Jack Miller (Pramac Ducati Racing, on the right in the picture) far outside the piste in the target curve in the second race of Spielberg 2020 and thus clearly in the forbidden area. After the finish, however, the Australian was not punished by the stewards and then moved back one or more places. It was the absolute peak of the questionable handling of the then newly introduced regulations by the FIM stewards. But it was to get worse the year after.

New unword track limits – also referred to as “track shit” in the paddock

For us as motorsport fans for as long as we can remember, a piece of motorsport was finally buried last Sunday. So soon after Jason Dupasquier’s tragic death, we were still in shock at how brutal the sport can often be. But then the Misano weekend came, and it was precisely on this route that the FIM commissioners literally trampled on sporting fairness in the WorldSBK after the incident in MotoGP with Fabio Quartararo at the same location. We still remember well when the Frenchman received a long lap penalty shortly before the end of the second MotoGP race in Italy last year. That can’t be true, we said aloud to ourselves at the time. But it got even worse a season later.

Fabio Quartararo 2020 on the Petronas Yamaha in the border area, optically still just within the red and white hatched area, as at least we saw it. Incomprehensible to the majority of fans and spectators, the fast Frenchman was given a penalty shortly before the end, which was already questionable in terms of timing, which he overlooked in the fight for the podium and was then punished.

The sporting nonsense found an inglorious continuation
At the latest on the black weekend of Mugello with first the news of the death of Jason Dupasquier and then in the Moto2 GP the manipulation of the actual podium as according to the finish line by the FIM officials. Instead of Joe Roberts, local hero Marco Bezzecchi was declared third shortly after the race in 3rd place, although he crossed the finish line behind the US boy. The reason for this was taken ad absurdum by the stewards in the race afterwards. Roberts understandably felt betrayed after this decision, and he has the full sympathy of numerous fans and observers. Especially what came after that shocked not only the American, but also countless fans and paddock members with him. After the MotoGP race the situation seemed to repeat itself as in Moto2 and Oliveira was first relegated one position back due to the same offense. But shortly afterwards, the stewards saw on the video on second inspection that the Mir who was behind also committed the same so-called track limit violation. But instead of pushing Johann Zarco, who was just behind, to P2, they trampled on their own rules and everything stayed as it was when it crossed the finish line.

If pictures can’t lie – Miguel Oliveira (KTM) slightly in the paradoxically green, but forbidden area, then immediately behind him also Joan Mir (Suzuki), while directly behind Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) the only one to pass the spot correctly. He and before that Joe Roberts were treated absolutely unfairly and unsportingly by the FIM through their decision.

WorldSBK in Misano with the absolute sporting low point
What can happen when the door and gate is opened to arbitrariness was seen again after the cases described above in the second race of the WSSP 600 and the WSBK at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. On June 13, 2021, the FIM commissioners committed the next terribly embarrassing and unsporting slip. As with Quartararo the year before, Steven Odendaal, who was in the lead, was given a long-lap penalty shortly before the end on the same route. What madness to try to slow down a driver in such a way in the fight for victory with a regulation that does not serve safety at all! Whether the South African had seen it and ignored it was irrelevant, in any case he was punished as the winner of the 2nd race and placed back on P5. After that, however, the absolute peak of embarrassment followed, because in round 3 of the WorldSBK Razgatlioglu was even filmed by Johnny Rea, driving behind him, or the camera attached to his bike, when he was also clearly in the green area.

The clear inclusion of Toprak, already in lap 3 – a slap in the face for Steven Odendaal, his team and all neutral fans of motorsport, because the Turk only received a track limit warning later due to another incident. His victory thus became a farce, and the fairness of motorcycle racing was finally buried by the FIM.

The endless list of misconduct of the FILM – two examples

It was in 2019 in Suzuka at the 8-hour race when a Frenchman (his name is purposely not mentioned here, as he definitely doesn’t deserve it) laid an oil trail in the final phase of the exciting World Endurance Championship. Although his bike was visibly losing oil, there were no black flags for him and the stewards did not stop the race immediately, as was absolutely necessary. It was also wet, and therefore the following pilots saw nothing of the extremely dangerous lubricant, and then it happened. Ironically, WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea fell while in the lead, and it was sheer luck that he didn’t get injured. Only then did the demolition come, and what followed, proved the ineptitude of the high-handed gentlemen stewards in the most embarrassing manner.

“Magic Michael” van der Mark at the race in Suzuka and a refueling stop – the Dutchman and his team were wrongly declared the winner by the FIM first, which was incorrectly and absolutely contrary to the regulations, which promptly led to false reports on some portals such as the Austrian motorsport magazine.

The peak of ineptitude – when the FIM stewards did not know their own regulations
After the race, the Kawasaki team, which had been in the lead until the Northern Irishman crashed through no fault of their own, was not declared the winner. That is how the regulations would have provided it and therefore the Greens, of course, immediately protested against the decision of the commissioners, who celebrated the second-placed Yamaha works team as the winner. It wasn’t until late at night that the absolutely incompetent people realized their mistake and there was a winning photo with the two Brits, including their Kawasaki crew, some of which came from their WorldSBK team. Below is a photo of the winning team from Kawasaki Racing with their two teammates at the time, Rea and Haslam (in the foreground). Their health has been unnecessarily jeopardized because of the stupidity and ignorance of the commissioners.

The unnecessary death of Renzo Pasolini and Jarno Saarinen in Monza in 1973
After a driver with a defective machine had lost oil on the track in the previous race, the drivers in the 250 cc class initially refused to start. Many threatened to protest if the track in the Royal Park of Monza was not spotless and thoroughly cleaned before the start. But the organizers and officials present did not want to accept any delay as a result. Therefore, they even threatened the Grand Prix Stars to start, otherwise sanctions would be imposed on them. With their omnipotence, which is still known today, the functionaries could almost do what they wanted. Conversely, for the drivers it was about the world championship and of course also the prize money, with which most of them financed their sport at all. It was clear to all pilots that some of them would not keep their promise regardless of previous internal agreements and would still be on the starting grid afterwards. In the end there was driving and two of them did not survive their fall at over 200 kph. About a dozen other victims were lucky enough to survive, but ended up in hospital afterwards.

An excerpt from the GDR motorsport magazine No. 8 from 1972, with the results of the last GDR GP on the left and the motor racing raffle of the time to win lots on the right. The two top drivers who had a fatal accident in Monza the following year were the winner and runner-up, for whose accident the officials were the main culprit. Unfortunately, they were never called to account for their irresponsible actions. For more about previous drivers, series and races, see our constantly growing history.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP, resp. WorldSBK).