AMA-SX Racer Penalized for Blocking

Chisholm blocked Rockstar Makita Suzuki s Reed from attempting a pass on Chisholms San Manuel Yamaha teammate James Stewart. Reed and Stewart are in a tight battle for the AMA Supercross championship and Chisholms actions allowed Stewart to claim his 11th win of the season and double his lead in the standings to six points.

Reed finished second by less than four seconds. If Reed had been able to pass Stewart and their finishes were reversed, the two rivals would have been tied in the standings with 354 points.

As a lapped rider, Chisholm was expected to move aside to let the race leaders pass unimpeded. According to AMA Racing, Chisholm violated Appendix A.2.3, paragraph i of the AMA Supercross and FIM World Championship rulebook which prohibits engaging in any unfair practice, misbehavior or action detrimental to the sport of motorcycling in general

Weve discussed the incident at length with Kyle and firmly believe, as a team, that he would never do anything intentionally unsportsmanlike that would jeopardize himself or another rider. I really believe Kyle when he told me, and the FIM, that he had made a mistake on the track, says Larry Brooks, team manager of San Manuel Yamaha.

Race officials waved the black flag immediately after the incident but AMA Racing says Chisholm also failed to immediately respect and comply with the operational or warning flags/lights or other signals from officials by remaining on the track after being shown the flag.

Chisholm has been fined $5,000 and will be suspended from all AMA- and FIM-sanctioned competitions until May 3, 2009. As a result, Chisholm will not be allowed to race May 2 in the 2009 AMA Supercross finale.

I know I made a mistake during the race and take full responsibility for my actions, says Chisholm. It was never my intention to make contact with James Stewart or Chad Reed; however, I must respect the ruling of the FIM and accept the consequences as a result. I want to express my sincere apologies to our Team, our sponsors and to race fans everywhere.

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