Of all the things 'ol Paul Page says that bothers everyone so much, I'm kinda getting tired of hearing Mike say Jeggie and Dave Connelly are "The best leavers in the business." They are both great but were both second to leave in their races against KJ not to mention one of my favorite leavers in Pro Stock, Mike Edwards also getting treed by KJ as well. I don't suppose Dunn will ever be guilty of calling KJ one of the best leavers in the business, though. It's also nice that he outran everyone else to boot. Way to go Sugar Hill gang! That alone made this a great day.
First off - great job KJ! Good to see him in the winners circle.
Secondly - I tend to agree with Mike in this respect Doc -
Dave typically cut's a better light than the competition. Not always, but typically. Yesterday's final was an exception where KJ cut his best light (by a bit) to get the holeshot).
Jeg, well, he is gonna nail it every time. You don't see him have a bad light day too often. If he hits a bad light one round and still gets the win, he comes back out, and it is fixed. Here's numbers for case and point.
Yesterday's race:
Dave Connolly (.059) to Richie Stevens (.078)
Dave Connolly (.024) to Greg Anderson (.064)
Dave Connolly (.027) to Allen Johnson (.044)
Dave Connolly (.016) to Kurt Johnson (.014)
Kurt Johnson's lights:
R1: (.031) - R2: (.023) - R3: (.025) - R4: (0.14)
Jeg Coughlin's lights:
R1: (.033) - R2: (.033) - R3: (.035)
Yesterday obviously Kurt did good on the tree, no doubt. And he rarely does sleep, but he doesn't have the same consistency (IMO) that Jeg and Dave C. have. It is fine to disagree, but I will say to the end that there is no better leaver than Jeg just because he is consistent. Consistency wins races.
Look back at some others and you can see the same pattern. Looking back through all the races, Jeg's most inconsistent race was Gainesville, and he won it. KJ's best was Denver, and he didn't. So it doesn't always make all the difference.
My only real point being, Jeg will get dialed in and be in the same .0X0 range all weekend, usually in the 20's or 30's. Most others will be in a spread from .010 to .070 with their lights being hit and miss. It's just impressive to me.
All that is not to say that Kurt is not a good leaver, because he is. For sure. And I definitely don't mind seeing him win (much more so than the old man).
DLB
