Chad Reed Fined, Docked Championship Points for Actions in St. Louis
The American Motorcyclist Association announced today that it has fined Monster Energy Factory Yamaha’s Chad Reed $5,000 and docked him five championship points earned Saturday night at Round 13 of Monster Energy Supercross in St. Louis after Reed “failed to follow the direction of the AMA officials indicated by the blue flag” and impeded the progress of second place rider Ryan Dungey while being lapped in 16th position.
In their announcement, the AMA cited rule 4.17.a of the official rulebook, which states:
4.17 Flags and Lights
It is the rider’s responsibility to be aware of their surroundings at all times while on track. Safety is a main priority and the riders must obey all official signals and directions given to them. Any rider failing to do so may be penalized.
- Solid Blue Flag:
- Indicates you are about to be overtaken by faster riders.
- When conditions allow, move out of the fast line.
- Hold your line (do not ride erratically) and do not impede the faster riders progress.
- Riders disregarding the blue flag may be black-flagged at the discretion of Race Director.
According to the AMA, no appeal has been filed and the decision of the Race Director is final. All fines collected are donated to the Alpinestar Mobile Medical Unit.
Following the main event on Saturday, Dungey addressed the media about the incident:
Ryan, I got to ask, there was a point mid-race where you were stuck behind a certain blue bike. Can you take us through your thoughts on those few laps?
Ryan Dungey: Considering before that leading up to it we were winding them down, catching Eli and putting in some good laps. I was happy with it. I don’t want to go too crazy into the topic. It’s definitely not ideal. I think everybody saw it. Eli gets around quick and easy and then three laps go by and he’s in the groove and in the line. Like Marvin said, it’s hard to pass and it’s almost like if you’re a lapper you’ve got to move over. I just don’t know I guess why he’s got to get involved with what me and Eli’s position. If he was on the same lap, I understand. I think we all would. But he’s a lapper. It’s just unfortunate, but what do you do?
Ryan, after the heat race win, you diced with Chad for a little bit, then made some comments on the podium for the TV interview that you weren’t exactly pumped on how he was racing you in the heat. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Ryan: I’ll touch briefly on it I guess. Honestly I don’t know where it’s coming from. I guess I don’t know what I did wrong. I have a lot of respect for Chad. He’s been in the sport a long time. I’m not going to come in here and start pushing him around or whatnot. I’m going to race the guy clean, and he would too. I guess I don’t know where this attitude and everything is coming from. Just like the heat race, we were side by side going into the whoops the very first lap and he sees me and he starts to try to come over and take my front wheel out. It’s like, we’re in the whoops. What can I do? And then I tried to make a pass on him and he tries to blow you off the track. It’s kind of a bummer. That guy’s been in it that long and that much experience, and you would think he would understand what it’s like to be in the position that I am, but he has no respect for us and what we’re doing, trying to do. So I have a lot of respect for the guy, still do. Just tonight was just a low blow.
