Attack Performance Progressive Yamaha Racing’s Bobby Fong had a disastrous final day of the Superbike season, and emotions were high for the championship contender. After some time to think about what happened and how he reacted, a calmer Fong gave his heartfelt thoughts:
“Saturday was great,” Fong said. “We had a good race, great battle with my competitors. We got the job done, and I felt really good on the bike. The team provided a really good bike, and there was some close racing. It was good leading into Sunday and getting an extra points gap for Sunday for myself, but I knew I had my work cut out for me in the next two races on Sunday.
“Usually, I just like to go out there and put my head down and try to be as fast as I can from lap one to the end of the race. One of my competitors… I just don’t like the style of one of my competitors and how he races. I think it’s dangerous, and brake-checking is not my style and slowing down the overall pace, so I did everything I could. Obviously, I was the second guy in line, so you can’t really blame the rider in front on why someone crashed.
“I just wanted to set the record straight. I did everything I could, and he was the better man. He purposely didn’t get on the gas when he should have, and I ran into the back of him, which was my fault. I apologize to all my fans, the team, and everybody because it looked like I was a sore loser and making hand gestures. The people who are closest to me know I’m not going to hurt anybody. It was just heat of the moment.
“The hand gesture, to me, you can take it a lot of different ways, but the people closest to me know that I’m not going to go and physically hurt one of my competitors. That’s not what we are here for. It’s a high-stakes situation, and I felt like it was better giving that gesture than flipping (off) someone else on live television. You can take it a lot of different ways. I personally meant it as he was ‘done’ to me, and I’d lost all respect (for) him and how he races. That’s what I meant by it, and (for) all these other people saying otherwise, I just wanted to give you my two cents.”
