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The picture makes it very clear, but it is not as it appears as the riders are much lower than the camera that took the picture. The flag should have been in the turn before, or at least a yellow flag on the turn before so the riders new something was up. I aslo agree the race is over at the checkered flag.
The Red Cross flag is displayed on the side of the track that they need the racers to avoid, right? The way it’s shown in the picture pushes the riders to the left, keeping the downed rider and medics from getting hit.
I think the flag man should have had both hands on the flag (top and bottom) keeping the Red Cross visible, while moving it enough to catch the riders eye. But whatever the case, jumping on a Red Cross flag has to result in a penalty or we will see medics and downed riders getting jumped over and potentially hit.
The idea that we just don’t give a shit about medics and a rider downed just past the checkers is a non-starter. What would you want to see if your kid/dad/brother was downed where VF was?
Saw race footage on YouTube that showed several others jump it on the white flag lap and One may have been ET
This is my point of view exactly. If the function of the flag is safety and 1/4th or more of the field didn’t see it, that’s an error on the organizer.
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No reason the lazy ass in the Tower couldnt have been waiving the Red Crx flag on the straight coming into the finish line corner - then no one would have missed it.
All on FELD....2 cent flaggers with very little flagging knowledge or experience.
The only positive: ET3 got a win, and the points lead is reduced from 16 to 8.
Riders jumping red cross flags has been going on far too long.
The fact so many were penalised in St Louis tells me the current system isn't working and the AMA needs to get their collective shit together and figure it out.
I would say the percentage of riders who jump a red cross flag deliberately would have to be close to zero, so it's a pretty scummy thing for the AMA to impose penalties on riders who have a thousand things happening at once, when it's on the AMA to be providing a safe working environment.
If flaggers arent 100% noticeable that is on the AMA, not the riders.
That red cross flag being just casually held out while at the same time waving the white flag or chequered flag and all those riders missing is literally a case of Inattentional Blindness...there's been studies done on this stuff.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inattentional_blindness
With radio comms to the riders not allowed there needs to be an unmissable supplemental addition to just have a person waving (or in this case not waving) a red cross flag. The most obvious thing I can think of is section lights. Eg red lights flashing in a track section means there is a red cross flag in this section.
IMO the AMA are currently hopeless so I suspect that nothing will change.
/rant.
Red cross flags should be given going into a corner from both sides of the track. Who cares if the riders have to go slower a little longer when it comes to downed riders safety.
Huh? Jett had 4 seconds to the bike behind him, what's his excuse?
What a garbage take
So that’s what you take away from what I said? 🤣
👍 Every single motorsport in the world.
I hope the teams APPEAL this.. but unfortunately it is out on the right.
I like the one way radio idea RC mentioned on a post of telling riders of issues on the track. All professional road races use this technology now. Would improve safety as well making riders aware of cautions or situations like this one.
Those leader light columns, how expensive are they, would it be totally out of the budget to put them at the base of all big doubles and triples ?? Buy them once and bring them to all the tracks set them up and boom, rider safety, A-star medical safety, and extra visibility for all the riders.
The yellow flag before the turn was being waved. Clearly shows it at the end of the broadcast when they showed 3 different videos of it and were explaining it.
To all the idiots saying "why didn't they wave the red cross flag" Have you never ridden motocross? You wouldn't be able to see the red cross on the flag very well if they were waving it. Then you'd bitch that it wasn't stationary to see the cross. I'm betting because this incident involved the wonderboy and 5 other guys, they'll have new lights on the finish line towers by next weekend.
- On a side note: Where did the blinking tuff block lights disappear to on the top of the finish line jump? Pretty sure I remember seeing them just like lights on the triples.
There was a yellow flag prior to the turn leading up to the finish.
17 riders of all abilities saw the medic flag and responded appropriately.
Not true. They showed Jett and Tomac cross the finish line to start the last lap, there was no cross flag then. Between Tomac and 3rd place is when it happened.
Pit Row
I haven't re-watched it but if that is the case then everybody that jumped it has no excuse and it should be a lesson for the riders to pay more attention.
I just watched the end. The only guy with a yellow flag is next to the rider in the middle of the finish line jump next to the team manager tower. NOT out in the start straight like some guys are saying. Which to me doesn't really matter. If you aren't paying attention and don't see the flag that's your fault. What are the chances the flagger tower was holding a flag?
Yellow flags mean nothing in Pro SX/MX so they pretty much don’t see them.
Why don’t all flaggers have a Red Cross flag? Or do they?
Looks like you need to get your vision checked, dipshit!! The flager on the right before the turn was waving the yellow flag as shown in this screenshot with the red cross flag out.
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Wow! that makes it clear that the majority of the fault falls on the riders...they need to be more aware.
I see the guy on the start straight with the yellow flag now. It came out after 6 guys jumped over Vince.
I recommend everyone watch the fan video. Vince stops between the take off and landing right after Jett passes him. Flagger scrambles to get the Red Cross flag, pulls it out while Eli is jumping over Vince. Then Chiz(11), Cason(81), Hill(46), Sexton(1), and Anderson(21) all jump on the red cross with no yellow flag prior.
When yellow flag came out on the start straight riders seemed to have better awareness.
Vince was off to the side of the track. This doesn’t seem like it warranted a Red Cross flag.
13 min
https://youtu.be/e-wnA2te8Tk?si=5j_i4ihT7iM8CHFC
found a clearer video showing a short clip of the checkered and white flag and it wasn’t ET3 but lots of the other top guys jumping it and most had to look back.
Eli wasn't trying to win a race. He had already accepted defeat and was cruising to 2nd.
I think that a lot of the guys that did not jump it, were not going to jump it anyway. How often do you see guys roll the finish if they are not in the heat of a battle or the winner? Very often.Jett did not see it until he was already in the air. Eli may have jumped it had there been somebody close behind him. And I would also argue that he most likely would have rolled it if there was not a red cross flag, given that he was not being pressured or close enough to pass jett.
I think that they should have put the flag out before the corner . By the time they see it, they have such a small amount of time to decide to jump or not, and then hope the guy behind them also sees it and doesn't jump onto them.
What if the downed rider was landed on because of riders not seeing the flag? For so many top guys to have jumped it and not seen the flag, SOMETHING was wrong. This time it only resulted in lost positions. But it could have been bad. They really should do something different in the future to prevent a possible disaster. Even if it was on the other side of the jump it would have been safer. As a local B level rider, I have missed many flags. missed the white flag , I talked to a local pro level guy and he too thought it would be very hard to see intime. And that it should have been in the corner before.
Take Jett out of it, and his penalty out of it . You could have had Jett land on the downed rider and medics because of a poorly placed flag. I totally understand giving out the penalty, But the purpose of the flag is to warn the rider. And so many guys missed it. Or did not see it until it was too late. Even if they were just coming up with an excuse. Warning earlier than they did would improve safety for everybody all around.
Your comment in bold isn't true in any way whatsoever. Helmet communication is NOT used in MotoGP, WorldSBK, MotoAmerica, etc. Don't know where you're getting that notion from but it's wrong.
I would actually love to see it. It should be 100% available to the fans and broadcast. F1 comm is great to hear. The fact we use pit boards is laughable. They are often on a part of the track where the rider is focused on the track and doesn’t/can’t take time to look up and read a board. Of all the dumb ass things Feld does to try to draw viewers, like SMX double and triple points, this is actually something that would bring excitement and entertainment to the races. As long as everyone has it then why not? Hell….HRC is already using covert comm in Jett’s helmet to help him.
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just a joke….calm down.
Also your approximation of 17 is incorrect. Jett, Sexton, Webb, AP and JA were all penalized. But there is video evidence of Chiz, Hill and Clason doing the same. Not sure why they weren’t penalized as well. So that is a total of 8 that can be confirmed who jumped on the Red Cross.
AC didn’t start. Oldenburg crashed out. Vince was sitting on the side of the track watching the chaos. So that means a maximum of 11 riders rolled the jump. May have been more that weren’t caught on video.
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