Marco Bezzecchi
Randy Mamola believes MotoGP riders can no longer be complacent in how they approach their pre-race prep.
MotoGP fans lambasted Martin for his dangerous crash during the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, as it led to some serious damage.
Massimo Rivola was livid with Martin, suggesting that no rider vying for a world championship would ever make such a mistake.
Jorge Martin apologises for causing the crash at the start of the Hungarian GP. How would you feel if you were Marco Bezzecchi?
But Martin’s crash, while reckless, was the latest in a long list of incidents this season that have jeopardised the safety of the riders.
And Randy Mamola believes it is time for MotoGP riders to stop being complacent and start taking an active role to ensure that these situations don’t occur so frequently.
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Randy Mamola urges MotoGP riders to follow F1 practice to avoid repeat of Jorge Martin incident
Speaking on the Racing Back podcast, former Premier Class rider Randy Mamola pointed out why it is so important for riders to attend the safety commission meetings and speak up.
He also pointed to Formula 1, where all drivers have to attend mandatory safety meetings on the Friday before a race, where officials can hold discussions with them about certain rules.
“Inside that room, somebody can stand up and say, ‘What the hell were you doing?’… I just think it needs to have that kind of conversation.
“If there’s regulations and so on, there are a lot of riders that never knew that something came out, because it comes in an email to the teams, and maybe they get told it by the team principal, or maybe they don’t.
“Formula 1 have a mandatory meeting on Friday, and everybody has to go with one team personnel. When they’re finished with team personnel, the team personnel leaves, and now it’s just about the drivers.
“Drivers get into arguments and things like that, but somebody continually makes errors and makes some sort of mistake, mistakes are mistakes, but you need to wake them up, because you’re all out there together.”
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Randy Mamola says all MotoGP riders should attend safety commission meetings
Speaking earlier in the interview, Mamola urged all MotoGP riders to attend the safety commission meetings so they can have a better understanding of the regulations.
“Personally, what I’m tired of hearing is when Simon Crafar and the group put up a penalty or say something specific, and obviously everyone has their own viewpoint of it, whether you saw it upstairs with them or you’re being infatuated with the situation.
“But the sad part is they’re all screaming at each other through the paddock walls. What needs to happen is instead of having a safety committee that five of them go or eight of them go, you need to have 23… Nobody would not understand why they put a regulation in…
“It’s still up in the air with how people saw Marc fall off in the race in Jerez, pick up the bike and ride across the grass and picked up his other bike and won the race. Only Marc Marquez could do that. But obviously, the next time, it is not allowed.
“But it had never been thought of, it never would have happened. I think when you’re in a room together, you can fight about it. Like this last week, Jorge Martin definitely made a mistake…. Right toward the inside of that corner, it’s slippery.
“Everybody knows it’s slippery, but you just don’t know until you’re in those energy-packed, slingshot bullet motorcycles that look like drag bikes for the first 300 meters, trying to go that fast. You could crucify somebody.”
So far, for their parts, MotoGP officials are testing an F1-style start at Brno this weekend, with two riders per row in a grid rather than the customary three.
But there are still many who feel MotoGP’s response to Martin’s crash isn’t good enough, and want stricter action to be taken.
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