Easy solution to the penalty problem

It will keep the racers from taking the 'easy exit off track' when they make a mistake.
It's the way the rules used to be long ago.

Ride within your limits to remain on the track at all costs.  Might even be safer?

But you're suggesting he turned around and came in on the landing of a fast blind jump where not only could he not see if anyone was coming they couldn't see someone entering the track.. 

I agree with you jemcee. These guys who say that riders should re enter the track where they left want the rider to stop, turn around, ride back against the flow of the other riders then do another 180 and enter the track from a standstill. I don't understand how anyone thinks that is safe.

On the penalty, its pretty simple. The AMA want to see the rider lift a hand off the handlebars to show they are not accelerating hard and do a head check to make sure they aren't pulling on to the track right infront of someone. Jett was throwing roost around that corner and was rightly penalised. A 1 spot penalty for off track acceleration is easy to administer and is consistant across the board

Follow the rules = no penalty. Fixed.

Riding the long way around and losing time to the person ahead and behind, but accelerating loses one spot. 

Is it different if you accelerate while off the track next to the whoops and pass 3 people, or even reduce the gap to the person ahead, and increase it to the person behind, before pulling back on? IE gain an advantage?

I would assume so. 

Pretty sure I saw Prado go outside the track marker when he passed Barcia in the right hand turn before coming back down Horsepower Hill.  Haven’t heard anything about him being penalized.

Nothing is easy about penalties.   You're trying make a general rule that's fair in most situations that in some specific situations appears to be too harsh.  There almost always will be a subjective element about making the call, and because of that some people will second guess it (or applaud it), in most cases based on how they feel about the rider at issue.

A position penalty is at least fixed; with a time penalty a rider might lose no positions or five positions depending on how close the racing is.

There is no problem. The penalty is fine. 

The media not being able to understand it was handled properly is so dumb. 

Jett made a mistake, should have been off the when he was in the water truck lane. 

I think I saw Deegan land behind the markers at Millville ( think) full throttle and just veer back on the track. There was nobody right there and it was safe. 
He “gained an advantage “ because he didn’t lose time ( that line probably was faster). Should he have backed off to make himself lose time? Or maybe stopped and turned around to go back to where he went off? No penalty. 

There are a lot of dynamics. I don’t feel like a small mistake like that should be penalized in the same way as what he did multiple times on purpose at Denver. 

You’re one of the only ones who have an issue with the penalty, including Jett and the team. I would think that would make you stop and think “hmm maybe my opinion isn’t all that great of one” 

“I think I saw” is all I need to read. We don’t need to penalize guys because someone “thinks they saw something” 

Many of you are misunderstanding the rule...it has nothing to do with time gained or lost by going off the track the main reason for this particular rule is safety, the safety of the flaggers and track personnel and to spectators in the area. This rule has been covered in the riders meetings, they have been told multiple times that if you go off the track and accelerate without any attempt to slow or look for oncoming traffic you will be docked 1 position. The ruling was exactly as the rule reads in the rulebook. 

I think discretion should play a part in whether there is a penalty. But most people do not think discretion should play a part in handing down a penalty. That is where I differ from those who are most vocal on this issue.

I'll continue to think for myself rather then always go along with the crowd.

Penalty for that is bs. Let the riders race.  Narrow track either land on a rider or outside a plastic marker.  Don’t make mx the nfl. 

Bad wording… I definitely saw it, I think it was Millville.

That suit you?

And I wasn’t calling for him to be penalized.  
 

Then he can re-enter before the jump. point is, you have to re-enter at or before your exit. 

If he had slowed and pulled back onto the track he could have got rear ended. I think what Jett did was the safest option. Also there is a difference between going outside the markers and going inside the markers. 

Exactly. I think it's reasonable to infer that the track cut/unfair advantage rule likely tries to serve two purposes: to deter track‑cutting for a competitive advantage (time or position advantaged gained) and to enforce safe behavior when a rider leaves the track. The rule is not designed to punish a rider simply for going off‑track. There’s this habit of jumping straight to “no time or position was gained,” and then assuming that any acceleration off‑track automatically means a penalty. But the "acceleration" part of the rule requires a little more nuance and context when it’s being applied to off‑track excursions and whether a penalty is appropriate:

“While off course, the rider must not accelerate in an unsafe manner.” 

That’s the rule. The rule is not “accelerated off track = always a penalty.” 

"... in an unsafe manner" is where the magic happens. It’s discretionary and subjective, yes, but any reasonable person applying that part of the rule is going to generally conclude that a rider accelerating off the track, re‑entering without checking up, not looking back, and not signaling is reasonably interpreted generally as an unsafe acceleration. Thus, according to the rule the rider can be reasonably viewed as they did not properly re-enter the course and can be determined to be penalty worthy.

So, that also means a rider may accelerate off the track and may avoid a penalty if they are deemed to re‑enter safely i.e., checkup, look back, raise a hand, merge predictably even if the rider does accelerate off the track e.g., Deegan at Spring Creek.

There’s is also no part of the rule that considers the rider’s mindset or “intent.” The rider doesn’t get to decide what’s safe. Race Direction evaluates the context of the off‑track excursion, applies all relevant parts of the track cut/unfair advantage rule (properly re-entering the course, without gaining a time or position advantage) and determines whether a penalty should be considered or not.

The biggest problem with the current rule that doesn’t exist with the old “reenter where you left” is riders leave the track boundaries constantly, gaining an advantage by missing a section, even if they don’t make a pass. With the old rule, riders were miraculously able to stay on the track much better.

Alternative: Leave the track and you have to stop before returning? Make it a stop and go penalty. That’d keep guys on the track..

Riders hauling ass on the access roads during a race is plain garbage 

That's not a problem, that's exactly the type of person you want enforcing the rulebook.