"Half of Them Aren't Even Racing," RC on Lappers

RC just has a few more supercrosses to go in his amazing career. He gets to be more relaxed, and more outspoken if he wants to. When asked about what to do about lappers at the San Francisco press conference, he had this to say:

"Maybe there needs to be a mandatory rule where they move over. Half of them aren't even racing. That's the frustrating part. You know how we are using the outside of berms, (they should) use the inside, by the haybales. If you don't do that, you get docked a position. What is so hard about that? If they get docked a position, I bet they won't do it next weekend. It's an easy rule to do. That is one way you can fix it."

"I will remember that one"

Reed quotes on the incident at San Francisco in the main with Sorby:

"Sorby hooked me up one time pretty good. I will remember that one.

He just looked right at me and stopped. I thought I could go around the outside and he just went straight there. It was a good move. I guess he got his 5 seconds of fame on TV and he will be happy tomorrow."

Sorby's answer via IM: "I didn't see Chad."

:)

Hangtown, Get Ready for 2-Time on a 2-Stroke

It's no fun being under the fuel microscope, but MDK team folks think about other things, like team manager Steve "Two Time" Lamson declaring he is taking on the Lites guys at Hangtown on a 2-stroke CR125!

San Francisco Excitement for $1,000, Alex

Oops. This is how the last turn of the LCQ went for JT$ and DV. DV comes in like this, JT$ goes down, and DV makes the main with second in the LCQ. JT$ got a damaged bike, DV got a $1,000 fine.

RC, Stewart, and Reed put on a great show at San Francisco. RC won it, while Reed and Stewart made mistakes. Reed is back on his game. RC will be back at Atlanta. Stewart gave RC a lot of credit in the press conference, and RC noted that at his time and said that was pretty cool.

The weather held out pretty much. The track was actually good. The afternoon was shortened to just one practice, so they left the plastic on the track until then.

Villopoto was again untouchable in Lites. He raced on the first lap with his teammate Chris Gosselaar and got away. Gosselaar was racing for second with Davalos and fell in front of Davalos, who ran into him. Gosselaar has a separated shoulder and is possibly in for next weekend.

There were some major fireworks after a Lites heat between Lawrence and Grant over what went on in the race. Lawrence was pretty fired up and had to be pulled away.

Villopoto is pinned and making the Lites wins look easy.

The Red Bull Air Force skydiving team made a landing at the show opening, which is a must-see.

AMA folks stayed busy all weekend. First there were phone calls on the 2007 version of the fuel fuss Thursday, then everyone talking about it Friday, then meetings and more arguing Saturday. People just can't understand why the AMA is beating up on the teams with the rulebook when there is a known problem with fuel at the supplier. It's just not logical. They are finding fuel out of spec and treating it like fuel that was tampered with.

Then there was the JT$/DV thing, and another when Dennis Jonon got DQ'd for doing a double during a red light condition on a triple, when is was really Adam Chatfield that did it and not Jonon. As the pits were closing, the Jonon camp wasn't getting it reversed and people were still arguing over it.

MDK wrote a strong letter about its fuel penalty (Nick Wey), and the owner Mark Kvamme isn't going to let it slide. Stayed tuned on this one because it's just getting started. Motorcycle OEMs and the AMA have beat on each other for decades and fusses come and go, and ultimately the OEMs have to put up with it. Not so with Kvamme, so this one may turn out different. Who knows, if things get too gnarly, we may be writing about the Amp'd Mobile MDK Supercross Series.... The AMA can not afford a battle with this guy.

Fuel Part 3 - All Roads Lead to VP Fuels

Fuel, Part 3

We are not even to the first practice yet and we are on fuel part 3 already!

This morning the affected teams met for a few hours, and at the end got the word from Whitelock. If they have an issue, take it up with the rules committee. The AMA here this weekend is not in the mood to debate it's enforcement decisions.

The rules were changed this year to allow more lead (since before it seems the fuel supplier was having trouble keeping to spec), and more oxygen, up to 4%.

What happened since, and this is what bugs people in the AMA (off the record) is that the fuel supplier just formulated to the new limits, creating a new problem. The new problem (two of them actually) surfaced the hard way, in post race testing. That's the way they see it.

So previous to 2007, it seems no one could make the lead limits reliably. When little problems were found, they became a really big problems. The AMA's approach was to hand out penalties until the teams come off the track with fuel in spec. They didn't want to stop and investigate. It was either you are in or you are out. This time its still that way. Instead of investigating, they punish unknowing victims of the fuel learning curve.

The teams can't understand why this is being pushed so hard. No one really thinks anyone was tampering with fuel during the lead problems, or tampering with it now. Teams say they open sealed cans and run with it.

For 2007's fuel problems, assuming the three teams hit so far are being truthful on not tampering with fuel, the issue on people's minds is again the fuel supply.

There are some teams, Suzuki for example, that will not run the new "dash 1" version of fuel that just makes the AMA's limit of 4%. It is spec'd at 3.8%. The fuel is basically a race fuel mix that is taking advantage of relaxed rules that were made with unleaded pump gas in mind.

So, relax the rules to keep yourself out of trouble, and to allow a break for privateers, and what happens? The supplier comes up with expensive race fuel that specs out like pump fuel, for about $30 a gallon, and it's unstable. After a race, its not the same. So it seems.

It's no wonder the AMA is unhappy and disappointed about that. But, they have no jurisdiction over the supplier, they instead go after the teams. The teams are wondering what hit them. Did they ask for more unstable fuel?

So as it stands for race day today, the teams that got hit won't get any satisfaction, and everyone is wondering - where is VP Fuels?

All this could be cleared up with a fuel supplier that at least appears to be on the ball and taking a leadership role in understanding this and finding a solution that keeps teams from getting that call during the week from Whitelock telling them that a fuel issue just ruined all the work they did the previous weekend.

Afternoon Changes at San Fran

So far Saturday has seen overcast skies but no rain worth mentioning.

The track has been covered since yesterday and is in good shape underneath. The day schedule was revised to push uncovering the track to about 2:30 local time, and there will be just one qualifying practice.

A rider's meeting was held about the usual time and went over the changes for today, but nothing on fuel. That was saved for smaller meetings behind the scenes.

Inside the Fuel Fuss, Part 2

After last year's stormy times over fuel, the AMA rulebook part on fuel got an overhaul. Allowable lead was increased enough to keep quality control errors from busting riders over nothing. Oxygen was increased to 4%, for similar reasons.

Now three rounds into 2007, three riders get significant penalties after fuel tests, but this time, the problems were oxygen on two samples and specific gravity on another.

It's true the AMA wasn't ready for the storm of protest it got last time, or DeCoster's persistence. This time, with a careful rulebook revision, the AMA is more ready.

Teams are in an uproar over behing held responsible for the end result when all they do with fuel is pick a spec to run, open sealed cans, and race. After a race, things it seem change, sometimes quite a bit.

So open a can of fuel, it tests good. Race with it, it doesn't test good and you lose your points and money. That's what you get for not being a fuel engineer!

The AMA side of this is going to be (not a direct quote from anyone) "Hey, we relaxed the specs, and you guys just went for more, don't look at us, we are just making rules and sticking to them."

So who went for more? Not Jason Thomas of Butler Brothers MX, or Nick Wey of MDK. These guys don't know what they are running really, and don't care.

What happened is fuel mixes changed at the supplier to account for relaxed specs. The new mix (or mixes) create new problems, which get found the hard way, because there is no allowance for a learning curve.

The fuel Wey and Josh Hill were using is a "dash 1" blend that pushes oxygen to 3.8%, just under the limit of 4%. What can happen is there are extra things mixed into race fuel that can evaporate at temperature, and these extra things are not what contain the oxygen, and they can be "light," or low specific gravity. So in other words, race with race gas, and some things in the fuel can disappear, leaving heavier fuel behind and the part with the oxygen. There is no telling at this point of this is really what happened at A2, but it's possible, and it just shows the fuel being used is not appropriate for racing in it's intended environment. The supplier hasn't done it's homework.

So riders open sealed cans of approved spec fuel, race, get tested and find they are out of spec. What to do?

Teams are going to have to look to the fuel supplier to keep themselves out of this mess. It will take time to learn what changes and leads to failed tests. The AMA should have gone slower on this and learned to, but it's not in the mood. It covered its side on rules and doesn't think it should have to.

The riders in the middle get a bad deal.