Penalties For Ryan Villopoto and Jason Lawrence

Ouch. Click any of the photos in this article for a larger version.

For the opening day of practice at first round of the ’07 AMA National Championship Motocross Series you’d figure the focus would be on trying to set a fast qualifying time to make it into Sunday’s show. That was mostly the case, though some extra-curricular on-track activities between Jason Lawrence and Ryan Villopoto resulted in fines for both.

As soon as Jason and Ryan were riding together in the second practice round, it attracted plenty of attention.

Basically, ever since these two tangled in the main event at the Houston Supercross, they seem to find each other on the track during practice. That was the case today during he first practice, when the Pro Circuit riders were claiming that Jason was blocking and preventing them from setting their fastest possible laps.

Team members on both sides were trying to separate the riders.

In the second practice the two riders hooked up again, and after some jockeying, blocking and brake-checking, things came to a head in a corner where they’d stopped together, and Villopoto hit the gas, dropped the clutch, and launched his bike into Lawrence. After that, there was plenty of wrestling, members of both teams showing up on the scene, and a big mess for the AMA to deal with.

The AMA's Jay Mitrowitz with Jason.

After lots of meetings with all the principles involved, here’s the latest:

Jason has been fined $7,500, will line up at the gate 40th in both motos on Sunday, and will address all the riders at tomorrow’s rider’s meeting.

Jason Lawrence.

Ryan has been fined $2,500 for his part in it, as well as the actions of his crew.

Ryan Villopoto.

The AMA will release an official statement tomorrow morning.

So, how about some fireworks to kick off the ’07 National season?

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