I assumed they were thinking if Cam P needed a backfill on the R1. Hayes, easy, Rocco maybe not yet. If a SBK team needs a rider, I wonder if KW33 is still available or if the expanded Bagger season requires 100% focus now.
I am pretty sure between husband, father, driver, coach of multiple riders, full-time riding SS, and endurance racing, Josh has a full plate and would not be interested as a SBK fill in, but you never know.
I don't give a shit what they say, I just hope they unfuck it for future events. The intent of the rule is to keep racers from taking a dive to get the red flag out, but the consequences of following the rules by the letter of the law is bad, and a bit of discretion would have gone a long way.
After sitting with Kevin in the meeting with Race Direction Saturday afternoon I already know. Heels firmly dug in, the Race Director knows exactly what was in Gus's mind. They will probably trot out a photo of Gus in the gravel trap with the red flag displayed and say "Here, proof."
According to the wording posted in #268 from the rulebook, race direction has discretion in determining if the rider is actively participating and their determination can't be disputed or over ruled. That is pure bullshit and one could speculate on many things regarding the decision that MA race direction made regarding that rule last weekend.
See it in flat track all the time. Rider crashes... rolls around like he's hurt to get the red flag. Gets right back up and restarts. I hate that shit.
They cannot,and will not admit they fukd up. When have they ever? That's my problem with the entire organization. Admit it and act like adults.
Often times I get it. The Daytona 200 rule is a prime example. It was pretty black and white and however stupid it was, it's what the competitors were expected to know in advance and the worst thing you can do is violate the rulebook outright. Sometimes rules look better on paper and you don't realize how silly they are until actually executed. But you still have to stand by it and consider making necessary corrections after the fact. That said, this is not such an example. This rule is not black and white. There is room for discretion. And how you can say a rider wasn't actively competing at the time of the red when they A. weren't the cause of the red and B. were probably still in the top 5 positions (or at least still within the points scoring positions) at the time of the red is absolutely beyond me. So in this case, 100% agreed. Man the fuck up and own the mistake. Would go a hell of a long way.
Yeah I think Im going to copy that above n send it to MA. Its obvious someone in race control is protecting their ego at the expense of the competitors and fans. So far between the daytona 5 lap sprint race and the Gus Rodio fiasco, I feel like I bought a WWE subscription and race control is playing the heel.
Dustin reported on his podcast that per Chuck Aksland, the Marshalls dropped the ball and did not let Race Control know that the two other riders who were allowed to restart should not have been allowed to restart. Dustin also mentioned that Race Direction claims to have footage of Gus walking away from his bike (back to his bike) to the guard rail, therefore they decided he was not actively competing and if he went to his bike instead he probably would have been allowed back. According to Niccole Cox, to avoid this situation, there will be an extra person in Timing and Scoring and in mylaps they have predictive timing to help determine if a rider fell or not.
Once again, I am calling bullshit on this. MA is now caught in a CYA situation and are looking to spin it any way they can so the race director doesn't have to admit he made a shitty call. Blame it on the corner workers, blame it on the rider, blame it on anyone except himself. How many seconds transpired between Gus's crash and the red flag? Anyone that races, knows that after a high side like that it will take a couple of seconds to gain composure and head to your bike. Those few seconds don't mean in any way that he had given up getting back in the race. If it was me, leading the race and having a high side with the whole field behind me, I'd be checking to make sure I was in a safe place before I went to my bike. I will state it again that MA has a responsibility to sanction race direction and apologize to those racers and teams that were unfairly treated. It won't fix the points they lost, but can at least make them feel better. MA owners need to step up and take responsibility for the actions of their employees.
So, the lesson is: After you crash, run toward your bike and try to get it going again. Straighten the bars, clean dirt out of it, whatever, as long as you look like you are trying to get back in the race. All while you are standing in an impact zone. If you do get it going great! Even if parts are falling off, ride that thing. This way you can say you were "competing" if a red flag comes out. I am not sure this rule is the best idea from a safety perspective. In a saner world, let us say you are running up front. You crash and run away because the bike is in a bad spot. As soon as the field goes by you are planning on running over and getting going because it was just a slow low side, and the bike is ridable. Sorry, red flag came out for another incident while you were waiting for it to be safe to go back to your bike, so no restart for you. I guess you should have risked your safety.
Well that's BS as well - the flag was thrown while he was on his knees, collecting himself. Anything he did after the flag cannot be considered competing, since competition stops when the red is thrown. Using that logic, you could argue that any rider that got off their bike, took off their helmet and sat down to enjoy a cool drink of water was no longer competing.