Fuel was the talk of the pits at San Francisco on Friday.
Thursday afternoon, Jason Thomas, Josh Hill, and Nick Wey got phone calls from the AMA telling them their fuel was found to be illegal at A2, and they will lose their points and prize money from that race.
Hill, who is Factory Yamaha in 2007 and three races into his supercross career, thought it was a joke when he got the call at the Yamaha test track, but it wasn't. He has been torn down plenty of times as an amateur with nothing found, but this was new to him. Fuel he really doesn't know much about was taken out of his bike and found to be out of spec. His first podium in supercross just got erased.
Nick Wey was at press at AT&T Park when the calls went out, so he didn't find out till later. His podium in SX, his first in 2007, just got erased too.
Both Hill and Wey's fuel had about 1.6% too much oxygen.
Jason Thomas was at home in Florida, when he got the call that said his fuel was illegal, and his wasn't oxygen, it was specific gravity - the fuel sample was too heavy.
Yamaha and Wey were running VP Fuel that uses newer oxygen limits allowed for 2007, a "dash 1" part number fuel. The limit is 4%, and the spec they use is known to be some radical stuff. It comes in at 3.8%, so its close to the limit.
For Thomas' fuel, it was not the same as the other two. He uses VP's Pro 4 fuel, and his was found to have too high a specific gravity.
All three riders and their teams don't have any explanation, and like the lead discovered in fuel in the past, there is no known tampering with fuel that would do this. Something else must be happening.
Someone left this tape recorder near MDK's team management that was having a huddle over the fuel business.
