Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA Beverses Carmichael Penalty /r-\ne week after imposing a 25-point L/penalty on Rrclg Carmichael for using fuel in his Makita Suzuki that exceeded the allowable limit of lead. the AMA rescinded its ruling on Friday, March 3, and gave the points back to Carmachael. Accordint (o a press release from the AMA, the AMA and the FIM came to a ioint resolution to the points penalty imposed by the AMA on Carmichael fol- Iowint the San Diego round of the AMA supercross Series and the FIM World Supercross GP on February I l. ln a postrace tech inspection, the fuel in Carmichael's motorcycle was found to contain more lead than allowed under a standard ,ointly adopted by both sanc- tioning bodies beginninS with the 2004 racing season, The AMA has enforced that fuel regu- lalion in ats AMA Supercross Series and AMA Motocross Championship for the pas! two years. However, this is the first time that testinS ha5 revealed a fuel viola- tion affectinS a competitor entered in both the AMA and FIM series. and while the fuel standard is the same in both rule- books, the tvvo sanctionint bodies call for different testing protocols. The AMA initiated an investitation into the fuel requirement and testing protocols. It then became apparent that this differ- ence in testint protocols would make con- sistent enforcement of this standard diffi- cult, and the two sanctioning bodies have agreed to cooperate in the investiSation, with the toal of creating a unified unlead- ed-fuel standard and testint protocol for the 2007 seeson Meanwhile. the AMA and the FIM iointh/ agreed that. because of the dispari- ty in testing protocols, a points penalry would be inappropriate in this case. fu a result. the AMA has rescinded lhe 25- point penalr/ imposed on Carmichael in the AMA Supercross Series slandings, and the FIM has said that i( will not impose a points penalty in the world Supercross GP standints. Both sanctioning bodies agreed, how- ever. that a penalty is still appropriate for rhis fuel violation, and the decision was made to impore a $20,000 fine on the Suzuki team for which Carmichael rides. The AMA and the FIM will equitably donate the llne !o the Asterirk Mobile Medical Center, which provides trackside medical suppon to riders at all Al'4A Supercross Series/FlM world Supercross GP series and AHA Motocross Championship even6, and to Riders for Heakh, a humanitarian organization work- ing in Africa for 15 years, reachinS nearly I I million people with regular health-care workers riding motorrycles, according to the AMA. "lt was clear that the differenaes in testing protocols raired serious problems for enforcement of this rule." said Steve Whitelock. AMA lYotocrois and Supercross Series manager, ''We think this is a fair and equitable resolution of a difficult situation." said Wolfgang Srb, president of the FIM Motocross Commission. The AMA has announced that the fuel investigation will be conducted by the Southwest Research lnstitute s Fuel and Lubricant Lab, an independent consultint ortanization with nearly 60 years of expe- rience. lt is expected that teams as well as fuel suppliers, among others. will be inter- viewed in this process. Since both Yamaha and Kawasaki were previously penalized for the same infmc- tion, and neither team was allowed a protest by the AMA, borh Yamaha and Kawasaki were understandably concerned about the rule reversal. Yama}a elected to respond at a later date, but Team Kawasaka rilce manager l4ike Fishe. responded to the rulint at the lnd/ Supercross. "First of all, for the record. I don't real- ly believe that Suzukiwas cheatint," Fisher said "l don't know rhat for sure. but I would bet that rhey weren't. I also don't blame Suzuki for anything. However, I don't agree with the points reversal. ldon't agree with rhe fuel rule, and I don't agree with the penalty they give. Bu( still, that is what is in the rulebook, and that is what we should go with. Since we can't now rrust the AlilA to uphold their rulebook, I don't know what (o think. On our table down there. yor.r will find a ripped-up rule- book. The AMA hasn't given us an answer. Nobody lar the AMA] can give us an answer, and when I asked our professional manager for the Al*'lA [Steve Whitelock, for an answer], he gave me a phone num- ber to call at the AMA offices. There is no comment by them. So, if we can't tet an answer from our guy here, then what do we have? Our [Kawasaki's] take is just dis- appointment." Shdn /tloore LaRocco Calls lt a Career SoBe,/Samsung Mobile Honda's Mike LaRocco held a press conference before the lndy Supercross to offi- cially announce his plans to retire at the end of lhe year: After announcing his retirement, LaRocco went out for practice and fell in the lirst session, iniuring his left wrist, which left him unable !o comp€te. During his 2o-year professional careei LaRocco has had more Supercross starts than any other rider, with 229, and he has accumulated 8l Supercross podiums. After his retirement, the 35-year-old LaRocco plans to stay active in motocross by conlinuing to work with his t€arn, SoBe/Samsung /ltlobildHonda. "lt was kind of hard to make the decision, and it was very hard for me to fEure out when the riSht time was." LaRocco said. "l just ligured if you're not racinS comPet- itive and not having fun, then it's time. The bst couple of years, I really haven't had an opportuniq, to win. and at iust slarted setting in that maybe it's time to do some- Henry Back on Track o o thing else. I think once you have tasted winnint. anything else is iust not the same. I think that is what ha5 kept me modvated over the years, that I had $e potenrial to win and iust not doing it, and it iust kept me toin8. Now I am at the poim wher€ I am iust not as into it as I used !o be. or as I feel I should be. I would have wished for more wins and more champi- onships, but the boftom line for me is that I have sp€nt the last 19 years riding motorcycles, and everything I Mve I attribute to the opportunites I had racinS motor- cycles. And I am .ertainly happy with that." Though he didn't race, taRocco did sort of pass dle torch to his son Ryder in lndianapolis. Ryder laRocco par- ticipad in the KTM Jr. Sup€rcross ChallerEe race in lndy. "He's watched the KTM lr Challenge since he was born, p.etty much, and he is super excited," LaRocco said. "lt's adifilcult thing for me, because he didn't real- ly ride that much, because of my tmveling, but l'm iust glad he got the opportunir/. I think it is a great thing for these kids. Ryder ended up with a sevenlh-place finish. Shsn /Vloore Returning to the track for the llrst lime since his crash at the Colorado round of the 2005 AMA Supermoto Championship, Graves l'lotorsports Yamaha's Doug Henry raced in the 450 Pro and Open Pro classes at the North American Grand Prix of Florida, March 4-5. ln the process of spending a sunny weekend warming up for the 2006 AMA Supermoto Champ- ionship Series, HenD/ won all four of the motos he entered. From the very firsc practice session, Henry looked relaxed on his bike. ''lt feels good, pretty com{ortable," Henry said. "l feel a little ln front of his home

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