Corona Extra/EBSCO Media Suzuki’s Jimmy Moore, the current points leader in AMA 750cc Supersport, was not be allowed to participate in several practice sessions Friday at Mid-Ohio because he broke an AMA Pro Racing rule that bans riders who are top-10 in Superbike or 600cc Supersport points from participating in practice or school sessions within 10 days of the start of official practice at the same racetrack. Moore, who is currently 10th in 600cc Supersport points, rode in Thursday practice sessions at Mid-Ohio while other riders affected by the rule–notably Rich Alexander and John Hopkins–did not ride.

AMA officials noticed that Moore was riding and initially considered banning him from any further practice before 750cc Supersport qualifying. Later officials said they had accurately determined how much practice time Moore had on Thursday, and held him out of practice on Friday for that amount of time plus a little more.

The AMA rulebook does not specify a punishment for breaking the rule, leaving it up to the discretion of officials.

Moore said he did not realize that he had reached the top 10 in 600cc Supersport points, following Laguna Seca.

The rule in question has been enforced in a haphazard manner, being applied strictly to some riders (John Hopkins, Grant Lopez, Jason Pridmore, Rich Alexander, Josh Hayes) while other riders have been given permission to break the rule and teach riding school sessions within the 10-day window (Aaron Yates, Jamie Hacking).

The Moore case is the first one in which a penalty has been applied to a rider for breaking the rule.

But Moore did not suffer a substantial penalty for breaking the rule, Alexander pointed out, while he (Alexander) was told by AMA officials at Road Atlanta that if he broke the rule, he would be disqualified from the race weekend.