Slaw Dog
A heated debate is taking place on the Internet regarding lappers and what to do about lap traffic in Monster Energy AMA Supercross after Tampa on Saturday.
Late in the 450 main event, Ken Roczen tried to split two lappers entering the sand section and collided with Jeremy Hand. Roczen, Hand and Tristan Lane all hit the ground hard. While Roczen was able to get back up quickly, his chain derailed in the crash and he was unable to finish the race. He was credited with 21st place, earning just one championship point.
No one cares what I think about said incident, but they do care what Larry Brooks thinks. In the team press release following Tampa, Brooks, the team manager for the Twisted Tea/H.E.P. Motorsports/Suzuki presented by Progressive Insurance Team, sounded off on the incident. You can read his comments below:
“It would have been a great night. We kind of struggled during the day, even struggled in the heat races, then we kind of got it together in the main event. But a lapped rider jumped on top of Ken Roczen and bent the rear sprocket. The AMA does not do anything to penalize the riders that are being lapped; they only give them a blue flag and let them kind of dictate what they want to do. And it hasn’t worked. It’s been this way for years and years and now we just got 18 points taken away from us because of a lapped rider and a DNF. It’s super disappointing. Ken Roczen was riding really good, and for him to have a rider jump on him – it’s just really disappointing. It is the sanctioning body’s job to take care of the lapped riders and all the officiating, and it just seems like we have not been taken care of. They are here to keep the riders safe, and I don’t think that happened tonight. It put our rider in danger, that’s for sure. But we’ll come back next week stronger and better. We still have a lot of racing left.”
The release also included a quote from Roczen, who simply said: “It was an unfortunate situation that happened in the main event in Tampa. It’s a long season though, so we are going to put this behind us and focus on the next race in Detroit.”
I have a feeling none of this will calm down the Internet.
Relate: Cooper Webb and Jason Anderson talk lappers:
Images: @octopi.media
RC and RV has been vocal about allowing communication devices in the riders helmet. This would vastly increase the ability to communicate to riders there current situation on the track. That or like the green light on the leaders bike, have a similar set up to let riders know they’re being lapped.
It was a risky pass and he knows the risk. Pretty lame a factory team is blaming a lapper for their bs.
Jeremy Hand did not jump on Roczen. That comment was dumb. Roczen threaded the needle between 2 riders in a sand section. Freak accident and race incident. I agree there needs to be better rules. You have your own race going on just as much as a factory rider, but if you see a blue flag you make no passes and yield to the lead riders. If you don’t get out of the way, and if you make any pass on another rider during the blue flag then there should be consequences.
Racing is fuckin Racing!! It was simply a unfortunate racing situation! Do not forget…it’s not always less fortunate or less talented riders that become lapped riders! If that’s the case….then just simply have a top 10 main event! LAME!
I think that after a rider has been lapped and the race is 75% over, those lapped riders should be forced to retire. SX is getting so fast and so dangerous that lapped riders are becoming a hazard to those that are lapping them. I would advocate this rule to be applied to SX only and not outdoor.
I think in general fewer riders will help with lap riders and not take out riders on the start!
I feel best solution is lappers fall under similar category to Red Cross flag. Riders being shown blue cross flag must slow move to edge of track on side they are on l-r, roll jumps and if in group not change position with other lappers they are racing. If they don’t in reasonable amount of of time (1 straight) they are black flagged and scored last.
All top riders have to deal with lap traffic. Video shows Kenny crossed into him. Deal with it. This was a racing incident where Kenny didn’t have patience to wait for a safe place to pass lapped traffic. If you’ve ever ridden in sand Larry, it’s not stable. Maybe tell your rider, if he’s faster, don’t make it 3 wide in a sand section, things might happen. Wait 1 corner. Also don’t blame it on the AMA or track workers. It’s not a good look
Maybe pulling off the last 15 riders with 10 min to go? I don’t know, because dealing with lapped traffic is a skill also and team tactics make it interesting
Had a lot of respect for Larry Brooks intil his dumb comment. Roczen clearly jumped into the lapped rider. Roczen clearly showed no patience, which is surprising for a veteran like Roczen. That was a narly whoop section. And the lapped rider was supposed to move over??? Get real. He was straigjt on his line. Stop withe the blame game Larry. It’s a bad look.
Another two rounds they won’t have to deal with lapped riders all the top riders will be out. Malcolm finished just about where he always finishes if the top riders were still racing.
Maybe the blue flag marks the end of your race. Lapped riders are flagged off once the leaders are within a straightway. Probably won’t effect the overall finishing order and would keep the fast guys from potential series ending events and reduce injuries. I am going to Indy in 3 weeks and sure hope some of the top riders will still be riding.
That is racing, there was no problem the week before.
I like Ken , but he is a pro and he knows to watch out for lapped riders so I hate to say it but it was Ken’s fault he has been racing for many years now. Wish the best for Ken he deserves a championship. Good luck kick start Kenny.
That incident was on Ken. There was barely room for him between the lappers to begin with, and it’s a deep sand section, where it’s near impossible to go perfectly straight, even for a top rider. The smart move would have been to wait until the turn to blast by the both of them.
These people claiming lapped riders should have to retire the race is stupids. One even went so far to say it would not affect results?!?! What? How can you advance a position if you are not racing. Just dumb
The top guys should be allowed to mount tasers to their handlebars.
Factory cry babies. Choose your battles. Throw it in the sand right next to 2 people and pray. His prayer did not get answered so it must be someone elses fault. For once they can’t blame the tough blocks.