AMA Racing has overturned the penalties assessed to riders Martin Cardenas, Jake Holden and Aaron Yates at the season-ending AMA Superbike Championship event at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sept. 16, 2007 after conducting a thorough review of the evidence submitted in appeal.
The infractions concerned page 31, section 3.5 Engines, b, of the 2007 AMA Superbike Rulebook: “Except as noted, all internal and external engine parts must remain stock with no modification…”
During post race technical inspection, AMA technical officials concluded that modifications had been made to the crankcase breather tube on each rider’s motorcycle. The penalties assessed were a $2000 fine and loss of 20 championship points for each rider.
The Appellants submitted evidence arguing that the routing of the crank case breather tube had been previously approved and that the parts in question had successfully passed a number of previous inspections. In addition, the teams submitted evidence that suggested that the modifications permitted within the guidelines of the current rulebook were largely subjective as it relates to enforcement of the rule.
In reviewing the initial decision, AMA Racing considered several factors.
• Motorcycles, parts and equipment are not automatically approved by having passed inspection at any previous time.
• There are two sections of the rulebook pertaining to this issue that could be construed as contradictory. As per the general equipment standards section of the rulebook, the modification in question is allowed in all AMA Road Racing classes.
Given these facts, it is the decision of the AMA to overturn the original penalties. In addition, AMA Racing will implement the following:
• The AMA Superbike Rulebook will be modified to remove the conflicting statements regarding this technical issue. In addition, written clarification on this topic will be distributed to all teams.
• In the future, any modification to the existing rules is only deemed valid if teams have received written documentation from AMA Racing. Teams and Riders are encouraged to submit all requests for rule clarifications or interpretations to AMA Racing technical staff. Staff will review each request and then distribute a written Competition Bulletin to all participants.
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