2008 ABA RULE CHANGES


This rule has been created and instituted at the request of many track operators and officials. By creating this rule we are addressing riders who come out of the gate and immediately cut over on other riders. The key is to understanding this rule? First, riders are still allowed move over out of the gate. If a rider is in lane 8 and there is no rider until lane 4, the rider is allowed (within the first 30 feet) to move all the way to lane 5. The only time a foul is to be called is if the rider impedes the progress of another rider. To effectively determine this you must look at two things.
1. The action of the rider moving over.
2. The effect that the moving over rider has on the rider he impeded. If the rider moves over and the other rider is not impeded then no foul occurred.


This rule has been created to eliminate riders cutting over on the last straight to prevent a rider for passing them, rather than holding their line and racing to the finish line. First, riders are allowed to move and shift across any portion of the last straight as long as they do not impede the progress of another rider. To effectively determine this you must look at two things.
1. The action of the rider moving over.
2. The effect that the rider moving over has on other riders on the track. If the rider moves over and the other riders are not impeded (ie: they are too far behind, etc) then no foul has occurred.

The bottom line is as officials we need to encourage riders to hold their own line down the last straight to the finish line.

Both of these rules have been created to increase the safety in BMX racing. While we do not want to reduce the level of competitiveness, we do want to eliminate moves which encourage riders to cut off other riders, rather than making a strategic move. With these new rules in mind, if you don't feel as though your track was having a big problem with riders cutting over last season, then you shouldn't have an increase in calls for these rules this season.