The peaceful FIM and AMA together made a surprise announcement that they are working together to “harmonize” rulemaking between the two organizations, and they already reached agreement on three significant items, one of them possibly being the end of the 450 in SX/MX.

Two of the things will be pretty popular, an announcement that this rule “harmonizing” applies to noise too, so everyone is on the same page, and the that European junior championships need 2-strokes and so do the guys working their way up through Loretta Lynn’s, mainly the 125 guys. The third point will be the most controversial and that is the opinion of the FIM and AMA that 450s are just too much, and need to be scaled down in power.

The FIM had invited AMA’s SX/MX manager Steve Whitelock to round 2 at Bellpuig, Spain for a GP Commission meeting. This was to discuss the above, and the points agreed will go through the Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers’ Association (MSMA) to 7 manufacturers, with the first follow-up due in June. If they agree, put that 450 away, at least for Supercross and outdoor nationals. The premier SX/MX class may be on 350s as a result of the meeting, as early as 2009. At least that is what the GP Commission passed on to the MSMA, as a recommendation, not a demand.

What’s Whitelock doing in Europe anyway? The answer–getting things done. Imagine trying to get something done in an AMA committee without hours of argument. Let’s admit it, U.S. racing debate is a mixed bag of marketing, manufacturing, promoting and rulemaking and everyone wants to decide things. In fact it was suggested to Whitelock in one meeting that he just butt out, because technical things like displacement should be defined by the FIM. Fine, Whitelock knows the FIM and they agree. The proposal to make 450s smaller is already done. Whitelock wonders why he just didn’t start with the FIM in the first place!

What do people have against the mighty 450? “The bikes are too powerful,” said Whitelock, “There are 2 or 3 riders that can really race the bike. Then there are a whole bunch of riders that are getting ridden by the bike. They are along for the ride.” Don't tell Grant Langston or Ivan Tedesco that.

The FIM and AMA now even go as far as to say that we are back to the day when 500 2-strokes were considered to be un-rideable except for just a few top guys.
“We have a horsepower issue,” Whitelock said, “These bikes are making more horsepower and torque as the full factory works bikes 500s used to. These bikes can’t continue to be like this.”

How do we know? Look at the dirt and the evidence. The main thing mentioned is 450s tear up whoops with the added torque and make tracks too treacherous for less experienced Lite guys. In addition, the shrinking of lap times and the fact that Dirt Wurx can’t build anything that Stewart and Reed won’t turn into a triple.

Whitelock again: “Look at lap times. The Lites are all closer together. From top to bottom, the spread is like 2 1/2 seconds. In Supercross from top to bottom is like 4 1/2 seconds. The bikes are too much. The 450s allows the guys to clear obstacles that were not meant to be cleared. Think about at Indy, they made a triple-triple-triple. It was designed to be single–double–out. James can take a second away from everyone like that. Everyone complains we are not using up enough time, the laps are too short. Our tracks have not gotten any shorter. We have to slow them down.”

So if they agree noise is a problem and is going to be handled in a standardized way, why not just choke down a 450 until you can’t hear it and kill two birds with one stone?
”When you restrict the engine that way, you hurt something in the performance that the riders rely on,” says Whitelock, “The usual place when you put restrictors on that hurts you is acceleration. They still will make very good power, but less acceleration. Acceleration is important in motocross, probably one of the most important things. When you are in trouble, you need it to have that instant throttle response to drive yourself out of a problem.” The FIM agrees. The promoter of the GPs, Youthstream, agrees. I spoke with Youthstream’s president Giuseppe Luongo about whether the manufacturers will agree to build smaller bikes and he said, “I think they are in line with us on principal. They know we are right about the noise and about too much power on the 450s. There will be pressure here and there, but we see the general picture and I think they will come back with a proposal that is good for all of us. They feel this is a serious problem that we have to work on worldwide. I think there will be a serious commitment on their side. I don’t know if they will say 350cc or 400 or what or some other proposal. We don’t say ‘We want 350cc.’ We say we want a bike that is very good for motocross. It’s light handling with the right power so the rider can race it, not so the rider just hangs on. We have the problem with noise and its our problem and your problem.”

Is this heavy-duty stuff or what?

Supercross is concerned about these powerful beasts on the track, and it takes a trip to Europe to do something. Not only that, it turned out better than expected, or so it seems.

If these first three items go smooth, Americans will be racing with rules that look a lot like the rest of the world’s and problems the FIM or AMA finds will seem smaller, because they have agreed to work together on things like this in the future.