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VOLUME 59 ISSUE 27 JULY 6, 2022 P137 the brakes and—just like Fabio— lost the front and hit the deck. The consequences to others were more severe. Apart from hurting himself, he also took out front-row starter and title hopeful Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Rins, the latter for a second race in succession, and furthermore suffering a wrist fracture. Both riders were, to put it mildly, miffed. It had been a headlong attack, a headstrong mistake. Taka was too fast too late, in the thick of a tight pack, and wrecked their races. If this didn't deserve a sanc- tion, then why not? The stewards thought other- wise. Just a "racing incident." No sanction required. And as to a justification of this wacky view… well, that's not part of their brief. If this was inexplicable, all the more so when Fabio's much more understandable slip at As- sen was judged the other way. I have rewatched both, admit- tedly without the closed-circuit camera angles available to the stewards, and it's really difficult not to find this wildly inconsistent and consequently deeply unfair. And there have been other examples this year—accidents that went unpunished as well as minor transgressions that were: Jack Miller in particular a double victim of "a bogus penalty." Yamaha team chief Lin Jarvis stopped short of personal insult, merely expressing "disappoint- ment" at the inequalities. Such inconsistency "damages the fairness of MotoGP and the faith in the Stewards." At least three more serious incidents in 2022, causing retirement and/or inju- ries, "were left unpunished." And all without any chance of review or redress. An appeal to the Stewards was simply denied. Oddly, per regulations, this type of penalty is not open to discus- sion. Thwarted, Jarvis wondered if the matter might be taken fur- ther. His statement added: "We wanted to raise the issue, as a matter of principle, with CAS (Court of Arbitration of Sport)," but this was blocked, under the same quirky regulation that makes the decision untouch- able. "It is precisely for these rea- sons that correct, balanced and consistent decisions should be taken by the Stewards," Jarvis concluded. Quartararo, for his part, stopped at a mild Twitter sneer on Twitter. "Congratulations to the Stewards for the amazing job… next time I will [not] try any overtake, to think about not tak- ing a penalty." Hear, hear to both. Freddie is racing royalty, so there's no pleasure in seeing his reputation tarnished, though he must have gone into this with eyes open. But I never tire of remind- ing readers of another massive irony, which he would doubtless prefer to forget, that had he and his panel been in action in 1983, he would not have won the World Championship. His last-lap attack on Kenny Roberts in Sweden put both off the track, and with Roberts the innocent victim, Freddie would have been docked one position for exceed- ing track limits. He'd have fin- ished second, lost three points, and Kenny gained three. Exactly the margin by which Freddie beat Kenny overall. CN But I never tire of reminding readers of another massive irony, which he would doubtless prefer to forget, that had he and his panel been in action in 1983, he would not have won the World Championship.