Discontent is brewing in the Bermuda Motocross Club (BMC) over what some members feel is favouritism towards vice-president Otis Ingham.

However, BMC president Ashley Simmons is adamant that a recent fracas involving Ingham at Coney Island has been handled "adequately" by the club's Disciplinary Committee. He also said it's unfair that Ingham has been singled out when others were disciplined because of the same matter.

What some club members like Alvin Landy are querying is what they allege is a "slap on the wrist" for Ingham compared to punishments meted out to previous offenders.

Landy told The Royal Gazette that on March 9 Ingham and another man, Cyrus Ratteray, were quarrelling at a BMC meet and he asked them to be quiet, at which point Ratteray stopped talking while Ingham "kept going on".

"When I looked around he was coming after me for no reason. He tried to fight me - throw blows at me and all that," alleged Landy.

"He nudged me and I fell to the ground, knocked my cell phone out of my hand and all that. It was stupid."

Onlookers rushed to restrain Ingham who allegedly then went after Ratteray.

"So I called the police and he came after me again and then after Mr. Ratteray again. The police came and told him to come to the police station," added Landy.

However, a check with the authorities revealed no charges were ever filed against Ingham.

"All I heard that they (the Disciplinary Committee) gave Mr. Ingham was a $100 fine and I saw his son miss one race day and now he's still down there riding," said Landy.

This, he and other club members charged, is unfair in light of what happened to Vaughan and Amanda Smith last November. The parents were brought before the committee because of their behaviour towards the St. John Ambulance Brigade after an incident where one of their sons was injured.

"In the incident with Mr. Smith, they suspended his children for four race days and they fined him $100 and suspended him a year. The mother, I believe, was suspended for two years.

"They penalised the little Smith children that didn't do anything and Mr. Ingham is a big grown man and his son is 15," Landy pointed out.

Simmons refuted the claim that Ingham only got $100 fine but refused to reveal the correct penalty.

"That's not what happened to him. It's something completely different. I don't know and I am not really interested in where you got your information but people get half-truths and don't know what really happened. He (Ingham) has been given the committee's ruling and I think it was adequate.

"When something happens in our club we refer it to the Disciplinary Committee. I don't even discuss it with the rest of the members. That's out of respect for the person involved. People are trying to stir up trouble here, that's all," declared the president.

The BMC, he added, does not at all condone misbehaviour by members and everyone involved in the March 9 incident was brought before the committee.

"We take a very dim view of any violence or anybody accosting someone else or any disruption - no matter how slight. We don't want that happening. It's been dealt with and I consider the matter closed.

Asked if something of this nature would require that Ingham relinquish his post, Simmons replied: "I choose not to comment on that."

However, when asked who was his vice-president, he said: "My vice-president is Otis Ingham."