Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1503048
VOLUME ISSUE JULY , P119 Third went instead to Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia. He saw Binder's error and knew he needn't risk a last-corner attack to get ahead. The stewards did it for him. But should he have even been there? In the first super tight corners, which have mutilated histori - cally flowing Assen with a touch of Sachsenring silliness, he and Luca Marini collided. His brake- lever guard was bent to point crazily skyward. Also hit, the drooping-moustache wing on the right, under the fairing nose. It snapped at its root but didn't come off. From there on, it flapped wild- ly, doing who knows what to the bike's handling, and underlining the rider's skill and courage. But what if this chunk of bodywork came off? Under Aleix's wheels? Or those of a following rider? Tear-off visors have been blamed for causing crashes. What could half a wing do? The risk was palpable. So why on earth was he not black- flagged? On a weekend when rules were very much applied to the letter. Except when they weren't. As in Moto2, when favorite Pedro Acosta lost the front into the chicane. A miracle save, and he ran off as he gathered it, looked over his shoulder to rejoin safely, then got back to racing. This cost him one position. He had just overtaken eventual winner Dixon for second. Now he had to do it all again. Did he deserve a reward for his signal skill? Not according to the increasingly hated FIM Stewards Panel. He'd lost time, yes, but not enough. Less than the requisite second, it seems. Result? A long-lap penalty. The cost of this was 1.9 sec - onds. Adding yet more to the accumulated punishment for being such a good rider. This time, however, luck (if it is luck) went his way. From the outside camera view, he clearly strayed over the inside of the long-lap loop—the white line clearly visible, with both wheels beyond it. Or was this just a trick of the light? The stewards were sure it was and released their own blurry and jerky CCTV footage to back up their decision not to oblige him to go through the loop again. He saved third as a result. Well, that at least was good, if you share the view that racing involves a fair few dodgy mo - ments, and that results should be based on the order people cross the line. Bad if you think the stewards have become too big for their boots. And too pedantic, inflexible and high-handed, on a weekend when other riders who exceed- ed track limits on the last lap (usually by being pushed off) escaped punishment—one ex- ample Stefano Nepa in Moto3. Forgive me for repeating that the stewards' chairman, Fred- die Spencer, would not have been World Champion in 1983, had he then been applying the rules, for his own infringement in Sweden. Back then, cutting track limits in the heat of battle was accept- ed. Even admired. Remember the plaudits when Rossi used the inside dirt to pass Stoner at Laguna Seca's corkscrew in 2008? And when Marquez did the same to Valentino in 2013? It would be to Spencer's and his colleagues' credit were they to apply a bit of judgement, rather than just sticking to the letter of the law. CN Justice robbed the South African KTM rider of what he had ridden so hard to achieve.