Just watched the 125cc race...
20sec penalty for Zarco. :?
The stewards decision was just down right BIASED!
Yes Zarco did push him slightly but Terol would have run off the track anyway and finish second. I would accept if they gave Zarco 10 sec penalty but they had to have Spanish 1-2 which makes me furious!
I've seen a many people (including professional riders) argue that, that it should have been a 10sec penalty. But in this case, the ruling was for a ride-through.
When this happens near the end of the race, since there is no time to do a ride trough, 20 seconds are added to the race time of the culprit.
Now the infraction was for 1.21 2)
which states:
Riders must ride in a responsible manner which does not cause danger
to other competitors or participants, either on the track or in the pit-lane.
Any infringement of this rule will be penalised with one of the following
penalties: time penalty ? fine ? ride through - disqualification - withdrawal
of Championship points - suspension.
I think in the race the preferred choice is for the ride-through rather than time penalty (if the event is serious enough, otherwise a fine is preferred). One of the main reason for that is that other riders won't know someone has a time penalty, which might lead to people fighting for positions that are already gained, which might lead to unnecessary incidents.
I believe the situation right now in GP is getting close to something pretty bad happening. Riders like Simoncelli have been getting away with stupidly dangerous moves for years, and people where beginning to assume everything was now fair games. Riders with god like status like Rossi exacerbate the situation by calling people who complain pussies, and strive on the bad-boy image.
Two people died at GP events last year, both following collisions with other riders, not with any feature of the track. I don't believe aggressive riding was a factor in those two crashes, but it does point to one of the most dangerous item still left on the track, your fellow riders.
Race direction needed to start stepping in and do it's job before it gets completely out of hands.