Expletive Deleted: Rossi's Rules
by dean adams
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Judging by his body language during the incident, Nicky Hayden saw it, and even MotoGP's English-speaking announcers saw it, because they talked about it on the telecast, and on the Internet broadcast. So, I mean, please, shag the feigned ignorance act already, okay?Flags Which Convey Information and Instructions: Yellow Flag
Shown waved at each row of the starting grid, this flag indicates that the start of the race is delayed.
Shown waved at the flag marshal post, this flag indicates that there is a danger ahead. The riders must slow down and be prepared to stop. Overtaking is forbidden up until the point where the green flag is shown.
Any Infringement of this rule during a practice session will result in the cancellation of the time of the lap during which the infraction occurred. In case of infringement of this rule during the race, the rider must go back the number of positions decided by the Race Direction. The penalty will be first communicated to the team and then a board will be displayed for the rider on the finish line during a maximum of 3 laps. If the rider did not go back after the board has been presented 3 times, he will be penalized by a ride through.
34
In both cases, further penalties (such as fine - suspension) may also be imposed.
If immediately after having overtaken, the rider realizes that he did an infraction, he must raise his hand and let pass the rider(s) that he has overtaken. In this case, no penalty will be imposed. -- FIM MotoGP rule book.
Ah yes, another Monday, another surfing trip over to the FIM web site to download the MotoGP rule book to see which rule the MotoGP stewards can't seem to grasp or didn't foresee happening this week.
Welcome to MotoGP racing 2006, folks, a series that shows exactly how far we haven't come in the last twenty years. To refresh: Sepang, because of a torrential downpour (one might now term it a 'convenient torrential downpour') which made the sanctioning body form the grid for the race from practice times, something very clearly not allowed by their very own rules. Conspiracy theories abound about how or why this was done.
Now, for the latest escapade in creative rules enforcement, let's have a look at last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix. The flow chart for the incident in question went something like this: a rider crashed on the circuit; yellow flags were shown on the circuit which was wet and certainly had limited visibility; in a corner where the corner worker was waving a yellow flag, Valentino Rossi very clearly passed Casey Stoner on the entrance of the corner, and held the position as the pair (with Nakano and Hayden behind them) rode out of the corner.
As I understand it, rule books are written and published both in fallen tree and electronic form so that policies and procedures that concern the series will be known to all, and will be the basis for both awarding and penalizing riders.
The people in MotoGP race direction are presumably professionals, men who had made their living in the pinnacle of motorcycle racing for decades before I came into this gig in the late 1980s. Yet they work from a rule book so riddled with holes any decent American club race rule book might put to shame in terms of accuracy, rules and procedure. So, if the highly implausible story that they didn't see Rossi's pass is in reality true, that actually doesn't disturb me the most. What frightens me the most is that these vision-impaired people actually drive cars on public roads.A little known portion of the passing under a yellow flag rule is that if a rider mistakenly passes another rider in a situation like that, he can redeem himself by raising his hand and allowing the passed rider by him, to regain the position. This is not a paddock secret, it's actually in the MotoGP rule book. It reads: If immediately after having overtaken, the rider realizes that he did an infraction, he must raise his hand and let pass the rider(s) that he has overtaken. In this case, no penalty will be imposed.
I have yet to see any footage of Rossi raising his hand and allowing Stoner past him to redeem his illegal pass. From the footage supplied to me by Speed (the same footage shown to everyone in the US by Speed) Rossi never raised either hand, and Stoner, who was racing mind you, tried to re-pass Rossi at one point, and brought his Honda astride Rossi's Yamaha, but he never made the gap, or any gap back that he had before the pass until later in the race.
Hey, for the record, I'm not a Rossi hater by any means. I saw him race a 125 and (in another life) was the first editor to put him on the cover of a US motorcycle magazine. I think the same things most people believe about Rossi, supporters and detractors alike: he's supremely talented, he may very well be the best motorcycle racer we've ever seen, his love of motorcycling and racing is refreshing for a person of his stature. But that doesn't mean he gets a free ride as per the MotoGP rule book.
The defense of Rossi in this incident seems to be based on these two points:
<LI>He didn't see the flag.
<LI>Stoner later re-passed him, which Rossi has indicated fulfills the passee going back in front of the passer rule.
Thankfully, this is why they publish rule books, actually, and don't just have a bunch of loose rules hanging about that can later be interpreted based on circumstances or what nationality the rider is that's currently breaking them or the current championship standings. The fact that he may not have seen the yellow flag is immaterial. The rule Rossi broke actually reads "overtaking is forbidden" not "overtaking is permitted only if the riders don't see the yellow flag".
If Stoner did re-pass Rossi, it was on a portion of the course that was green—while they were racing. Stoner made a racing pass on Rossi. Rossi certainly didn't follow the rule book-outlined procedure for absolving his illegal pass: he never raised his hand, and didn't allow for Stoner to easily re-pass him. So lets end that song and dance right now.
Rossi has also said that he doesn't think he should be penalized because "it was a difficult race" which I translate to mean that because of the dry then wet conditions it was a difficult race, or that because the flagger had been acting erratically that weekend that some riders were mostly ignoring him. Interesting points, no doubt; but in terms of the actual published rules, actually quite moot. There was a yellow flag, he passed while the flag was shown. End of story, honestly, time to move on to penalty phase.
MotoGP's race direction (possible oxymoron alert level now red) supposedly said that the reason no penalty was leveled at Rossi was because Stoner later passed Rossi. Which brings an obvious question: are there any actual rule books around for reference when "race direction" has to make a decision? Because the procedure is clearly outlined in their very own rule book. Rossi would have to raise his hand, allow Stoner past and then the illegal pass is forgiven. That never happened.
TO BE CONTINUED
by dean adams
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Judging by his body language during the incident, Nicky Hayden saw it, and even MotoGP's English-speaking announcers saw it, because they talked about it on the telecast, and on the Internet broadcast. So, I mean, please, shag the feigned ignorance act already, okay?Flags Which Convey Information and Instructions: Yellow Flag
Shown waved at each row of the starting grid, this flag indicates that the start of the race is delayed.
Shown waved at the flag marshal post, this flag indicates that there is a danger ahead. The riders must slow down and be prepared to stop. Overtaking is forbidden up until the point where the green flag is shown.
Any Infringement of this rule during a practice session will result in the cancellation of the time of the lap during which the infraction occurred. In case of infringement of this rule during the race, the rider must go back the number of positions decided by the Race Direction. The penalty will be first communicated to the team and then a board will be displayed for the rider on the finish line during a maximum of 3 laps. If the rider did not go back after the board has been presented 3 times, he will be penalized by a ride through.
34
In both cases, further penalties (such as fine - suspension) may also be imposed.
If immediately after having overtaken, the rider realizes that he did an infraction, he must raise his hand and let pass the rider(s) that he has overtaken. In this case, no penalty will be imposed. -- FIM MotoGP rule book.
Ah yes, another Monday, another surfing trip over to the FIM web site to download the MotoGP rule book to see which rule the MotoGP stewards can't seem to grasp or didn't foresee happening this week.
Welcome to MotoGP racing 2006, folks, a series that shows exactly how far we haven't come in the last twenty years. To refresh: Sepang, because of a torrential downpour (one might now term it a 'convenient torrential downpour') which made the sanctioning body form the grid for the race from practice times, something very clearly not allowed by their very own rules. Conspiracy theories abound about how or why this was done.
Now, for the latest escapade in creative rules enforcement, let's have a look at last Sunday's Australian Grand Prix. The flow chart for the incident in question went something like this: a rider crashed on the circuit; yellow flags were shown on the circuit which was wet and certainly had limited visibility; in a corner where the corner worker was waving a yellow flag, Valentino Rossi very clearly passed Casey Stoner on the entrance of the corner, and held the position as the pair (with Nakano and Hayden behind them) rode out of the corner.
As I understand it, rule books are written and published both in fallen tree and electronic form so that policies and procedures that concern the series will be known to all, and will be the basis for both awarding and penalizing riders.
The people in MotoGP race direction are presumably professionals, men who had made their living in the pinnacle of motorcycle racing for decades before I came into this gig in the late 1980s. Yet they work from a rule book so riddled with holes any decent American club race rule book might put to shame in terms of accuracy, rules and procedure. So, if the highly implausible story that they didn't see Rossi's pass is in reality true, that actually doesn't disturb me the most. What frightens me the most is that these vision-impaired people actually drive cars on public roads.A little known portion of the passing under a yellow flag rule is that if a rider mistakenly passes another rider in a situation like that, he can redeem himself by raising his hand and allowing the passed rider by him, to regain the position. This is not a paddock secret, it's actually in the MotoGP rule book. It reads: If immediately after having overtaken, the rider realizes that he did an infraction, he must raise his hand and let pass the rider(s) that he has overtaken. In this case, no penalty will be imposed.
I have yet to see any footage of Rossi raising his hand and allowing Stoner past him to redeem his illegal pass. From the footage supplied to me by Speed (the same footage shown to everyone in the US by Speed) Rossi never raised either hand, and Stoner, who was racing mind you, tried to re-pass Rossi at one point, and brought his Honda astride Rossi's Yamaha, but he never made the gap, or any gap back that he had before the pass until later in the race.
Hey, for the record, I'm not a Rossi hater by any means. I saw him race a 125 and (in another life) was the first editor to put him on the cover of a US motorcycle magazine. I think the same things most people believe about Rossi, supporters and detractors alike: he's supremely talented, he may very well be the best motorcycle racer we've ever seen, his love of motorcycling and racing is refreshing for a person of his stature. But that doesn't mean he gets a free ride as per the MotoGP rule book.
The defense of Rossi in this incident seems to be based on these two points:
<LI>He didn't see the flag.
<LI>Stoner later re-passed him, which Rossi has indicated fulfills the passee going back in front of the passer rule.
Thankfully, this is why they publish rule books, actually, and don't just have a bunch of loose rules hanging about that can later be interpreted based on circumstances or what nationality the rider is that's currently breaking them or the current championship standings. The fact that he may not have seen the yellow flag is immaterial. The rule Rossi broke actually reads "overtaking is forbidden" not "overtaking is permitted only if the riders don't see the yellow flag".
If Stoner did re-pass Rossi, it was on a portion of the course that was green—while they were racing. Stoner made a racing pass on Rossi. Rossi certainly didn't follow the rule book-outlined procedure for absolving his illegal pass: he never raised his hand, and didn't allow for Stoner to easily re-pass him. So lets end that song and dance right now.
Rossi has also said that he doesn't think he should be penalized because "it was a difficult race" which I translate to mean that because of the dry then wet conditions it was a difficult race, or that because the flagger had been acting erratically that weekend that some riders were mostly ignoring him. Interesting points, no doubt; but in terms of the actual published rules, actually quite moot. There was a yellow flag, he passed while the flag was shown. End of story, honestly, time to move on to penalty phase.
MotoGP's race direction (possible oxymoron alert level now red) supposedly said that the reason no penalty was leveled at Rossi was because Stoner later passed Rossi. Which brings an obvious question: are there any actual rule books around for reference when "race direction" has to make a decision? Because the procedure is clearly outlined in their very own rule book. Rossi would have to raise his hand, allow Stoner past and then the illegal pass is forgiven. That never happened.
TO BE CONTINUED