After Race 2 at Monza, does anyone besides me think the officials have it out for Biaggi?

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2005 Triumph Bonneville
2005 Suzuki V-Strom 1000
2003 Triumph Trophy 1200
2009 BMW F650GS (wife's)
1990 HD Sportster XL883 (for sale; wanna buy a Sportster??)

Biaggi has made a lot of bad luck for himself this year.

The officials' calling him in for the ride-through penalty was a bit overzealous, BUT, according to the race announcers, the officials at Monza made it very clear on there intentions to penalize riders for over-shooting and short-cutting the chicanes. I believe he gained .5-second that lap which could be attributed to that screw up. If he wouldve crossed the start-finish line that lap .5-second down then they may have ignored it.

Considering that at many corners on a race track going off-course often means a sand-trap, or worse, it is an understandable penalty considering the safety of the course, and ones ability to make a advantage by screwing up. (i.e. The relative safety of overtaking there may lead riders to run a little bonzai into the chicanes knowing that if they mess up they're still safe). This is one way to address the issue.

I've both raced and photographed at a track with a similar chicane style that allows people to run a little nutty in on the brakes, knowing that if they screw up they can regain the track without losing much time. It's a great spectator view because people do try to make up there there and often fail to do so. Ive screwed up the chicaate myself sometimes, and seen many others do the same, and much worse.

As the current WSBK Champ Biaggi's been a terrible ambassador for the sport, acting like a goon, and a brat, and STILL doing unsafe stuff on track like getting in competitors ways during qualifying sessions: dangerous and embarrassing tactics for a veteran and champ of the sport.

Ive never been much of a Biaggi fan because he has a long history mirroring this sort of behaviour and many competitors and countrymen, like Melandri now, have voiced there dislike for the guy over the years.

This latest incident was a bit more karma coming back to him

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"Zounds! Zorched by Zarches, Spaceman Spiff's crippled craft crashes on planet Plootarg!"

For Sale: Ninja 600 with parts bike, needs minor work, $30, no title... (GEE THAT DOESNT RING ANY WARNING BELLS DOES IT?)

Everything you say makes sense, and I'm no special fan of Biaggi either. I just am left with this little nagging feeling that I didn't get to see the best racing I might have seen, with the Aprilia mixing it up with the Yammies. Probably irrational on my part.

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2005 Triumph Bonneville
2005 Suzuki V-Strom 1000
2003 Triumph Trophy 1200
2009 BMW F650GS (wife's)
1990 HD Sportster XL883 (for sale; wanna buy a Sportster??)

In that race I dont think they wouldve caught him, judging by how close the first race was, and Laverty lost too much time getting through that crash on the first lap. That's what really messed up that race... with 5-seconds in hand I think Biaggi pretty much had that win in his hands, which made his out-braking himself even sillier... and the penalty all the more painful.

For great race action (with funnily enough some crazy chicane-cutting action) try to catch the Oulton Park British SBK races. Round 2 in the BSB championship. Great stuff with 3 to 6 guys fighting for the lead.

_________________
"Zounds! Zorched by Zarches, Spaceman Spiff's crippled craft crashes on planet Plootarg!"

For Sale: Ninja 600 with parts bike, needs minor work, $30, no title... (GEE THAT DOESNT RING ANY WARNING BELLS DOES IT?)

WSBK Manager Paolo Ciabatti explains the Biaggi penalty at Monza...

An open letter to all Max Biaggi fans and SBK enthusiasts

Monday, 16 May 2011 17:05

I kindly ask you to devote a couple of minutes of your time to this letter of mine, in which I would like to explain the facts that occurred at Monza during the weekend of May 8th.

First of all Monza is not like any other track, and Superbike has to share it with an extremely important event like Formula 1. It is simply not possible therefore to have gravel run-off areas at the chicanes because this solution does not go down particularly well in Formula 1.

The only exception to this is the Variante Ascari.

As can easily be imagined, if a rider makes a mistake on the entry to the Ascari and ends up in the gravel, either he crashes or he loses a lot of time in returning to the track, so in this particular case it is not necessary to adopt any special measure for the chicane.

The question of the first chicane (the Prima Variante) and the Roggia chicane is different, as they have tarmac run-off areas. For the last three years at Monza white lines have been painted in these areas. The lines take the form of a 'funnel' that ends with a 'pathway' about one metre wide that, if followed by the rider, forces him to slow down and return to the track outside the natural line of all those riders who have gone through the chicane in a normal way.

FIM homologation of the track specifically rules out the presence of barriers/straw bale chicane in the run-off areas.

The Race Direction, of which I form part together with Igor E'kinja and Giulio Bardi, for this reason decided to convene all riders on Thursday afternoon for an extraordinary briefing to explain to everyone (those who had already raced at Monza and those who were encountering the circuit for the first time) the correct way to return to the track in case of a mistake in these two chicanes.

The briefing lasted almost one hour. It was explained to riders, with the help of two giant blow-up images of the chicanes hung on the walls of the briefing room, that if they made an error, the only way, with absolutely no exception whatsoever, to return to the track was to use this 'funnel' path, otherwise they would be penalized with a ride-through. We also explained that they must gain no advantage from cutting through the chicane, either in their lap time or in their race position, and that in this latter case by raising their arm they would have surrendered that position to riders whom they had unintentionally overtaken.

Many riders posed specific questions and we repeated over and over again that any rider who returned to the track without respecting the pathway painted on the tarmac would be punished with a ride-through penalty, the only sanction foreseen by the FIM for these infringements of the rulebook.

Biaggi was not present at the briefing, due to his private commitments, but he was represented by Francesco Guidotti, the Aprilia Team Manager.

Throughout the entire weekend we always used the same criteria with respect to every rider who cut through the chicanes, in every category.

These are the facts.

Probably I will not have been able to convince many of you, but at least I have clearly and honestly explained the way things went.

I would like to conclude on a personal note. In life sometimes coherence and correctness force one to take difficult and painful decisions. For me Max is not only a great champion, as well as an intelligent and sensitive person. He is above all a friend, one with whom I have shared many moments, pleasant but also difficult, both on and off the track. I will leave it to you to imagine how difficult it must have been for me, together with the other members of the Race Direction, to take this decision.

Thank you for your kind attention.
Paolo Ciabatti

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"Zounds! Zorched by Zarches, Spaceman Spiff's crippled craft crashes on planet Plootarg!"

For Sale: Ninja 600 with parts bike, needs minor work, $30, no title... (GEE THAT DOESNT RING ANY WARNING BELLS DOES IT?)