I can't fault Binder for that incident. Zarco got an abysmal start and Binder was coming up fast. There was a sufficient gap and Binder rightfully (IMHO) went for it. Binder was in the process of passing Zarco as they tipped in but not yet side-by-side so Zarco couldn't see him. Zarco pulled it back to hit the Apex and Binder was already there. I agree with race direction it was a racing incident.
2021 San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini
- Thread starter Keshav
- Start date
Yes if there’s a gap you go for it.
With the modern rules, regs and penalties are we going to get to the point that riders are going to think twice about actually racing?
Oh wait, I better not do that! I might get a penalty assessed. Oh no! Oh dear, better just stay here behind Joe Blow. Maybe he’ll fall down and I can get ahead of him that way. Safety and all that.
With the modern rules, regs and penalties are we going to get to the point that riders are going to think twice about actually racing?
Oh wait, I better not do that! I might get a penalty assessed. Oh no! Oh dear, better just stay here behind Joe Blow. Maybe he’ll fall down and I can get ahead of him that way. Safety and all that.
It's fair to say that Binder was alongside, if not already slightly ahead of Zarco. The issue, imo, is that he didn't hold the inside line. It seems he rode as if Zarco wasn't there, and the only line he needed to respect was Martin, who was swinging through Turn 1 from the outside line.
It probably is just a racing incident, it just seemed weird. It's a track where the green carpet Nazis are hard at work, and it's one of the worst turns on the calendar, requiring restraint and deft riding to avoid disaster. Binder takes out a Ducati and a factory Honda, and no one seems to care. Binder is a fair rider and the best KTM have over the course of a season, imo, but I guess the scandals only erupt when one of the antagonists hits one of the protagonists. Binder and Zarco are not in either category.
Race direction has been consistent through out the season by overlooking pretty much everything......unless it's practice,. But the safety zeitgeist on race day seems compelled by narrative-based "facts" and hero/villain tropes. I guess it's always been that way. It just feels particularly weird in a world where some guy is monitoring a bank of sensors to see if someone ran 2 mm wide
Anyway, enough ethereal moralizing
