“Last week the AMA docked Ricky Carmichael 25 points for illegal fuel. After further review, the AMA decided to give Ricky back his points and fine Suzuki $20,000 instead. I decided to ask around the industry and find out what the thoughts were on the AMA’s decision."

“I personally think it’s real disappointing. We have a rulebook, it has rules in there, and some of the rules were broken. In the past, some of the other competitors have had 25 points taken away from them. No appeal, no reason for a way to prove there innocence, and that’s something we had to deal with. It’s disappointing they gave RC his points back.”

“I think it’s good but it’s not so much the points that they gave him back. I think you need to look at it more like they repelled a rule and they looked at something that needed to be looked at. So, if the sidebar of that was giving his points back, then he needed to get them back. If you look at the Reed and Stewart situation, Chad was going for a championship and Ricky wasn’t there, so Chad had points taken away from him. Then when Stewart had it done, he had points taken away from him. Both earlier circumstances were clearly different, but similar, and now it affected a championship. Outside of that, my main motivation to get involved is because if one of my guys, especially Brandon Jessemen, (2 nd in points) gets tested on the east coast, it doesn’t bite us in the butt because we are a loyal VP Fuel user. I’ve used VP Fuels for twenty years and I’ve never known them to be anything, except for what it’s suppose to be. I think this thing with the points is just a sidebar and they reacted too quickly.”

“I know Ricky’s really happy about it because he certainly didn’t think he should have been penalized. According to DeCoster, he doesn’t think there fuel was illegal and it’s understandable that Yamaha and Kawasaki are upset. I guess it always depends on what side of the fence you’re on. I assume if Chad or James would have got their points back then they would have been happier. The AMA needs to look at the rule and clean it up so it doesn’t happen again. Maybe they need to look at it like this. The first time, you get a fine, and the second time you get points taken away from you.”

“Well, I guess overall it’s the right thing to do. I think over the course of the week it’s been explained what the fuel rule is and there’s a lot of gray area in the rule. Unfortunately, Yamaha and Kawasaki are both suffering from the penalty and the precedent has been set. We have to back up on that and times do change. I commend them for going back and doing an investigation and looking into it deeper. We all agree that the infraction wasn’t a performance enhancement and Ricky deserves to be in there for the championship. Overall, I agree with the AMA’s decision. It’s the right thing for our sport and it would be a shame to eliminate one of those talents that’s going for a championship.”

“I haven’t read the press release and it’s not going to affect Moto XXX. I don’t think the rule is written properly, they set a precedent when they penalized riders in the past and it’s going to kill there credibility. Also, the fuel rule and the amount that Ricky broke it by wasn’t gaining him an advantage. I think the AMA should spend their time looking at the people who are breaking the rules and trying to take advantage.”

“I don’t think they should have taken his points away in the first place. All I know is that I heard Whitlock talking about RC’s gas being three times over the limit and the next day he’s getting his points back. It’s not like it’s a performance enhancement and I think it was a cheap move to take his points away for that!”

“I think for Ricky it’s a good thing because he didn’t cheat, just like we didn’t cheat two years ago. I think the AMA is losing a lot of credibility and I don’t understand how you can take the same cases and handle them differently. I really think RC had a lot of influence on this and I think it made the AMA do something about the fuel situation. The rule by itself is ridiculous because a privateer can’t buy gas at a gas station because it’s illegal. Something needs to change.”

“I don’t know. I love Ricky and I don’t have anything against him but I don’t understand how you can take 25 points away from him for illegal fuel and then give it back. Like I said before, I don’t have anything against Ricky or Suzuki but I didn’t see the AMA giving points back to Burner, Stewart, and Reed. It’s a weird deal and I don’t understand how they can do that. I think a rule is a rule.”