The AMA has released a competition update post-issues at Arlington...
AMA Supercross Race Procedure Update
Following the recent events at Round 7 of the AMA Supercross Championship in Arlington, Race Direction recognizes the need for clear communication and consistent visual signaling on the racetrack. Effective immediately, the following procedural updates are in effect:
Lead-In Light Update
The single red lead-in light (formerly known as the “pre-light”) that gave advance notice before the red lights will now be changed from red to yellow.
Going forward, it will be referred to as the Yellow Lead-In Caution Light.
This change aligns all on-track caution indicators under a consistent yellow designation:
Yellow Caution Flags
Yellow Caution Lights
Yellow Lead-In Caution Light
Meaning of Yellow Signals
Yellow flags and lights indicate a potentially hazardous situation on or near the racetrack. Riders must exercise caution. Jumping and passing is allowed.
Red Lights and Red Cross Flag – No Rule Change
There are no changes to the current rulebook regarding Red Lights or the Red Cross Flag.
Red Lights and the Red Cross Flag:
Indicates a significant safety concern and takes precedence over all other flags.
Riders must follow all directions given by race officials.
Passing is prohibited.
Riders must traverse all obstacles individually, absolutely NO double, triple, step on/off, etc.
Riders must exercise extreme caution and not race or accelerate in an unsafe manner.
Race Direction remains committed to improving clarity, consistency, and athlete safety through enhanced procedures and communication.
For complete details on flags and lights, please refer to the 2026 AMA Supercross Championship Rulebook, Section 1.6.14.
Thanks... a needed a good laugh today.. as if any of this will mean anything.... #neverchangeama
Doesn't really clear up the "the lead in lights were off but the red cross flag was still out" in the 450s.Still sounds like there should have been a penalty there.
A freaking joke of a organization.
Good to distinguish red from yellow, and no more red lead in light. As noted above, what if no red light but a red cross, or vice versa?
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I challenge anyone to find reference to a "pre-light" prior to this week. Rule book, email, audio from riders meeting, anything..... see if you can find it.
So the rules regarding a red light and Red Cross flag remain unchanged, so how about those penalties for last weekend? Because not once has there been a rule in the rule book that said you can jump on a red light or red cross flag.
Flags that you can't see has very limited safety function. Just as we saw last weekend. They shouldn't flag on top of the jump.
It's been constant complain from riders and teams that they can not see the flags in certain situations, specially ones with steep jump faces.
We have the same issue on our track, and use double flaggers. We can not penalize a rider when we know it is extremely difficult/impossible to see the (second flag), however, you still need the flag on top of jump to have clear line of sight for when the obstacle is cleared and also act as the signal to when first flag goes up. We don't have light signals so can't leverage that.
Optimally, the guy at the jump should just turn on the signals that sits a few meter before the jump and not even flag to avoid the situation you are talking about. But there might be downsides to that also?
So what is the difference between yellow lights and yellow lead-in caution lights that necessitates a distinction in the rules? Unnecessary complexity.
The amount of effort to cover up is just ridiculous. And I am not happy because it is for the worse, less safety as some red turns into yellows now. Is it really a pro sport ? Do riders need a Phd in lighting to take the right decision in milliseconds at 190bpm ? KISS : keep it simple stupid.
So... This is exactly how the rulebook is currently written... What is the point of this press release?
Eli, Coop, and Kenny should have all been retroactively docked championship points if the red cross flag penalty remains unchanged. WTF?
To establish in writing for the first time ever that the lead in lights are a thing.
As if “lead-in" light didn’t already sound silly enough, now we have a “yellow lead-in caution” light lmao
Every 10 years it seems there is a massive drama with the AMA/FIM.
1995 - lights go out
2006 - fuel gate
2015 - Stewgate and ALSO Chad black flag
2026 - flag gate
yellow, red, back to yellow. what the ama needs rn
Only reason I can see is that Lead in work as a pair/one function with flag, lead in and flag after. If one doesn't work, the function fall (no penalty as last weekend).
It would be the same if a red cross always should be lead by a yellow flag. But maybe that isn't feasible everywhere and then red cross would be invalid in for example whoops or other places where there is clear sight of just a red cross flag. Basically you would need double staff on all places where you could potentially only have a red cross.
Lead in only used on hard to see places.
Don't forget Lime gate!
If you're right that means riders can knowingly jump on a red cross flag if someone forgot to flip the light switch. That would be insane.
Yellow is yellow, it means be alert something is coming up you'll want to see - rider down, tuff block on the track, red cross flag, MasterCraft, whatever.
Pit Row
Red Lights and Red Cross Flag – No Rule Change
There are no changes to the current rulebook regarding Red Lights or the Red Cross Flag.
Red Lights and the Red Cross Flag:
Indicates a significant safety concern and takes precedence over all other flags.
Should it be And / Or ? It reads like both need to be seen together. Not trying to be a pain but if the goal is to simplify the rule, shouldn't "Or" be in there ?
“We changed the warning light to yellow because we forgot that our rule book says you can’t jump on a red light.”
Whoever wrote that statement was lazy. They should have referenced the pertinent rules and quoted them verbatim.
As it stands the statement means that there's no change to the rules for both signals.
yes
Im sorry what a pile of crap, if this correct then hand out the penalties for last weekend!!!!!!!! I don't care what color you wished the light was last weekend, It was red and penalties should have been handed out!!!! They jumped on a red cross flag and penalties should have been handed out!!!
What the hell are you people thinking at the AMA????
Why put this out, you didn't enforce it last weekend so it means absolutely squat!!!!
Mastercraft… That made me laugh pretty dang hard… Nice one!
All I know is it is very likely that the AMA and Aeees or whatever the f*** went to the same school and got educated together.
Exactly
Yes, but the problem has been that riders incl Jett and Honda complained after his incident in 2024 that certain flags are difficult to see, or impossible.
Either you have a warning, and be prepared to let it go if system fails, or you remove warning and continue as usual. Can't have it both way.
Statistically, I'm pretty sure that lead in lights will fail less often than riders will miss the red cross on step jumps. We have seen that over and over again. So this system should be more safe, but it ain't going to be perfect.
Will less riders jump on red cross now all in all, probably yes.
It's like people saying self driving cars will kill people because they miss something a normal driver wouldn't miss. Yes it will happen. But overall, it will be safer for everyone.
Aees fighting for his life in these comments hoping he’ll get a “that makes sense” just once, lol
That's a lot of words to say . . . well, I don't really know what your saying. Is it your understanding that riders can jump the finish line jump with a red cross flag displayed if there was no prior "yellow lead in caution"? Just a quick yes or no is fine.
Yes. I can't see they are changing that for this weekend. They are claiming right call was made, and they haven't released anything saying they will judge it differently going fwd. If so, there is no need for lead in lights. It would just be normal yellow lights.
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