Michael Scott | April 12, 2023
Cycle News In The Paddock
COLUMN
“Overly Ambitious” Stewards Score Own Goal
Freddie Spencer’s stewards panel has been especially busy this season, flinging out sanctions like a sinking ship’s captain jettisoning unpopular passengers.
It’s hard not to imagine them feeling smug when, two races in, they’ve found reason to apply no less than 14 penalties. Plus, another (for Moto2’s Vietti) carried over from 2022.
All in the name of improving safety, for sundry offences, including disobeying official instructions, jump starts and being “overly ambitious” (which some might consider part of the job description for a World Championship wannabe).
Improving safety is, of course, a noble aim. Particularly in the thrillingly lunatic new sprint races, where riders throw caution to the winds in an intensely concentrated gallop, which (to anyone who has ever been club racing or enjoyed all-action speedway or flat track) is the very essence of real uncluttered motorcycle racing.
Proper racing, you might call it, with no recourse to anything other than riding skill—no tire management, fuel conservancy or any physical tactics other than getting your elbows out.
Given the slew of injuries in the premier class alone so far (Enea Bastianini, Pol Espargaro, Marc Marquez and Miguel Oliveira out after one GP, now also Joan Mir during the second) it is chilling to think how much worse it might have been without the stewards’ calming influence.
But they are not making any friends.
It’s not so much the penalizing that offends. Clearly lunatic riding must be held in check. Although some measures seem overly pedantic—such as punishing a flicker of movement that gains no advantage as a “jump start” with a double long-lap penalty or dropping one place for merely brushing the outside edge of the paint on the last lap. This last punishment also messes not only with the finishing order, but also rider tactics.
It is more the inconsistencies that upset teams and riders. For starters, the cost of a long-lap penalty varies massively from one circuit to another—barely a second at some tracks but knocking on for four seconds at Misano.
As Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis said last year, after Quartararo was punished for a minor mistake at Assen, after other riders had got away scot-free for much worse actions: “We are disappointed to see the inequality with which penalties are applied by the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel.”
Then there is the arbitrary nature of decisions (stewards are not obliged to explain their reasoning). In Portugal, Marini knocked Bastianini down and broke his shoulder. In Argentina, Vinales knocked Binder off and Nakagami pushed Quartararo into the dirt, dropping him to last. No penalties.
But in Portugal when Marquez slipped up and clobbered Oliveira, he was penalized (“overly aggressive”). In Argentina, Moto2’s Garcia suffered the same sanction, and Scott Ogden also after his last-lap braking fumble knocked early front runner David Alamansa off.
All were without doubt “overly ambitious.” But what was the difference between these mistakes and those that went unpunished?
And on the other hand, are the punishments sufficient? After Marquez’s unfortunate close encounter with Oliveira, frequently outspoken fellow Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro was loudly calling for a one-race ban, while the Portuguese rider’s team owner Razlan Razali was demanding a high-level conference on the whole matter.
Like I said, no friends.
All were without doubt “overly ambitious.” But what was the difference between these mistakes and those that went unpunished?
Consequently, when the stewards scored an own goal with their penalty against Marquez, the critics smiled sardonically.
They’d set him a double long-lap penalty to be served in the “Argentina MotoGP race.” Marc acknowledged his error and accepted the punishment.
Next day, back home, doctors discovered a fracture in his right thumb. It was surgically fixable, but Marc withdrew from the coming weekend’s Argentine race to take a fortnight to recover. Thus, he was unable to serve the penalty as specified.
The stewards hastily “clarified” their decision, revising the wording. The penalty would now be served at his next race, wherever it might be. Justice would be served, at their convenience.
Or would it?
“Foul,” cried Repsol Honda. Against the rules! Too late to change the specified punishment. Especially since the revision would penalize Marc at CotA, a circuit where he reigns supreme, and could be expected to overcome the Honda’s many problems.
It went to the FIM Appeal Stewards. They saw the team’s point and the Stewards’ procedural blunder and passed the buck to the MotoGP Court of Appeal.
We await their lordships’ decision.
And enjoy the discomfort of the all-powerful but perhaps on this occasion overly ambitious stewards, who must follow the rules as much as the riders.
After all, veterans are happy to keep reminding us that had there been stewards and sanctions in Sweden back in 1983, Freddie Spencer’s “overly aggressive” last-lap attack that pushed Kenny Roberts into the dirt while himself running wide and “exceeding track limits,” he would have been dropped one place, and would not have won the championship. CN
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