truly believes he can beat everyone on that motocross track---everyone except RV. He rides with Ryan, rides like Ryan, looks like Ryan (on a bike), and probably dreams like he thinks Ryan dreams.

How can he expect to beat RV if he doesn't expect to be better than RV in the long run?

Even after posting faster lap times in moto-1 than Ryan, and almost faster lap times in moto-2 after leading RV for some laps, Stroupe had this to say in the press conference after the race:
"I definitely think Ryan was going a little faster than me, and he was definitely pressuring me..."

Now read here at RacerX the lap times between the two.

As you can see, in moto 1, Stroupe turned in a lap that was 6 THOUSANDTHS of a second faster than RV. On a track with almost three minute lap times, that equates to around .003% difference per lap. That is 3 thousandths of percent faster than Ryan on that lap.

Talk about splitting hairs!

That said, in the second moto, RV turned in the fastest lap of the event for all second motos, James Stewart included. Ryan's 2:42.684 was an improvement from his moto 1 time of 2:43.412 by .728 of a second. Ryan managed to pick up .44% from his first moto. That is less than half of a percent per lap.

Interesting bench racing ammo from the lap times: only Austin Stroupe and Ryan Villapoto were able to turn in faster lap times in their second moto than their first moto, once again including the big bike class.

Austin Stroupe is here, and Ryan better think twice about just how much he helps his younger brother. If Austin can smash down the mental wall, I think he can dig deep and find 1/2 of a percent, don't you?