11 RIDERS PENALIZED FOR JUMPING A RED CROSS FLAG IN ONE RACE

PRESS RELEASE: Red Cross Flag Incident – Regina

After receiving an appeal regarding the red cross flag incident that took place at Round 4 of the Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals at Moto Valley Raceway in Regina, Saskatchewan on Sunday, June 26th, the official footage was reviewed extensively and the following conclusion has been reached:

The following riders will be penalized 10 positions for jumping on the red cross flag:

Tallon Lafountaine #259
Shawn Maffenbeier #15
Brandon Leith #70
Hayden Halstead #35
Dylan Wright #17
Alex Jeffery #50
Kyle Biro #67
Jess Pettis #20
Ryan Lalonde #171
Mason Wharton #767
Taylor Arsenault #53

The footage was reviewed by the CMRC Competition Committee who determined that the flagger was positioned in the proper location to indicate a downed rider without endangering himself physically, and the riders listed above did in fact jump while the red cross flag was displayed.

CMRC takes rider safety very seriously, which is why there is a severe penalty when jumping on a red cross flag. In this case, the downed rider was in a vulnerable area of the track and was not moving, which warranted the red cross flag. It is every rider’s responsibility to be aware of their surroundings and any flag that is displayed. The majority of riders (75%) did see the flag and did not jump, which suggests the flagger was performing his duties properly.

There was an error on CMRC’s part when positioning the riders in the moto results after the penalties were put in place. The results will be changed to reflect a full ten positions for each rider that was found to have jumped on the red cross flag.

This is an unfortunate situation, one that has never occurred in the past, but safety comes first, deeming it necessary to enforce the penalties as described above.