Sunday’s MotoGp meeting at Phillip Island was a shambles of epic proportions played out in the full glare of the world’s media and television audience. Hardly enybody has emerged unscathed from the fiasco so let’s name and shame, shall we?
1. Top of the list for utter incompetence comes the two tyre suppliers, Dunlop and Bridgestone. Despite having had nearly 8 months to digest the tyre data from the World Superbike event at PI in February, both suppliers arrived with tyre compound sets that were totally useless for the new, abrasive and grippy surface. I was in the pits at PI in February (and in January at the Island Classic too) and it was apparent that the higher-powered Post Classic bikes (190+ bhp) and the World Superbikes (200+ bhp) were all chewing through tyres at an alarming rate. In fact, because Pirelli (the WSBK sole tyre supplier) was so concerned about the situation, they actually had the organisers reduce the number of laps of the two superbike races for safety reasons (does this sound familiar?) I know that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans but surely somebody at Bridgestone and Dunlop would have cast their eye across the races that have been held at PI since the resurfacing and seen whether there was any data there that would help them prepare for the MotoGp? As Vizzini said in “The Princess Bride”, “INCONCEIVABLE”
The result of their complete incompetence was a rash of tyre failures in the Moto2 sessions causing a shortening of their race for safety reasons and a similar rash of “chunking” issues on the big bikes that led, first of all, to the shortening of the race and then the last-minute decision to run the race with a compulsory bike change after the 11th lap. Seriously, what sort of hillbillys are running the game?
The tyre manufacturers have been widely and justifiably pilloried for their incompetence and I can’t help thinking that DORNA may already be looking for a way out of their contract with Dunlop and Bridgestone purely on the basis of the fact that their actions have held up the sport to ridicule.
2. Next on the list of monumental stuff-ups is the Honda HRC team who played it fast and loose with the wording of the hastily-issued regulations and thought that they could pit Marquez on Lap 11 instead of at the end of lap 10 as the notice seemed to suggest. Working on the “understanding” that, if the rider had not crossed the start finish line to complete the lap then he was still technically on the previous lap, they kept Marquez out for an extra lap to gain a bit of track time and also avoid being in the pit queue at the same time as Lorenzo. It didn’t work and Marquez was disqualified. It beggars belief that a million dollar operation could allow a situation to occur like this. Honda loses valuable constructors points and, more importantly, Marquez’s championship lead goes from a comfortable 43 points at the beginning of the race to a mere 18 points at the end. The team has admitted their error but Marquez has not so far admitted his part in the fiasco, preferring to let the team take the rap. Fact is, he should have known and come in the lap earlier.
3. The third member of the Three Stooges of Phillip Island is Race Direction. Just where was it written in the regulations given to the teams on Sunday morning that a rider who exceeded the 11 lap limit would be disqualified? As far as I have been able to find out the only thing said was that a rider who did so would be given a penalty. So, why, when the “crime” was relatively minor, did Race Direction issue the strongest penalty at their disposal? A few years ago, Valentino Rossi passed under a yellow flag at Phillip Island and was given a ride-through penalty for his trouble. Surely that is a far more serious offence and yet he wasn’t disqualified. In fact, Rossi roared back through the field and got onto the podium, if I recall. So, I ask again, why was Marquez disqualified when a ride-through was the appropriate penalty? It would have dropped him through the field and livened up the last half of the race even more as he worked his way back up through the field. It would have sufficiently dented his points haul to remind him and the team about the rules but not severely compromised his championship hopes which is what the disqualification has done. I can only assume that somebody in the upper echelon has decided that it would make for good ticket sales and TV revenue if the title chase ends at Valencia (DORNA is a Spanish organisation, remember) as it now must. Conspiracy theory? For sure. Where there is smoke there is bound to be fire? Always.
4. The last members of this dreadful panel of shame are Lorenzo and Marquez. Exiting the pits at full whack, having checked over his shoulder to make sure the track was clear, Marquez popped out of pit lane (whose exit is located at the apex of T1) right in front of Lorenzo who was a top speed setting up for Turn 1. Marquez had done everything in the rules required to ensure a safe entry to the track but Lorenzo left his braking much later (and later admitted that he had done so) in order to ensure that the young pretender did not enter T1 before him. The two riders touched and were both carted “off-line”. It could have been spectacularly dangerous but skill on the part of both riders avoided the carnage. The anti-Marquez brigade immediately began foaming at the mouth and some still are. But the facts do not support them. They also have very short memories as it was Lorenzo himself who often put other riders in danger and that quite deliberately during his 250cc days. In fact, he was banned for a couple of races for just such offences, so he has “form”. Since pit stops had been taking place he should have been aware that a rider could have been entering the track. Marquez, for his part, was wrong to assume that, simply because the track was clear that there was nobody there. But, he is 20 years old and doesn’t really know how much it hurts yet.
And all of this took place in front of a record low crowd, less than half of the number who had attended the meeting in 2012. The fact that Stoner wasn’t racing no doubt was the major influence here. But organisers are going to have to do something to arrest the slide. The sport is all run by the accountants these days and DORNA will no doubt be watching closely. A race meeting on the other side of the world in the wrong time zone for their predominately European constituency? And not making money? I remind you that Laguna Seca has lost its MotoGp date for similarly being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Does anybody come out of the weekend looking good? Yes, but they are the people who look good no matter what is happening around them. The riders.
Oh, and massive congratulations to Tom Sykes and the Kawasaki team for winning the World Superbike Championship and breaking the long-time stranglehold of Italian bikes upon the WSBK.
Oh (again). For those who haven’t seen it, the Shadowfax Kawasaki has now taken up residence at the National Motorcycle Museum of Australia and may be viewed there.
sanoptic says
Fiasco is too kind a word Phil. Wonder why they didn’t just run 2x 10 lap races and be done with it?. Oh hang on that would have been too logical.
Motogp bikes are not designed [as yet] for quick wheel changes so they make them change to their 2nd bike even though that would disadvantage some of the non factory teams that only have one good bike.
I think your 100% correct in your reasoning behind MM’s being black flagged.
Casey Stoner couldn’t stand the politics & got out & now DORNA will lose even more public support for their inability to run a world class motorcycle series.
Phil Hall says
It’s always easy to be critical when you’re sitting on the outside, but, if you exhibit the sort of clumsiness that was shown at PI you have to expect people to criticise you, don’t you?