Broc Tickle Receives Formal Suspension Announcement
After more than a year of sitting in limbo with little to no communication in regards to the fate of his future in professional dirt bike racing, Broc Tickle has finally received word on his formal sentencing from the FIM relating to a drug test he failed that was administered on February 10th, 2018.
According to Broc's Instagram post from yesterday, he will be eligible to officially race again on February 10th, 2020. That's exactly two years from when the test was taken after the San Diego Supercross race, and will be a one year, 10 months and 2 days after the "provisional" suspension was announced. I guess the good news is that they are going off of when the test was taken and not when they announced the suspension. Then again it's not all that great because he will still miss the opening rounds of the 2020 Supercross season.
If you don't recall, Broc was provisionally suspended after violating Article 7.9.2 of the FIM Anti-Doping Code, when the FIM said his urine sample test on Feb 10 showed positive results for 5-methylhexan-2-amine, a specified substance under Section 6 (Stimulants) of the 2018 FIM Prohibited List. While struggling to get information or basically any communication from WADA or FIM in regards to his ordeal Broc has maintained his innocence and stated that he never intentionally or negligently took any banned substances or tried to cheat in any manner.
At least now Broc knows when his ban from racing will be lifted
and while the whole situation will most likely sit with him for
years to come, he now has a definitive return date and something
positive to look forward to and something to work towards.
Besides being in the dark about his case, the potential punishment, and when/if he would be able to race again, this predicament also cost Broc his contract with KTM.
FIMs involvement in AMA racing and Supercross has been around for years. Within the past couple years though competitors and race fans frustrations with the organization's handling of situations like this have reached a boiling point. From what we've seen from a couple other racers that have been suspended by FIM for failed drug tests, after the initial announcement of the suspension comes down communication from the organization to the rider becomes extremely limited with very few rider's question answered or responses delayed for extremely long periods of time. It's a very unfortunate and frustrating situation to be in, especially if you feel as you've followed all the rules and didn't intentionally do anything wrong.
Imagine if you were suspended by your work one day and were just left in the lurch for more than a year waiting to hear your fate. That's pretty much what Broc and some of these other guys have gone through.
