MXGP Drama

...because it has already been spoken about..

Thanks for posting that !

☝

Sounds like the red cross flag melee we saw here recently. 

Yep just like SX, multi million dollar sport with amateur officiating.

Never change FIM?

Is there some unwritten rule that says that a longer poles can’t be used to put the flags out where they can be seen, without endangering the flagger?

Flag Marshall hiding behind the pole so he didn't get splashed.  This is pathetic and weak from the FIM to allow this to happen.  Anyone seeing the vision would agree.   JH84 has posted vision from the upside of that jump, totally invisible.   Febvre won the GP, end of story.   It's even worse if the MXGP comes down to the wire, and this is a deciding factor.

This is been a shit show, on the video you see 4 riders jump and only 2 get penalized. 

You do either dock everyone or no one.

This is the biggest problem I have with the situation... 

But it has to be said, the flagger fucked up being behind the banner too.

Febvre gets hosed in this one for sure.

With all the photo/video images out now, not to mention support by all the riders, I would hope Kawasaki can protest this to have it overturned.

From memory the rules say that protests have to be lodged within a few hours. That doesn't mean FIM can't reverse the decision on their own initiative as they screwed up. 

I know rules are rules but this sucks. How riders were supposed to spot a yellow flag in those conditions and while riding through a frickin lake I don't know.

This is only one storyline as well. Can someone please explain exactly what led to Thibault Benistants crash? He also looked to be a casualty of questionable flagging.. his slam was brutal.  

Lol...going into a lake of mud, then onto a slop covered incline, yeah...think I'll gear down and let-off a little.   

As long as flaggers are passionate volunteers who get the midday sandwich and a handshake as a pay and are appointed by the local club, don't expect things to get more professional.
The FIM sold the rights to Infront and doesn't handle anything apart from cashing in, Infront puts the circus together for the less they can spend and the more they can pocket, relying on a local club which tries to makes ends meet, pay Infront without drowning and still be there the year after...

Who's gonna make flagging more professionnal? Let me think... I'd say nobody.

Not that different from St Louis, btw...

Oh, and while I'm at it... we're in the 21st century and the whole concept of "flagging" is totally obsolete.

So the flagger needed to be on the other side of the banner so the riders could see him, but would've been getting buckets of muddy water in his face plus probably limited vision of the landing he's supposed to be "protecting", seem like a no win for one hombre. 

Just thinking out loud here, would it be that hard to install lights on the face of blind jumps and have the flagger hit an on switch with a thumb plunger controller that turns them on instantly ?  Vs. Look at the landing look whos coming look at the landing look whos coming look at the landing oh fuck a guy crashed start waving the flag in time for them to safely roll even though they're in fult tilt boogie race mode.  Kind of seems like a Flintstoney system at this level. 

Maybe they should hire orangutans or gibbons as flaggers, they got real long arms.

Hahahaha thanks you just made my Monday better lol

I’m not sure having just lights would be enough. F1 with all its tech still has Marshalls and flags and lights just sort of supplement them. I guess they are travelling a touch faster though. 

How hard would it be to install yellow lights.....

Flagger should have been on the corner of the jump so the flag could have been seen. ….just make the right call…this should be reversed IMO… snowball chance in hell for riders to see this flag…

Same people, it seems, that run the WADA 😏

This is bullshit! 

I'm not coming here to stir the pot but this is ZERO percent the flaggers fault. I don't know if any of you have ever flagged a race before but I have. See the green box that the flagger is standing in? When you go to the flaggers meeting, they tell you to NEVER leave that box. You waive the flag when someone goes down, Period. They do not want you leaving that spot and getting run over, screwing up a race, etc...It's up to the track owner or promotor to decide where the flagger is. I'm not saying the flagger was in the right spot, just that it isn't their fault and they aren't standing there to not get splashed or whatever some people are saying. 

I should say I flagged an AMA race and not an MXGP race so maybe their rules are different but I doubt it. 

"Nothing like this would have happened in Motogp" 

Completely different officiating. They have dashboard lights, track lights, fixed position flaggers. Whatever the fix is, it clearly isn't a top priority in mxgp and sx. The FIM is heavily invested in Motogp and WSB. Maybe it's time Dorna took a look at purchasing mxgp. 

Thanks, and yeah, terrible situation.  

That's fucked up. While the pictures made me laugh, it's absolutely embarrassing riders are getting docked and punished for the useless flagger, WTF.

Good point….being a longtime racer and rider I have only flagged in emergency situations, like on a practice track that has no flaggers…you know, you just circle back to the face of the jump and stop all coming riders….ultimately for flagging to work, they have to be seen, that position the flagger is in, is not getting the job done… the training & responsibility falls on the organization running the event. 

Dorna ran MXGP and it didn't go well. 

You're 100% right.