Cycle News

Cycle News 2020 Issue 34 August 25

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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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.

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