Image: Octopi Media.

450MX points-leader Dylan Ferrandis has sounded off on the penalty he received for jumping on a white cross flag in the opening moto at RedBud, stating the situation was ‘stupid’ post-race.

As Ferrandis battled title rival Ken Roczen in moto one of the fourth round of the 2021 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross series, the duo both jumped on a white cross flag for a downed Dean Wilson (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna) in the middle of the moto.

The move cost them both points, with Ferrandis docked one and Roczen docked two, after it was determined that Roczen jumped further than the Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha rider. Ferrandis was none too happy with the outcome of the situation, later defending himself as he was only shown the yellow flag on the take off of the jump.

“I haven’t seen the video of it, so I don’t know,” Ferrandis explained. “Honestly, it’s crazy… I’m not going to say what I truly think, but you guys probably already know. What is crazy is I never see the white cross flag because it was on the landing.

“My team told me there was one in the corner. If it’s true that there was one in the corner, I passed the corner and there was a yellow flag on the take-off, so I decided to not jump it because of the yellow flag and not because of the white cross flag – I thought it was safer for me, nothing to gain to try jumping the jump if there was a yellow flag.

“So I scrubbed half of the tabletop and the white flag was on the landing. I mean, it’s stupid and I guess if you ask Ken [Roczen], he said the same thing. He jumped because there was a yellow flag and when there’s a yellow flag you can jump.”

The premier class rookie continued his explanation by saying the circumstance was less about rider error and more on the placement of the flag, inviting the AMA to have a conversation about the incident.

“I don’t think the problem is the rider, because I think Ken and I are not known to take big risks like this for no reward, I think the problem is where they put the flagger,” he continued. “So if the AMA want to talk with me about this, there is no problem, I welcome them to come and ask me what we can do better for this situation.

“I just think, yeah, it’s not going to make a big difference for me, but maybe for Ken… one point you never know. It’s just a little sad to have to get docked points in the championship. We’re chasing these points so hard that as a rider you never like this situation and like I said, I never want to take risks to try a jump on that circumstance, but yeah, weird situation again.”

Ferrandis now leads Roczen in the championship by 13 points as the series heads to round five this Saturday, 10 July, in the sand at Southwick.