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In a stunning turn of events, the American Motorcyclist Association reversed its penalty against Supercross racer Ricky Carmichael of the Makita Suzuki factory team. Just one week ago, the AMA, which is the sanctioning body of the Amp'd Mobile Supercross Series, determined that Carmichael's fuel from a previous event was found to have a lead content beyond the maximum allowable limit as per the rulebook. As a result, Carmichael was penalized 25 championship points, which put him in a huge hole in the standings.

In the week that followed, Suzuki management and Carmichael himself were very outspoken about the fairness of the rule. They insisted that the team did nothing wrong and that their own sealed samples taken from the same event would prove their point. They lobbied for a change, but the AMA stated that this type of fuel penalty wouldn't be up for appeal. At the riders' press conference after the race in Atlanta on February 25, Carmichael made it clear that he was unhappy and more or less threatened to walk away from the Supercross series if the AMA refused to reevaluate their findings. But series manager Steve Whitelock said that he would stand by the penalty because it was in clear violation of the rules, even if though he felt there wasn't any intent to cheat and that the amount of lead contained in Carmichael's fuel didn't give him a competitive advantage.

A turning point in the strange saga came on February 28 when VP Fuels, a company that supplies race fuels to every major team on the professional Supercross circuit, issued a press release addressing the issue. In the release, VP Fuels said that the AMA's fuel rule is so stringent as to be nearly impossible to adhere to. The problem is not in the fuel itself, but in the storage and handling of the fuel. Apparently, when "good" fuel is stored in containers that was previously used for leaded fuel, there could be some transference of the lead content. In other words, it's conceivable that fuel could leave the VP facility in compliance to the AMA standards, but then become out of spec at some point before it actually reaches a racer's bike.

In addition, the VP press release talked a bit about the origin and intent of the fuel rule. It seems that the rule was initially adopted by the FIM, which is a European sanctioning body similar to the AMA that presides over the World Motocross championships. Because the leaded fuel rule was an FIM invention, it is really geared more towards addressing problems with European fuel than American fuel. I guess there is a significant difference between the lead content of gasoline available at the pump in America versus the gasoline available in Europe. While the FIM rule is easy for European teams to meet consistently, the same thing can't be said for the American teams. And since the AMA adopted the FIM rule without adjusting the lead limits based on American fuel guidelines, the American teams are having problems. At least that's how I understand the situation.

After the VP press release came out, the Carmichael fuel penalty debate raged on. Finally, the AMA caved and said they would consult with the FIM on the rule in general and Carmichael's penalty in particular. Until they came to a decision, the penalty would stand.

Just three days later, on March 3, the AMA and FIM issued a joint press release stating that the AMA would overturn its initial ruling on the Carmichael case and give him his 25 championship points back. The official reason for the reversal was that the AMA and FIM concluded that although the two sanctioning bodies use the same fuel rule limit, they each have different "testing protocols" and that these differences would make "consistent enforcement of the standard difficult." The two sanctioning bodies will continue to work together to try to come to an equitable solution regarding the fuel situation.

However, in another strange turn, Team Suzuki was fined $20,000 for its out-of-spec fuel at the San Diego Supercross.

This last part is what doesn't sit well with me. If the AMA and FIM got together and determined that Carmichael's penalty was wrong, then giving him his 25 points back was absolutely the proper thing to do. But to turn around and hit Team Suzuki with a fine for the same violation doesn't make sense. At first, by restoring Carmichael's points, the AMA seemed to be saying that fuel penalties would be put on hold until the testing procedures could be looked at in depth. In other words, they were saying yes, the fuel was out of spec, but we're going to let it slide because we know we have a questionable testing process. But by giving Team Suzuki a fine, the AMA is somewhat standing by their decision. So basically, instead of backtracking on the rule itself, the AMA is actually just changing the penalty. Instead of points, it's dollars.

This seeming inconsistency as to whether the AMA thinks Team Suzuki broke the rules or not is causing a lot of rancor among other team managers and riders. This is understandable because there is a prestigious championship and lots of money at stake in the series.

Although I don't agree with the AMA's inconsistency, I think they are taking a step in the right direction. The fuel rule is not an important one, and shouldn't be allowed to affect the outcome of the series. It's time to just move on from this issue.