San Diego Supercross lime controversy: Safety of riders, teams and crew ‘top priority’ says Feld Entertainment

On the back of the AMA San Diego lime statement last night, Feld Entertainment has said they are reaching out to riders affected by the lime and in their carefully worded statement offered their own explanation of when and why the drying agent was used at Petco Park.

Feld will have plenty of riders that they’ll need to reach out to, including Supercross star Ken Roczen, who wasted no time in voicing complaints on Saturday. “Me and other riders had problems with getting burns and rashes from the lime,” he wrote on Instagram.

And many other angry riders backed up K-Roc’s comments. “I’m all messed up from the weekend,” said Vann Martin. “Burns all over my body from the lime in the dirt. Swipe left to see the burns on my legs. My legs, stomach, chest, shoulders, nipples, butt, and balls are all scraped up.

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“The bottom of my butt cheeks are by far the worst but I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to post haha. It’s rough. Burns bad still.

“I feel for all the riders that have the same affects [sic] and for all the mechanics that are having to put in the overtime.”

The organisation behind the Monster Energy Supercross series stressed in their statement that the safety of riders, teams and crew is a “top priority” at all Supercross events and that the track crew took “normal precautions to ensure a safe and raceable track”.

In an attempt to remove moisture from the dirt, track crew removed the protective tarp from the track before qualifying and applied a drying agent – a mixture of lime and sand. Feld notes the process has been used safely for decades to dry dirt with the goal of reducing the risk of accidents for riders.

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In their statement, Feld Entertainment says: “The unprecedented amount of rain on Saturday prevented the lime from mixing with the soil as usual. This resulted in splashing of the riders and their bikes, which may have caused skin irritation to some riders and damage to their bikes.”

Feld is now reaching out to riders who raced at San Diego Supercross to assess the extent of the impact. They want to ensure rider welfare and get them back on their bikes racing.

They are also reviewing their existing processes to deal with excessive water on the track so that they can avoid a recurrence.

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