It's Supercross TimeNew AMA RulesWith Honda's CRF150R adding to the ever-confusing state of affairs in the world of displacements, the AMA is trying to iron out solutions. As of press time, these are only proposed rule changes and won't go into effect until officially approved by the AMA board of directors. Here is a summary of the two rules, submitted by the AMA Congress, that have drawn the most questions from racers, families and teams:
In motocross only, new displacement limits would be applied to Class 2 (100cc-144cc), Class 3 (145cc-250cc) and Class 4 (251cc and up). This means that both two-stroke and four-stroke motorcycles would be limited to the same maximum displacement and the limits would apply to A, B and C classes, thus eliminating a four-stroke cc advantage.
In Youth racing, the displacement limits would be changed in the Supermini (12-15) and Class 16 (86cc-125cc age 12-15) classes to allow 75cc-150cc four-stroke motorcycles (such as the Honda CRF150R) in addition to the current two-stroke limits. In Supermini, the maximum displacement for two-strokes would be increased to 112cc.
Will these rules stick? Who knows? Hop on the message boards at www.dirtrider.com to voice your opinion and check out www.amadirectlink.com for updated news as the motocross world, as we know, it is about to change.
Ama Sx SeriesIf any of these 2007 AMA/AMP'd Mobile Supercross rounds are in your neighborhood, make sure you check them out. If they're not in your neighborhood, try to catch them anyway...they're worth the trip (can you hear the supercross voice yet?). Get your tickets at local Yamaha dealers or online at www.supercrossonline.com.
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Laughing StockI'm not sure which category this would fall under, so I'm just throwing this out there for anyone interested. Catch! I would very much like to see a story with the top riders (Carmichael, Stewart, Reed, McGrath, Pastrana, et al) in a race with their sponsor's stock bikes. No tweaking or adjusting, just racing the bike as-is off the showroom floor. Maybe this has already been suggested or actually done, but if it has, then I missed it. Thank you for all the information you provide in your magazine; I have learned quite a bit about riding and maintaining my bike. I have to say that I always look forward to Lewis's Jimmy-Rigged section. He makes me laugh.-Denise Stringham
We would love to do this story, but well, the riders wouldn't. Not that they don't believe in or feel that the brand they ride for isn't the best, but the demands these guys would make on a bike, stock bikes are not set up for it. And racers being racers, they would still try and push themselves and their bikes past their limits, and scary things could and would happen. But if any top racers are reading this and are game, we have the pages in Dirt Rider ready to go! Also, I'm glad you like the column. I make a lot of people laugh, but it is usually behind my back. Thanks for being so up front.-Jimmy Lewis