[Mike Martus]

Inspections are not intended to stop a team from running on the court. the inspections are intended to make the machine as safe as possible and as legal as possible.

I was a inspector at the VCU regional. My thought would be "Is the duct tape necessary"? Will the tape give them a unfair advantage? Is there another legal fix for the problem?

In some cases the team has limited resources and there is no adaquate fix in the short haul. I would consider this and the intent that the team needs to compete with their machine to see all their hard work in action.

I am not saying rules should be broken. However consideration of the circumstances at the time is in my opinion is a proper action. There are other material violations that should be strictly adheared to, such as motors, wiring and safety. In these cases no slack should be given. I would however steer them to a possible answer for the violation.

Again, all teams should compete with their machine if possible.