The Moment Bam Bamed (Again)

The following day, the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) hit Barcia with a three-point penalty in the championship and a $3,000 fine—although he kept his runner up finish. Again, this was not the #51’s first run-in with another rider in 2022 (see his takeout on Anderson in the Anaheim 1 main event or his first-lap takeout on Justin Bogle in the San Diego main event).

Well last night at the 2022 Monster Energy AMA Supercross finale, Barcia pulled off yet another aggressive move. This go round’s victim was Malcolm Stewart. Entering the day, Stewart (295 points), Barcia (291), and Marvin Musquin (287) were all battling for third in the standings—which brings a large chunk of change into the pocket by finishing top three in the series. Musquin has finished top three numerous times whereas Barcia finished a career best fourth several times so P3 would be a new career best and P3 in the standings for Stewart would be a huge leap from his last two seasons of career bests (seventh in 2020 and sixth in 2021).

Late in the main event, Stewart was charging hard in hopes of keeping his third place in the standings as he had a single point on the Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas Factory Racing rider. Stewart made his way fourth and then caught and passed Barcia cleanly in a 180-degree turn, earning a couple more valuable points on the #51 and take over the final spot on the race podium. But it did not last long as Barcia responded several turns later with a not-so-nice pass of his own. This time, as with the Indiana incident with Anderson, Barcia once again took an aggressive angle and only turned his bike after hard contact was made into the side of Stewart’s Husqvarna FC 450.

The move of the night that had everyone talking:

Monster Energy Kawasaki turned TV commentator for the night Adam Cianciarulo provided his thoughts on the move:

Color commentator Ricky Carmichael agreed: “Yeah, I’m with you, it was certainly overboard.”

Listen to Cianciarulo’s take on the incident below:

Look, everyone loves close racing—from the fans to the media to the racers on the track—but no one wants it to become a liability.

Barcia continued on as Stewart lost positions to Cooper Webb and Marvin Musquin. The #27 put his head down and repassed the Red Bull KTM teammates (who were engaging in a bump-and-run battle of their own), reclaiming third place in the standings. Then Stewart got into the same section as Barcia with a few laps to go and the crowd was going absolutely bonkers!

In the end, Stewart was not able to put a pass attempt on the #51 so we cannot say for sure if retaliation was going to be served or not as they came through third and fourth, respectively, with Stewart 2.538 seconds back. But once Barcia crossed the finish line, the crowd showed their displeasure. Plus, Stewart had the upper hand on third in the standings, which was the perfect revenge.

On the podium, the New York native owned the fact that it was an aggressive pass.

About an hour after the race, the points became official as Barcia would again keep his position but would receive a ten-point penalty. Instead of receiving 21 points for his third-place finish, Barcia receives only 11. He very well could be fined as well, but we might not know for sure until the AMA post-race penalty is posted [Update: The post-race penalty report states Barcia has a "Loss of 10 championship points, Fine" due to "Overly Aggressive Riding," although the amount of the fine was not disclosed.

This was not Barcia's first aggressive supercross incident, but it might be his last last...this year! Maybe the idea that the nickname “BamBam” no longer exists is being thrown out and he is simply accepting this is who he is.

For the full post-race report from Utah, read Saturday Night Live: Salt Lake City.