VOLUME 57 ISSUE 34 AUGUST 25, 2020 P129
his usual aplomb.
But he wasn't alone in show-
ing boggling sangfroid. So did
the rest of the MotoGP and
Moto2 grids, while Moto3 riders
must do it every lap.
As Dovizioso put it: "If you are
too normal you can't be a rider."
The iciest will push harder after a
bad incident, hoping their rivals
will do the opposite.
In the aftermath, the blaming
began.
Rossi led a growing chorus
of complaint against Zarco. It is
far from the first time the French
double Moto2 champ's been ac-
cused of carrying the risk too far,
and only the week before he'd
been given a long-lap penalty for
knocking Pol Espargaro down.
There's a history here. At
the same time, he is racing to
salvage a career that came close
to self-destruction with KTM last
year, and accidents can happen.
The stewards decided he
needed punishing and hit him
with a pit-lane start. Many,
including Zarco, thought this
rather harsh, but he elected not
to appeal to avoid prolonging the
agony.
It might be more appropriate
to seek a non-human culprit.
The Red Bull Ring has some
special risks—blind brows, too-
close walls, and that Turn Three
that hooks right after a flat-out
left kink, putting riders straight
in the firing line of any mistake
behind them.
All of these, and especially
the last, are rendered more
severe by the sheer speed of the
fastest track of the year. Zarco
and Morbidelli were both doing
well over 300 km/h (186 mph)
when the former cut across the
nose of the latter and slammed
on brakes. That nobody got
properly spannered at Spielberg
was genuine lap-of-the-gods
luck. For which we can be truly
thankful.
The chances of having to rely
on more of the same the follow-
ing weekend were at least re-
duced by a small track change,
that, in hindsight, seemed
obvious. The air-fence-protected
barrier on the inside of Turn
Three was extended. It would
have caught the flying bikes of
Morbidelli and Zarco.
But what needs to be done
about these dangers? Beyond
not racing, there again, it's hard
to know. And isn't the same true
at any other really fast circuit—
Phillip Island's Turn One-Two
series springs to mind as a place
where exactly the same might
happen. There are similar risks
also at Silverstone. And espe-
cially at COTA's swervy sections.
Chicanes everywhere? Speed
humps? Or cross our fingers
and carry on racing? CN
OF COURSE, RISK IS
INSEPARABLE FROM RACING.
FROM MOTORCYCLING. IT'S
PART OF THE THRILL. BUT
WHEN IT NEARLY GOES AS
WRONG AS IT NEARLY WENT IN
AUSTRIA IT'S ONLY NORMAL TO
WONDER IF IT'S WORTH IT.