Coy Gibbs on JS7/JGR Divorce
Steve Matthes grabbed about 40 minutes of JGR team owner Coy Gibbs' time to get his thoughts on the departure of James Stewart from the team's perspective. It really does sound like the split was as ammicable as the Demi Moore and Bruce Willis divorce.
I am very happy that I finally got the answer to my question about why Yamaha wouldn't require James to sit out the 2012 Nationals. In case you're unaware of my curiosity on this issue, I'll summarize. For James to switch brands and go racing within a 2 week span (of course he's been riding it longer but lets keep this on the up and up) is a huge gamble for Yamaha. If he immediately looks like the James of 2009 and earlier, Yamaha has egg on their face. Gamble lost. On the other hand, if James struggles and looks similar to how he has since 2010, Yamaha's bet pays off. The fact that James hasn't raced a full outdoors schedule since 2008 could work into Yamaha's favor as well.
In the end, Coy says they did entertain the thought of requiring James to sit out until 2013 but they just weren't interested in making this split dirty. The deal had gone south for both sides so they were just happy with parting ways as simply as possible.
Commendable on both sides but something tells me the Yamaha PR machine is going to have some serious spinning to do until the next revolution hits dealer floors.