Langston penalty dropped also

[Senior KX Rider]

From RacerX
February 12, 2004

Langston Penalty Dropped, Too

According to a post by Red Bull KTM team manager Larry Brooks on Mototalk, the controversial five-second penalty assessed to Grant Langston by AMA Pro Racing has already been rescinded.

Brooks wrote: "Just wanted to let you guys know that the AMA has decided to drop the Langston/[Michael] Byrne incident and penaltys. Grant Langston regains his fifth 5th place finish in SF and his 4 points that were lost. [Kevin Windham] and Sean Hamblin will be moved back on spot each. What a scoring nightmare..."

Langston had been docked the time (and effectively two positions) for what AMA Pro Racing's Steve Whitelock felt was overly aggressive riding. Team Chevy Trucks Kawasaki's Byrne went down after Langston came in under him in a banked turn at the San Francisco Supercross. While exiting the turn, Byrne hit a Tuff Block and went down.

Earlier in the week, the ten-point penalty handed down by Whitelock to Phoenix winner Kevin Windham was overturned by a three-person appeal board at AMA headquarters in Ohio.



Good move :thumb: Maybe Whitelock will get a clue and let these guys race :aj:

 

[fender92883]

From RacerX

Good move :thumb: Maybe Whitelock will get a clue and let these guys race :aj:

Please let it be so! :worship:

 

[flyinfish]

Who would have thought San Francisco would become the bar banging capital of supercross. Does anybody remember Matt Walker's pass on Travis Preston last year at Pac Bell? If I remember right it resulted in a $1,000 fine. (I'm not sure if that one was ever repealed.) In my opinion Walker had the door so far closed that Preston was insane to stay on the gas and still try to make that challenging finish line double. But that's why he did so well last year, sometimes you have to take risks to get to the top.

My recolection goes like this: Walker passed Preston in the turn preceding the finish line jump by going inside. This was an extremely difficult move considering the short distance to the enormous double at the finish and required him to go outside on the jump to get enough speed to clear it. As Preston chose to go high on the same burm, he benefited by carrying more momentum out of the turn but unfortunately left the door open for an inside line. Carrying greater speed out of the turn, Preston closed in on Walker, who was now in front of him. The resultant was a collision that ultimately led to one of the strangest get offs in the history of the sport as Preston abandoned his bike and grabbed hold of the finish line structure, decellerating from approximately 30 mph to 0 in two nanoseconds.

In contrast, the pass that Langston made on Byrne, this year at San Francisco, was not as convincing from my point of view which happened to be directly behind them as they exited turn 5 and started over the kickers before the triple. (Directly behind them in section 213 that is...did I have you thinking I was on the track...in my dreams!) Given the distance between me and the riders I'm not 100% sure but it looked as though Langston could not close the door as he exited the turn so he continued to move into Byrn's line as they began down the straight away over the kickers approaching the triple. It looked as though Langston had barely a half a bike length on Byrne when Byrne ran out of track and contacted a tough block. I haven't seen San Francisco '04 on tape yet so please correct me if I'm wrong on the Langston pass.

In conclusion, Walker's pass on Preston in '03 was far more convincing and clean than Langston's pass on Byrne in '04. Perhaps the AMA consulted with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is also in San Francisco for those of you who don't know, when they decided to overturn the initial ruling of overly aggressive riding. This court is famous for overturning decisions that don't mesh with their liberal agenda. (Sorry to go political on ya!) My advice to the AMA is the same as it is for the Ninth Circuit. Do: see that the rules that were already in place are upheld and Don't: try to make new ones in the middle of the race. If the AMA is justified in allowing Langston's pass then in my opinion they owe Matt Walker $1,000. Justice never waivers, but people's interpretations do. :think: