IN
THE
WIND
P48
Safety Lights To Be Permanent Feature?
D
uring practice on Friday
morning prior to the Algarve
MotoGP, there was the strange
sights of MotoGP machines run-
ning with their safety lights on in
blinding early morning sun. The
lights, situated under the seat
unit and used only in wet or low-
visibility conditions, were being
trialed to test whether they are
visible even when bright.
This is one safety measure with
which Dorna and the FIM, who
can send signals to turn the lights
on when bikes are on track, are
experimenting to potentially warn
riders of an incident ahead as it
bids to tackle the recent spate of
lethal on-track collisions.
"You see a red light, it's a bit
strange," said Pol Espargaro.
"You cannot see as clear as
when it's raining because of the
sun. But it's nice. You see the
light; you see the bike in front
more. For sure it's helpful. It's not
producing any problems."
Neil Morrison
Darryn Binder Under Fire
D
arryn Binder faced a barrage
of criticism after the last-lap
incident at the Algarve MotoGP
in which he took down Moto3
title challenger Dennis Foggia in
the opening event of the day. The
South African, who will be promot-
ed to MotoGP next year in Yama-
ha's satellite team, was disquali-
fied from fourth place because of
the crash he caused, which also
claimed Sergio Garcia.
MotoGP race winner Fran-
cesco Bagnaia was among those
who were critical and felt there
should be a kind of super license
in place in MotoGP, which
means riders can only graduate
to MotoGP if they have achieved
certain high results.
"We have seen a lot of crashes
like this from him,"
Bagnaia said. "I
know that it's not
correct to say it
about another rider,
but this rider next
year will be with us,
and, with MotoGP
we are faster, and I hope that will
not happen."
But Jack Miller was more
understanding. "Darryn is a bit
wild or whatever, but I can say
from firsthand experience the
pressure of going from Moto3
to MotoGP directly and how
much it puts on you, and, to be
honest, he's just scratching the
surface of what's to come when
it comes to taking on that chal-
lenge. So, everybody can do it.
This is racing. Accidents like that
can happen."
Neil Morrison
Rain lights could be on all the time
as of next year in MotoGP.
Darryn Binder's
torpedo of Dennis
Foggia has brought
forth a ton of
criticism.
