Slaw Dog
One of the stranger stories to develop after the final round of the Monster Energy Supercross Championship was Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha filing a protest against GEICO Honda and Chase Sexton on the fuel in Sexton’s bike.
Sexton, who was locked in a tight title fight with Star Racing Yamaha’s Shane McElrath, won the East/West Showdown at the final round over McElrath to claim his second straight 250SX East Region Championship.
According to PulpMX/Racer X’s Steve Matthes, GEICO already ran their own test on the fuel used and it came back “good.”
Of course, the AMA and FIM still have to run their own test and determine the final outcome, but don’t expect anything to come of it.
Here are the rules regarding testing from the AMA/FIM rulebook:
E1 Fuel Testing
a. The AMA in cooperation with the FIM will carry out fuel tests at any time during the course of any Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship meet.
b. Any person or organization, being a potential supplier of fuel, may be requested to submit a sample for testing for conformity with the required fuel specifications.
c. Race Direction, has sole authority to direct the administration of fuel tests during the course of any Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship event.
d. The criteria for selection of the machines from which samples are to be taken will be at the sole discretion of Race Direction.
e. The motorcycles selected for fuel sampling and testing will be placed in the impound area.
f. The chief technical inspector will supervise the collection of the test samples.
g. Only officials under the supervision of the chief technical inspector may take fuel test samples.
Sexton was on the PulpMX Show last week and was asked about the protest. According to Sexton, GEICO and Star run the same fuel—Pro 6 VP—so it’s curious as to why Star would think GEICO was running illegal fuel.
PulpMX: I do not understand why no one picked that gate. I don’t know what was going on. Of course, Star protested your team for fuel. I’m sure you’ll be fine. You guys all use the same fuel. But does that stress you out?Sexton: It doesn’t stress me out because we run fuel off the shelf. We run Pro 6 VP. Everyone runs it. I think Star runs that same gas. So I don’t know. After the whole day, I felt like the main event, I won the race. I pulled away from Shane. I won I felt like fair and square. What else can they throw at me? Then I hear they’re protesting me. I was at the AMA trailer just yelling at the Star guys. We run the same gas. I didn’t get it. We’ve had problems with the team before. I just was kind of frustrated. At the end of the day, I was happy I won.
PulpMX: I don’t think anything will come of it. Sexton: The team, they try to play these games. It’s just harder for me to respect people that don’t respect you. They don’t respect people. I felt like if I was racing even Austin [Forkner] or Pro Circuit, any of the other teams, they don’t play those games. It’s just going out there and racing and the best man wins. The games on the track, whatever. It doesn’t really bother me. Practice you can bump me off the track however many times you want. I’m still going to do my thing and ride my laps. It’s whatever. The race is over and I ended up winning. So I’m happy with that.
You can watch the entire interview with Sexton below:
Update: July 1
The AMA released a statement saying they found nothing wrong with Sexton’s fuel and that the results are final. Below is their statement:
Following the Monster Energy AMA Supercross 250SX East/West Showdown Main Event on June 21 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, a protest regarding fuel was filed against the race winner, GEICO Honda team rider Chase Sexton.
After adhering to the Fuel Test Procedures stated in Appendix E of the 2020 AMA Supercross rulebook, Race Direction concluded that the fuel in question used at the season-ending event complies with the specifications listed in “Section 1 – General Equipment Standards, 1.10 Fuel Specifications.”
Across 9 rounds of racing, Sexton scored 9 more points, 218 to 209, than Monster Energy/Star/Yamaha Racing’s Shane McElrath to earn his second consecutive Monster Energy AMA Supercross, an FIM World Championship, National No. 1 plate.
The decision of Race Direction is final. Race results are official.
Main image: GEICO Honda
