FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: By definition a photo finish is going to be close. I don’t know where the camera is located on the finish line and what lens is used, but whatever lens it is, shouldn’t it be centered on the finish line so there is no angularity at all when looking at the edge of a tire that is just fractions of an inch ahead of another? To me that photo doesn’t definitively show a winner. Steve Litscher Ada, Michigan FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: To Bobby, by a very VERY small feminine hair… Kelly Thornton Marysville, Ohio FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Regarding the photo finish in the Daytona Sportbike Race @ VIR between Cardenas and Fong, it looks like Fong was just able to get the fraction of additional drive needed to get around the outside of Cardenas and to the line first. When I initially saw the AMA finish-line photo I could understand how it would be difficult to determine the race winner overall based upon that alone (it’s a grainy photo and the pixelation over the line could be interpreted either way), but the broadcast tonight by SPEED which included two separate camera angles and slow-motion playback seems to show Fong was able to pull the sling shot off. Great riding both both racers! Chris Kurz WERA Novice #912 Flemington, New Jersey FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: For AMA Pro to call a winner off that photo is ridiculous. Three possible reasons for this call: they’re trying to generate some publicity by creating a controversy (a la NASCAR); they’re not firing on all cylinders (Roger is gone isn’t he?); or they think road racing fans are stupid. Dan Herron Urbandale, Iowa FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I think AMA needs a better high speed camera, that picture looks like it was taken on a film camera. 300fps digitals or less than $500 these days. Hunter Graham Roanoke, Virginia FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Forget what the electronic timing and scoring indicated at race end”¦ clearly, Bobby Fong won by a mile! All cynicism apart, if anything, I would have said Cardenas was a hair ahead. At best the photo is inconclusive. It should have reverted to the original, official timing and scoring”¦ Cardenas won. If it was the “old days”, and Cardenas was a Honda rider (American Honda), he would have been declared the winner by a couple of seconds. However, he isn’t and he wasn’t. I suppose it is a bit like the “old days” really, isn’t it? Owen L. Reid Liverpool, England/Memphis, Tennessee FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Yep, Fong’s tire is touching the line. Cardenas’ tire is a millimeter behind. Good call, great race! Scott Charles Mesquite, Nevada FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Where is this camera actually pointing at? The finish line at VIR is a definitely a white line 4 to 6 inches wide and I don’t see it in any of the photos for Saturday’s picture finishes. It does show a red line that anyone can draw in with MS Paint. I don’t believe the photo truly shows who won. David King Racer Stuff LLC Concord, North Carolina FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: It looks like a dead heat to me. Tell Marty to keep his head looking forward and not worrying about who is behind him and I’m certain he won’t be in this predicament again. Jesse Lauder Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: Crappy photo determines win by a millimeter? Really? With no real frame of reference in said photo? Who drew the red line in the photo? Too many mitigating factors to declare an outright winner. The win should have been based on the leading rider up to the finish line. Specifically since neither official timing or photo could make this determination without doubt. Technically, Cardenas was not passed at the finish line. Unless you are in agreement that Fong won by a millimeter. Really? Sounds to me like a conspiracy. Ken Sotero Chula Vista, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: It’s impossible to make a judgment here, because you cannot see the finish line, thus you cannot tell is that camera pointing level with the edge of the finish line, or is is slightly angled. Leave it up to the track owners to purposely buy and set up cheap cameras in order to have leeway to modify race results. They make a killing off our tickets, and they can’t put a slow-motion mega-pixel camera at the finish line? Go figure… Stan Sirenko Sacramento, California FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: How can AMA declare anybody a winner when the official AMA timing and scoring reads 0.000? That official time and that official grainy still photo tells me it was a tie? What does the rulebook say about that? Great racing by both winners! Roger Lyle Hagerstown, Maryland FIRST PERSON/OPINION Via e-mail: I’m not sure what camera system the AMA uses, but the output looks very similar to finish line photos from bicycle races. Those cameras don’t take a single picture of the whole frame but actually take hundreds of tiny little slices of just the finish line. The resulting image is actually a whole collection of images arranged by time. So, the fact that it looks kind of grainy and what not is not an indication of a crappy camera, just how these cameras work. You get a little sense of this because everyone looks a little compressed. They look a little compressed because they’re actually accelerating across the finish line.They’re very accurate and the fact that Bobby Fong’s front wheel is one or two slices of time ahead of Martin indicates that he crossed the finish line first. There is no need to concern yourself with point of view and where the finish line is relative to the riders (assuming the camera was set up square to the line) and so on. Check out this link, it has a good animation that shows what I mean clearer than a few words: ~http://www.finishlynx.com/products/finishlynx/overview/body.htm~ Gus Holcomb Cambridge, Massachusetts