VOLUME 57 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2020 P113
might be construed as an unfair
advantage while testing. Might
it really? It's a bit of a pedantic
point.
Another concerns the poten-
tial punishment. Given the FIM
Stewards' recent to-the-book
record, like Cal Crutchlow's ride-
through penalty in the Argentine
GP last year for a barely notice-
able (indeed, in my view still
arguable) jump start, who knows
how severely they will sanction
Fabio? They have carte blanche.
Informed opinion is that he'll
get off lightly. After all, there was
nothing underhand about his
testing, he described it fully on
social media, and it was further
publicized by the French race-
prep firm that lent him the bike.
But until the axe falls, nobody
can tell what will be amputated.
There is also the question of
other riders who may likewise
fall foul of the possibly rather
vague and definitely (perhaps
necessarily) ad-hoc Covid-19
regulations, which were issued
after the cancellation of the
premier class at Qatar's first GP
of the year.
Other riders involved? Italian
website GPOne reported that
Taka Nakagami had been test-
ing on Alvaro Bautista's Honda
CBR1000R-RR Superbike and
had issued glowing social-media
comments about the experi-
ence. This would seem to be
nudging dangerously towards
the same transgression as
Quartararo and he may not be
the only one. Rossi and his gang
were also out at Misano, and
were their R1s strictly standard?
The restrictive regulation
changes had come at the end
of May, when the allocation of
private test days for the smaller
classes was abruptly canceled.
Teams that hadn't used the full
permitted seven days lost out.
MotoGP riders were also kept
at home. That's normal for the
factory riders, although in nor-
mal times they would have been
racing. There was no change
in the rule allowing MotoGP
"concession teams" (KTM and
Aprilia) and factory test teams to
test, but lockdown meant that
the circuits were closed in any
case. Misano opened at the
end of June, and the KTM and
Aprilia concession teams were
joined by Suzuki and Ducati test
riders, out on track with World
Superbikes for the first gallops
in months.
The whole Quartergate
scandal has the feel of a can of
worms.
And anyway, what is a rider to
do? There's only so much value
in sitting on a sofa and lapping
it up on the PlayStation. With or
without fans watching on.
Almost four months without
serious race-speed saddle time
is a major setback for all, and
it's cruel and arguably even
dangerous to deny the oppor-
tunity to get reflexes back up to
speed before hostilities resume.
Rusty GP riders are potentially a
menace.
In fairness Fast Fabio should
escape with no worse than a rap
on the knuckles for his trans-
gression. Or a slap on the wrist.
Either would be a great deal
better than the punishment suf-
fered by Andrea Dovizioso for his
efforts to stay sharp. The Ducati
rider was sanctioned by the fac-
tory to enter a motocross to get
his racing Mojo working.
He crashed and broke his col-
larbone and will start the belated
2020 season recovering from
that. CN
THE WHOLE
QUARTERGATE
SCANDAL
HAS THE FEEL
OF A CAN OF
WORMS.
