MotoGP race director Mike Webb has clearly had enough of dangerous dawdling on the race line in the Moto3 class and had penalised 11 riders three grid places for doing so at the Sachsenring round
The most high-profile is Danny Kent’s title rival Enea Bastianini who had qualified in second but will now start from fifth and also misses morning warm-up as an addtional part of the punishment. Scotland’s John McPhee also had his pants pulled down.
A statement from race direction reads: “On 11 July 2015 during final minutes of the Moto3 Qualifying session of the GoPro Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, these riders were riding slowly close to the racing line, thereby disturbing other riders.
“This directly contravenes the instructions given at the riders briefing on March 26, the reminder notice to riders issued on April 30, and specifically contravenes the instructions given at the Moto3 rider’s briefing on 24 June at Assen.
“It is considered to be irresponsible riding causing danger to other competitors and is therefore an infringement of Article 1.21.2 of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations.”
The 11 riders are: Maria Herrera, Jorge Navarro, Andrea Migno, McPhee, Ana Carrasco, Niki Ajo, Isaac Viñales, Bastianini, Andrea Locatelli, Hiroki Ono and Jakub Kornfeil.
In other news from the headmaster’s office, Moto2 men Simone Corsi, Sandro Cortese, Thomas Luthi and Xavier Simeon got a penalty point for cocking about on the racing line, as did MotoGP riders Mike Di Meglio and Hector Barbera.
However, Barbera, whom Jonathan Rea refers to as The Caravan as he ‘loves a tow’, got two points because he is a repeat offender.
