Cycle News

VOL. 51 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 30, 2014 P139 ing in the dim and distant past was not that different. Read, now 75, was present at Misano as Yamaha's guest, for a special presentation. This in itself marked the comple- tion of a long looping lap. The Englishman, nicknamed Rebel Read for an independent – no, cussed streak, went from Ya- maha's darling to persona non grata after firstly snitching the 1968 125cc title that had been pledged to his teammate Bill Ivy, then acrimoniously quitting Yamaha to thwart their 500cc- class ambitions, claiming MV Agusta's last two premier-class titles in 1973 and 1974. But this is no history lesson, for Read had some pungent opinions relating modern to old-time racing, and particularly with regard to Yamaha's great- est rival Marc Marquez, and his riding tactics. In this he echoes the opin- ion of Yamaha's most recent champion Jorge Lorenzo, fre- quently an outspoken victim of Marquez's treatment of racing as a contact sport. This hap- pened most famously at Jerez in 2013, where a last-corner collision sent the older rider off the track and cost him second place. No sanction was applied for what was arguably (depend- ing whose side you took) a hard but fair racing move. Not according to Lorenzo, whose pride was battered as badly as his fairing and handle- bar. He and many others were mystified as to why, when a new penalty-points system of license endorsement had been introduced for that year, officials had not chosen to apply at least one point to the over-aggressive stripling. They made up for it later in the year, giving Marquez two points for ignoring a yellow flag at Silverstone, and one more for slamming into teammate Dani Pedrosa at Aragon, caus- ing him to crash. Four points, by the way, mean starting from the back of the grid, seven from pit lane, and 10 a one-race ban. Read's firm contention was from the previous round at Sil- verstone, where Marquez had finally won a sustained and fierce battle with Lorenzo by div- ing inside, forcing the older rid- er to pick up to avoid a collision that would have had one or both on the ground. They had made contact a couple of corners be- fore. He should have at least had a talking to, said the veter- an multi-champion, and why not at least one penalty point? It's not fair riding, he insisted. Did people not ride like that in the old days, he was asked? No. For one thing, the dangers were much greater then: quite apart from the number of pub- lic-roads circuits lined with trees and stone walls, the protective gear was exceedingly primitive compared with today's air-bag leathers and highly scientific helmets and gloves, etc. Anyway, riders back then had their own remedy for rough riding. "You'd find the bloke in the paddock afterwards, and punch him in the face," said Read. Asked if he'd ever had to employ that remedy with anyone, he replied in a trice: "Derek Minter." (The one-time Gilera rider known as "The King of Brands.") In the past, race officials have treated each perceived offense of dangerous riding case by case, leading to a wide variety of punishments. The penalty-points system was in- troduced to try and bring some consistency. Riders don't see it that way. Jack Miller, currently carrying two of them (one of six riders with that number) is one who would doubtless pre- fer the Phil Read system, for he has grievances of his own against his rivals. As do most of them. "Dead- ly rivals on the track, best of friends off it" is not just a cli- ché, but in most cases a bla- tant untruth. Maybe the rule-makers should just let the riders de- cide. CN

• Cover