Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb were very outspoken after the Indy supercross when it came to backmarkers and what could be improved and, honestly, they had some good points!
Cooper Webb opined that if you took their money away the lappers would start to pay a lot more attention to where the leaders are and not get in their way as much, as harsh ss that sounds it would certainly work!
Webb commented: “There should be penalties. There should be whether it’s money because they clearly don’t care about points because they’re not in the points. If you take their money away, that’s how they live then maybe they’ll get there get it. I think it’s unacceptable, the series needs to step in and do something because they clearly haven’. I think like I said, he (Eli) could have been out in the championship from from a lapper and, in any other motorsport, that never happens, it’s a joke for our sport.”
Eli Tomac was arguably even more harsh by offering his solution of 15 man gates in short supercross tracks and 30 riders outdoors (MXGP had previously implemented this).
Eli said: “ I was able to get to second at one point and then got balled up by lappers and paid the price for it. It was frustrating that way and then I almost got taken out in the in the second moto by lappers. It’s bad I think if the track sub 50 seconds, make it a 15 man gate. I mean, there, they’re just riders that are way off the pace of the top lead group and if the promoter wants to potentially lose championship contenders, I mean, let’s keep it the way it is, but yeah, frustrating but got out of here healthy and clean and second is what we had.”
“Like what Hunter said, it’s repeat offenders It’s the same people doing the same thing over and over again. They don’t get a big enough penalty for it. It’s just it’s kind of outrageous. It’s frustrating for us. Yeah, I mean these guys are six/seven seconds a lap slower – maybe even more and they’re out there with this. So really they’re just a hazard, I don’t know for the exact penalty. I think it’s just less riders on the gate and I actually think motocross should be 30 guys on the gate. I think both series has an issue with with too many bikes on the track and then especially once it gets to a short lap time.”
15 might be a bit extreme but what about having just 20 on the gate instead of 22 like they used too in Supercross and a commitment to having tracks with a lap time of closer to a minute?
Another big thing is blue flags (this also applies to MXGP) make sure they are clear and that riders obey them, if they don’t then, maybe, as Webb suggested, take away the prize money for those repeat offenders..three strikes you’re out?
Friese was somehow not penalised for cross-jumping Tomac and that doesn’t help the situation either. No consequences does not encourage riders to be more aware. But of course you need the privateers, they put a lot into it with less financial reward but there has to be changes to improve things, top riders getting taken out by backmarkers interfering in the race is not acceptable.
Jordon Smith made an interesting point about the blue flags which points, again, to the whole process needing improved: “One of the hardest parts as a lapper is knowing when you actually need to move out of the way. You don’t see this on tv but the officials are waving the blue flag 3-4 laps before you are actually needing to move. I think they need to wave the blue flag less, and when you see that flag, that means leaders are there move out of the way.”
Webb spoke again about the situation on the PulpMX show below:
