IN
THE
WIND
P50
Official information from the
team was in short supply, with
communications director Ian
Wheeler's contract also abruptly
terminated during the weekend,
along with riding coach Stefan
Prein, and sponsorship manager
Fabrice Werner.
Bartholemy has a checkered
past in racing, after the midsea-
son collapse of an earlier Super-
sport 600 team left staff out of
pocket, and further allegations
followed his involvement with the
factory Kawasaki squad.
Van der Straten had previously
also been involved in high-level
car racing, but ended his four-
wheel enterprises in 2015 to
concentrate on motorcycles.
Micheal Scott
MOTOGP RACE DIRECTION UNDER FIRE
M
otoGP Race Direction
came in for a blasting
at Le Mans. Apart from a
series of irrational penal-
ties in Moto3—robbing
Fabio Di Giannantonio of
a maiden win by a severe
three-second slap—the
delay in red-flagging the
MotoGP Q1 session while
Cal Crutchlow lay immobile
right by the track was even
more heavily criticized.
Approached for expla-
nation or comment, they
declined, telling British
MCN that as with referees
in football, they didn't have
to justify their actions.
The Crutchlow incident
brought gasps to those watch-
ing. The LCR Honda rider had
a very heavy highside crash,
landing right beside the curb,
where he was then thumped by
his sliding bike. He lay there im-
mobile as the qualifying session
continued, protected only by a
yellow flag, as marshals tried to
help him, while keeping an eye
out on the passing high-speed
traffic.
The session was allowed to
continue for another minute and
a half. Then the checkered flag
was shown, simultaneously with
red flags 'round the track.
"I couldn't breathe at all. I
was badly winded. I'm really
upset there was no red flag,"
Crutchlow said. "There were
bikes going past my head, and
the marshals were in danger.
They couldn't attend to me
because they were watching out
for other bikes."
He was stretchered away and
spent the night under observa-
tion in hospital, before returning
the next morning to race.
Michael Scott
MotoGP Race Direction was
criticized for not stopping Q1 after
Cal Crutchlow suffered this crash.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
