DID YOU KNOW? THE AMA’S “JUMPING THE RED CROSS FLAG” RULE HAS CHANGED

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Unless you read the small print at the end of the AMA’s official score sheets (and, in this case, two days after the race), you wouldn’t know that Cooper Webb and Weston Peick were penalized by the AMA for jumping while the red cross flags were out at Anaheim II (in the spot where Ken Roczen was down). Did they get moved back two spots on the nights results, as Ryan Dungey had been last year in Detroit? No, Webb was docked 5 points and Peick 4 points on their season total. The same rule violation that cost Ryan Dungey a 450 Supercross win (and $100,000 bonus) has been changed by the AMA for 2017. Although a rider will still lose two places in the final results in the Heats, Semis or Last Chance, this is not so in the main event. In the Main Event, this same violation will only cost the rider “points and purse equal to two positions in the final results for that race, plus two additional points.”

Cooper Webb (2) at Anaheim 2.

At the Anaheim 2 race, Cooper Webb finished 4th and Weston Peick 5th. Under the rule that was applied to Ryan Dungey in Detroit they would have been moved back to 6th and 7th in the overall results. But, under the new 2017 rule Webb was docked 3 points (for the difference between 4th place and 5th place), plus 2 penalty points. Webb’s total penalty was 5 points and he got to keep his fourth place finish. In Weston Peick’s case, he was docked 2 points (for the difference between 5th place and 7th place), plus 2 penalty points. Peick’s total penalty was 4 points and he got to keep his fifth place overall finish.