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tion (where their lines would converge) before Craig could, and then act accordingly. If Craig anticipated correctly that Ferran- dis would beat him to that inter- section, he likely would've gotten off the throttle—or maybe even on the brakes—and either cut under Ferrandis or just concede the line and position. This would've resulted in a likely podium finish for Christian Craig! But Craig misjudged the situation, and that is ultimately what caused the crash, and his own DNF. Ferrandis, on the other hand, anticipated correctly, because whether Craig decided to check up or keep it pinned, Ferrandis calculated that he'd get to that intersection first. Ferrandis was right, and he knew if Craig chose to stay on the gas, Craig was destined to pay the heavier pen- alty for that error. If Craig didn't see Ferrandis, and that's why he stayed on the gas, that's still not on Ferrandis. It's Craig's job to know his own surroundings. The same goes for what hap- pened late in the race when Ferrandis again had the inside line on Jett Lawrence (when Lawrence took the outside line in a different turn, Ferrandis dived in to take the line away, and Lawrence, like Craig, also chose to keep the throttle pinned and nearly wadded himself up in the ensuing rhythm section). Luckily for Lawrence, that time, Ferran- dis was slightly less committed to the line and he gave Lawrence more room. For the record, that is never to be expected or antici- pated. That was Dylan Ferrandis acting charitably! He didn't have to do it. Ferrandis (Rider F at that moment) had every right to put Lawrence (Rider R) off the track there, too. But he's a nice guy and probably didn't want to do that twice in one race. The AMA has decided to put Ferrandis on a one-year probation over this incident with Craig, along with a $3000 fine (which will be paid if he violates his probation and rides "too aggressively" again during the next year). Look back through the years and it's easy to see that the AMA makes rulings on "aggression" or "endangering other racers" on an almost entirely subjective basis. That's no way for any sanctioning body to rule over any sport. The AMA didn't put Craig on probation for what he did to Alex Martin in practice at Detroit https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=IAMQx68xDEU in 2017 (even though it was much worse, and Martin was still Rider F when they hit). There are almost countless worse incidents where the AMA made no ruling what- soever and sanctioned nobody involved; Ricky Carmichael/Kevin Windham at Vegas, 1997, is just one prominent example. Is the excuse that Windham didn't fall in that one? Some racers are better at avoiding crashes than others. Does the AMA judge the penalties for these incidents by how good the supposed victim's balance is? I'm out of space or else I'd list a bunch more. Dylan Ferrandis did not en- danger Christian Craig or Jett Lawrence. Those two racers en- dangered themselves. And that's their prerogative, but you can't penalize Ferrandis for it! If the AMA wants to dole out penalties, I think they must do so fairly and objectively. And that means they must penalize every- one the same. This moto eti- quette I've described here makes for an easy, objective guideline for the AMA. Penalize T-bones, cross-jumping, and drifting over in whoops, but otherwise who- ever's front wheel is behind at the moment the two motorcycles meet is the one at fault for the collision. It's part of the sport. If one guy becomes too much of a wrecking ball, the other racers will take care of it. And as long as the other racers don't do it with T-bones, cross-jumping or drift- ing over in the whoops, it's fine. The AMA is forcing Ferrandis to attempt to defend his 250SX West title while racing by differ- ent rules than the people he's defending his title against. And that's not okay. We have to be willing to let the racers race, and let them live with the results of the choices they make on the track, including the choice to go outside when there's a faster racer right on their ass. That's the sport! CN P110 CN III EMPIRE OF DIRT