(How to stay out of trouble - hopefully. BBMX is running unleaded pump fuel)
After a couple weeks of teams and the AMA working on fuel discrepancies, Nick Wey and Josh Hill got their points and purse from A2 back Friday before Atlanta. Weekend Window was in the pits Friday to see what the reactions were.
The Thursday before San Francisco SX, three teams got the bomb dropped on them, their fuel didn't pass test and points and purse from A2 were taken and the riders DQ'd. Two of the three (Nick Wey and Josh Hill) had a new fuel formulated for 2007 that was under the watchful eye of the AMA, for reasons previously mentioned on Weekend Window.
"After additional investigation and consideration," (sounds like the supercross version of "after further review"), it was found that the problem with Wey and Hill's fuel was more complex and widespread than anyone could have anticipated. It did turn out to be a case where it could have happened to anyone, since the problem was actually built into the fuel. It just wasn't understood to be in the beginning.
The AMA reinstated the points and purse, and we asked MDK's Steve Lamson and Team Yamaha's Jim Perry for their reactions.
Q: What was your reaction to the AMA's fuel press release today (Friday)?
A: I was pretty pumped. Kevin Crowther (AMA Technical Manager) called me a little bit ago. He said a press release was coming out in the next hour, and we would get our points back. It was good to hear.
Q: Is this what you expected?
A: For like 2 weeks things were in like silent mode, at least for me it was. I would try to call and find out what going on, so I just let it ride.
Q: Skipping to the second half of this situation, when people were working so much behind the scenes to solve it, was it handled well?
A: I guess so, overall. I haven't seen the press release though. We got the points back. It didn't get explained to me very well. No one said exactly what was said.
Q: What fuel are you running this weekend?
A: MR9, same as last year. (From VP).
Jim Perry
Q: What was your reaction to the AMA's fuel press release today (Friday)?
A: I am glad that everyone was able to work together and get this resolved, and for Josh Hill to get his points back, and for Nick Wey to get his back.
We were hoping all along, from the time it first happened we had test ran and we were pretty confident that we did the right things. But things can change and nothing is perfect and you have to wait and see till the end.
It's a bummer that it had to happen. When it first happened, everyone was pointing fingers. It doesn't look good for any corporation, any race team, to go through this stuff, in any form of racing. I am sure in the last few weeks at Daytona (500 NASCAR) they have had some weird things going on. When you are sitting on the couch and you don't know the ins and outs, you just know that people are getting penalized for stuff. When this gets turned around, that's a good thing.
Q: It seemed the AMA has found a technical reason to reverse itself, and worked hard on this. Has something like this happened before?
A: I want to say on Feb 24, 2006 when they gave Ricky his points back.
Q: Do you agree technically with what you have heard about the cause of the problem?
A: That is actually more than what I know about the fuel. We get fuel from our supplier and they say its a good fuel to use. We tested it in a lab we are confident with. It came back with the results of what it should be. They know what the rules are (the fuel supplier). We had ours tested and it came back well within what the results were supposed to be. So at some point we go with what is supplied to us.
