Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

EDITORIAL OPINION

We’re not sure if the names of the involved riders had something to do with it, but it seems like AMA Pro Racing’s view of fineable offenses and what is or is not fair and even-handed officiating may need some adjustment.

This season, AMA Pro Racing black-flagged a racer out of his qualifying session and threatened to send him home for participating in paddock horseplay involving a paint ball targeting a TV crew friend of his but instead splattering on a TV cameraman.

And AMA Pro Racing is big on handing out tickets for speeding on pit lane–the pit lane speed limit is 50 mph–with a flat $100 fine deducted from a racer’s next purse check, the only notification to the rider in some cases being a line on the check stub that reads “Fine -$100.”

In the case of one rider we know, that $100 fine was about 20% of the $550 he won at a recent race.

In the case of another rider we know, who didn’t win any money, the $100 check he had to write at the next race he attended ultimately meant he couldn’t race that weekend–his bike broke and he had no spare cash left to buy the part he needed, unless he wanted to bet his gas money home. He told AMA officials that the radar speed indicator at the start of pit lane didn’t show his speed as he approached it–a common occurrence from what we’ve seen–but AMA Pro Racing officials shrugged off his complaint.

How a flat $100 fine with no requirement of direct notification at the racetrack is fair to everybody in the paddock–versus, say, a system fining a rider $50 or 10% of his purse, whichever is greater, with required direct notification and the ability to appeal at the racetrack–is beyond us. (Based on our experience with radar guns, accurately picking out the speed of a single rider in a group is not so simple. And, as seen in the case of Sandy Noce in the 250cc GP race at Mid-Ohio, AMA Pro Racing officials are not always right when they say a rider is guilty of something.)

Now consider what happened in the second Superbike race at Barber Motorsports Park. Ben Bostrom went for an impossible pass on John Jacobi, who was racing for 13th place and was being lapped for the first time, about four laps from the finish of the race. Bostrom ran into the back of Jacobi and crashed, Jacobi crashed and hit Dean Mizdal, who crashed in front of Miguel Duhamel, who ran over Mizdal and crashed.

Afterwards, Duhamel lay down next to his bike momentarily (perhaps seeking a red flag?), then jumped up, grabbed a handful of gravel, threw it onto the racetrack, and stormed off, screaming.

Looking at the penalty section of the official AMA Pro Racing website, there has been no mention of any penalty issued to Duhamel for throwing gravel onto the racing surface as the race continued without him. Not $100. Not $10. Not a dime.

In fact, there doesn’t seem to be any concern whatsoever on the part of AMA Pro Racing officials or management regarding Duhamel throwing rocks onto the racetrack, an action that could have easily caused more riders to crash.

Fact is, AMA Pro Racing officials, managers and associates often seem to be way more concerned about what happens on pit lane and in the paddock than they are about what happens on the racetrack.

Or maybe, just maybe, it depends upon the name of the involved rider…