Runaway 450MX leader Jett Lawrence receiving a one-lap penalty at the Ironman National on Saturday was a moment that left everyone scratching their heads, wondering how a self-inflicted botched start in moto one could result in any further ramifications – at least, to that extent. The punishment simply didn’t fit the crime, but it’s not as clear-cut as one might think.

Question one: Did the punishment fit the crime? It’d help to know exactly what the crime was, as it appeared this was no more than a rider error, similar to what we saw earlier in the year when Chase Sexton (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) hit the gate at the Detroit round of Monster Energy Supercross. The only penalty Chase faced, however, was that he was dead-last thanks to his own doing, which were the expectations with Jett, too.

As it turns out, Lawrence was further entrenched in the bad books. Where Chase may have ‘hit’ the gate and ricocheted backwards, Jett pushed his gate forwards, and subsequently ‘jumped’ the start with his handlebars ahead of everyone else’s before the gates actually dropped. And that’s the distinction – one hit the gate, the other jumped the start, which is a big no-no.

So much so that the penalty is worth one whole lap! Now this is where subjectivity comes into play, because it was evident that Jett gained no advantage whatsoever from what occurred, as he mistimed the start and entered turn one at the rear of the field. After charging through the pack for the moto’s duration, he would eventually rise to a hard-fought third place.

Image: Octopi Media.

This seemed the end of the story, with a P3 result a solid rebound, and a debrief likely ensuing at the Honda HRC Progressive rig to discuss how they’d prevent such a situation from happening again. As it turns out, this wasn’t the end of the story, though, with a door-knock from AMA director of racing Mike Pelletier turning the finish into a 17th place, thanks to a one-lap penalty being applied.

“This is a set penalty in the rule book, so it’s not a varying penalty,” explained Pelletier during the broadcast. “Jumping or fouling the gate is a set, one-lap penalty. When you see Jett hit the gate, he is in front of the field, and when he takes off he still has an advantage in front of the field, so that is considered jumping the gate. He left in front of the field before they did – it’s been a longstanding rule and everyone on the team has been made aware.”

The official rule from the AMA Pro Racing Rulebook, laid out in its bare form, is this: Section 1.8.9 Starting Procedures; C. Defined Start Violations and Penalty Options, 1. Jumping or fouling the gate may result in a penalty of one lap or disqualification.

That’s the lay of the land. As for this piece, was the penalty too harsh? The answer is yes, it was – I think that’s pretty obvious given the fact Jett was buried in no man’s land off the start, and was clearly negatively impacted based on what happened at the gate. There was no advantage gained in the grand analysis, although from the AMA side, a rule is a rule.

Image: Octopi Media.

There’ll likely be an onslaught of criticism directed towards the organization following the incident, but it’d pay to keep in mind that rules allow for our racing to be conducted with integrity and boundaries, otherwise, it’d be a Mad Max, winner-takes-all affair out there, with anybody employing any tactic thanks to anarchy.

We need rules, and we need officials – that’s the bottom line. Does it mean that funky things such as what happened at Ironman, occur at times? Sure, but that’s all part of it. I’m sure it’ll be a topic of hot discussion within the AMA offices this week on whether it’s something that could be amended or not, but the truth is, a one-lap penalty for a rider jumping the start is reasonable on nine out of the 10 occasions that it does happen.

As for Jett, he was understandably pissed. It’s funny, because his riding at the beginning of moto two reflected such. Both members of the NBC Sports broadcast commentary team in James Stewart and Jason Thomas identified this as Lawrence sliced his way to the front of the field in what seemed like a matter of moments.

Once the checkered flag flew, Jett himself confirmed that there were indeed fumes beneath his helmet, with the number 18 seeing red throughout the opening stages of the race: “I had a bit of a good flow [in moto two], I don’t know how I got to first in only a few laps… I just blacked out because I was so pissed off. AMA has its rules, I guess, so it is what it is. We’ll get back to work, come back, and get better starts so I don’t get penalized.”

Image: Octopi Media.

Lawrence followed up his comments from the podium in Jason Weigandt’s ‘Weege Show’ directly after the race, admitting that the rule does make sense in certain scenarios, especially when an advantage is evident.

“If I had gained a really big advantage and came into turn one three seconds in front of everyone, then yeah, I would understand [the penalty],” he added. “But three feet out, I was already behind everyone, so penalize me 10 seconds or something… one full lap, I’ve never heard of that.”

It is a substantial penalty, there is no doubting that. Perhaps a revisit is in order, generally speaking, but in this instance, did the penalty fit the crime? Certainly not. But again, a rule is a rule, and if it wasn’t adhered to in this situation, then you open up the floodgates for subjection of the rules under any situation, and that ultimately compromises the integrity of the boundaries that keep the field unified and fair.

As for Lawrence, on this occasion, the penalty applied meant a 17-1 scorecard (rather than 3-1 results), which effectively cost him the overall on a weekend where teammate and elder brother Hunter Lawrence managed to break through for his first-career 450MX round victory.