Copyright 2001, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Chris Normand, who was wrongly disqualified from third place in the Pro Thunder race at VIR two weeks ago and has since been reinstated, is still discribed as being guilty of violating rules in a story linked to the AMA Pro Racing website.

A story on Speedvision.com, dated September 30 and headlined “Montano’s Pro Thunder Lead Grows With VIR Win”, was provided by AMA Pro Racing and, as of October 14, can still be reached via a prominent link on www.amaproracing.com.

The link appears on the left hand side of the AMA Pro Racing home page, as a logo carrying the words “Media Center”. The headline over the Media Center logo reads “Get AMA road-racing news in the (Media Center)”.

AMA officials disqualified Normand for violating a minimum-weight rule which had been eliminated before the season started. AMA tech boss Rob King, who wrote a February 9, 2001 Competition Bulletin announcing the rule change for non-desmo twin-cylinder machines, was on site at VIR when the disqualification took place.

The story still appearing on Speedvision.com reads, in part, “Mike Ciccotto was second, 17 seconds behind and Thomas Fournier took third after original third-place finisher Chris Normand was disqualified for his bike being underweight.”

While AMA officials personally apologized to Normand and reinstated his finish, AMA Pro Racing has not issued a press release acknowledging the error and announcing Normand’s reinstatement.

Press releases announcing the wrongful disqualification, along with official results without Normand’s finish, were distributed before the error was corrected. As a consequence, TV highlight shows featuring action from VIR reported that Tom Fournier finished third in the Pro Thunder race. Various websites also carried the incorrect results along with news of Normand’s initial disqualification.