I would never take anything away from Mladin, the guy can ride like crazy... And I would never deny that luck plays a significant if inconsistent role in every form of racing...
But regardless of what the rules say, I have a real problem with two factors that allowed Mladin to come away from this with points:
1) A crashed rider re-entering a race by virtue of a red-flag? C'mon - if you're out, you're out. Period.
2) Finishing the race on a different bike? No - I don't think so.... Sure, you may have to use one bike in practice and qualifying and another in the race - but you should finish the race on the machine you started the race on.
Racing is not about how many bikes you have or can afford to crash - racing is about a rider's ability to navigate a course with his equipment better and faster than anyone else on the grid. The AMA needs to recognize this on both the national/Pro level and the sanctioned club level.
But regardless of what the rules say, I have a real problem with two factors that allowed Mladin to come away from this with points:
1) A crashed rider re-entering a race by virtue of a red-flag? C'mon - if you're out, you're out. Period.
2) Finishing the race on a different bike? No - I don't think so.... Sure, you may have to use one bike in practice and qualifying and another in the race - but you should finish the race on the machine you started the race on.
Racing is not about how many bikes you have or can afford to crash - racing is about a rider's ability to navigate a course with his equipment better and faster than anyone else on the grid. The AMA needs to recognize this on both the national/Pro level and the sanctioned club level.