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MotoGP
MOTOGP: Noyes’ Notebook: Anatomy Of An Overtaking, Pt. I
Dennis Noyes investigates "The Pass" by talking to four American 500cc Grand Prix World Champions and several other GP luminaries.
Some call it a witch-hunt, others consider Marco Simoncelli a wild man. Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo branded him as the proverbial “accident getting ready to happen” a month ago, but his team boss (and a former world champion himself) Fausto Gresini says, “Simoncelli is a fair sportsman and he deeply regrets the injuries suffered by Dani Pedrosa.”
On lap 18 of 28, with Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner leading the French Grand Prix by over three seconds, Simoncelli, on the factory San Carlo Gresini Honda, briefly got past Pedrosa on the entrance to the back straight in their battle for second, but Pedrosa came parallel with the Italian and then edged past as the two approached the left-hand entrance to the esses. Pedrosa, with the rear wheel skipping off the deck, was on the inside and Simoncelli made his decision to try and ride around the outside. The two were on divergent lines. Simoncelli got slightly ahead but never cleared Pedrosa. Contact looked inevitable, although there was not complete agreement about that among the Grand Prix riders whose opinions follow. Dani lifted and his front wheel sawed into Marco’s rear wheel. The Spaniard crashed and broke his collarbone.
The images on the TV screen are clear, but truth, it seems, is in the eyes of the beholder. Even the facts have been distorted by many and perhaps even by the flat imagery of television technology. But Race Direction, I have been told, based their decision to call Simoncelli in for a ride-through penalty, on a wealth of TV feeds including an angle we haven’t yet seen taken from the rear-facing on-bike cameras mounted on both bikes.
The ride-through dropped Marco from second place down to seventh, although he fought back and passed Americans Nicky Hayden (factory Ducati) and Ben Spies (factory Yamaha) on the final two laps.
Simoncelli was penalized under rule 1.21 (2) of the FIM Sporting Regulations: “Riders must ride in a responsible manner which does not cause danger to other competitors or participants, either on the track or in the pit-lane. Any infringement of this rule will be penalized by one of the following penalties: fine – ride-through – disqualification –withdrawal of championship points – suspension.”
Therefore, on the scale of five, Simoncelli was given one of the two mildest. Had the infraction taken place in practice or qualifying, as did the incident that morning in the warm-up when Casey Stoner leaned off his Honda to throw (and land) a punch to the shoulder of Frenchman Randy Puniet, there would have been a fine. (Stoner was fined 5000 Euros.)
On lap 18 of 28, with Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner leading the French Grand Prix by over three seconds, Simoncelli, on the factory San Carlo Gresini Honda, briefly got past Pedrosa on the entrance to the back straight in their battle for second, but Pedrosa came parallel with the Italian and then edged past as the two approached the left-hand entrance to the esses. Pedrosa, with the rear wheel skipping off the deck, was on the inside and Simoncelli made his decision to try and ride around the outside. The two were on divergent lines. Simoncelli got slightly ahead but never cleared Pedrosa. Contact looked inevitable, although there was not complete agreement about that among the Grand Prix riders whose opinions follow. Dani lifted and his front wheel sawed into Marco’s rear wheel. The Spaniard crashed and broke his collarbone.
The images on the TV screen are clear, but truth, it seems, is in the eyes of the beholder. Even the facts have been distorted by many and perhaps even by the flat imagery of television technology. But Race Direction, I have been told, based their decision to call Simoncelli in for a ride-through penalty, on a wealth of TV feeds including an angle we haven’t yet seen taken from the rear-facing on-bike cameras mounted on both bikes.
The ride-through dropped Marco from second place down to seventh, although he fought back and passed Americans Nicky Hayden (factory Ducati) and Ben Spies (factory Yamaha) on the final two laps.
Simoncelli was penalized under rule 1.21 (2) of the FIM Sporting Regulations: “Riders must ride in a responsible manner which does not cause danger to other competitors or participants, either on the track or in the pit-lane. Any infringement of this rule will be penalized by one of the following penalties: fine – ride-through – disqualification –withdrawal of championship points – suspension.”
Therefore, on the scale of five, Simoncelli was given one of the two mildest. Had the infraction taken place in practice or qualifying, as did the incident that morning in the warm-up when Casey Stoner leaned off his Honda to throw (and land) a punch to the shoulder of Frenchman Randy Puniet, there would have been a fine. (Stoner was fined 5000 Euros.)
Grand Prix of The Americas
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