The Place

If you fall off/have a whoops should you be allowed to restart?

My personal view to this.....one marshall should be selected at each marshalling post to determine/inspect for damage/leaks and the final decision should be his.

I dont think so and at club level under ACU regs u can't get back on. Yesterday to me showed why you shouldn't be able to get back on! Would be interesting to hear what the sidecar lads thought of track conditions for their race. When u consider the amount of effort sidecars have to go through with oil containment just seems ridiculous that a solo can go down the road get picked up and carry on! If he hadn't been allowed to get back on yesterday, the race programme would have been completed, fans would have seen what they came to see and a number of bikes wouldn't need repairing! If a rider just goes off track and keeps upright and doesn't hit anything then yeah carry on but if it goes down or in the case of sidecars roofs then no

The problem with having a marshall look over a bike thats crashed is that by the time a proper check is carried out then the crashed rider would definately be out of the race and i could see a few arguments happening as the rider is trying to grab the bike off a marshall to get back in the race, and a small crack thats leaking fluid would not be easy to spot under those circumstances, also that marshall would have to be trained to be a technical official as well, the marshalls do a great job and have enough to do, if more than 1 bike went down in the same place at the same time then by the time that the 1 marshall had looked over all the bikes the race would def be long gone! It's a nice idea but one that i don't think would be practical to implement

Yip point taken I do agree with you....seemed ok when I thought of it in my head, didnt think of all those points....I am a woman after all

if the bike crashes then no it should not restart. Pekkanen's crash ruined Ben Wilson's race for him and lost him the points. Its just not right, that could lose him the championship at the end of the season. Time they sorted it out once and for all.

On the same sort of thing, why do sidecars need to wire the screw-in clutch and pickup covers on the side of the engine but solo's don't. Im not being anti solo, its just that a good idea like that should cover all bikes.

BBF wrote:if the bike crashes then no it should not restart. Pekkanen's crash ruined Ben Wilson's race for him and lost him the points. Its just not right, that could lose him the championship at the end of the season. Time they sorted it out once and for all.

So no blame can be placed at the feet of poor old Ben Wilson.
I've watched the incident several times now and it seems to me that Ben Wilson came down the inside too fast and too tight to take the corner, he braked too hard and lost it. No one was falling off until he started the crash by making everyone behind him brake.
I agree that if a bike has hit the deck it should not be allowed to restart, I also believe that if someone falls off and the race is stopped they should not be allowed in the restart.

Am I right in thinking that the reason restarting is allowed at BSB is because of the one bike rule? Because the riders don't now have access to another bike, they are under pressure to get back to the pits to patch up the bike in the event of a restart (or have I got my wires crossed?).
Incidentally, although allowed only one bike to save on costs, the top teams have another complete bike stripped down ready to use as spares for any repair work. So it's unlikely to save costs. Seems like another example of the law of unintended consequences.

Back on topic: No, restarts shouldn't be allowed. There is nothing wrong with being wise after the event as long as they change the rule for future races.

2 answers answer 1

ALAN Cathcart (Silverstone)

Answer 2

If all Bikes including Solos have to have a catch tray how does the new Ducati pass the regs as it has exhuasts where the catch tray should be, and should this Rule apply in all sessions, can't imagine Tommy Hill going down in 1st 5 minutes of practice session and not trying to get back to pits, was ok when two Bikes were allowed.