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Back at Phillip Island, the closing comments of the SPEEDTV coverage mentioned that there was a protest by Hayden et. al. regarding Rossi passing Stoner during a yellow flag.  Here is the current rule:

Yellow FlagShown waved at the flag marshal post, this flag indicates that there is a danger ahead. The riders must slow down and be prepared to stop. Overtaking is forbidden up until the point where the green flag is shown.In case of infringement of this rule during the race, the rider must go back the number of positions decided by the Race Direction. The penalty will be first communicated to the team and then a board will be displayed for the rider on the finish line during a maximum of 3 laps. If the rider did not go back after the board has been presented 3 times, he will be penalized by a ride through.In both cases, further penalties (such as fine – suspension) may also be imposed.

If immediately after having overtaken, the rider realizes that he did an infraction, he must raise his hand and let pass the rider(s) that he has overtaken. In this case, no penalty will be imposed.

 

 

SPEEDTV has an article today that cites a letter to the Race Direction at the FIM written by the president of HRC.

MOTOGP: ‘Yellow Flag’ Blame Game: Honda Sends Complaints to FIM

Written by: Colin Young
Motegi, Japan – 9/26/2006
The blame game has erupted in a controversial aftermath to the now infamous “yellow flag” incident at Phillip Island during the Australian Grand Prix.

Honda escalated the warfare on the eve of the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, revealing they had sent a strongly worded letter to the FIM, the world controlling body.

SpeedTV has now obtained a copy of the Honda letter.

The Honda letter was highly critical of Race Direction and in part, called “into question the ability of this group of people and their capability to perform such duties.”

The letter was signed by Suguru Kanazawa, President of the Honda Racing Corporation.

Although it did not mention Valentino Rossi by name, the letter raised the stakes on the Phillip Island incident when Race Direction missed Rossi’s yellow flag pass on Australian rider Casey Stoner.

The move was at a critical moment of the race with American rider Nicky Hayden briefly changing his race strategy as he anticipated a penalty when he saw Rossi’s move form behind.

Rossi finished third, with Hayden fifth, a result that closed the points gap in the world championship.

After viewing more detailed video evidence, Race Director Paul Butler apologized to Hayden for the error, admitting that in hindsight Rossi perhaps had a case to answer for passing under the yellows.

HRC boss Kanazawa made a pointed reference to the letter, addressed to the FIM chief Francesco Zerbi, at the Honda-owned Motegi Circuit.

Kanazawa insists that the current rule must be changed and a higher level of competency demanded of officials in Race Direction.

The Honda letter triggered a hurried response from the Grand Prix Commission who issued a statement, which now lays a large part of the blame on the volunteer corner workers and flag marshals at Phillip Island.

The GP Commission called an extraordinary meeting on qualifying day at Motegi and issued a statement just prior to the start of the race on Sunday.

In part, the GP commission statement says: “Immediate action includes a letter sent by the Race Direction to the Australian organization pointing out the failings of their officials that caused the controversy.”

This is at odds with Butler’s unwillingness on the Sunday evening of the Phillip island race to blame the corner workers, who come under the radio control of the Clerk of Course and Race Direction.

Privately, Honda are unimpressed with the attempt at blame shifting and they continue to insist the yellow flag rule needs to be clarified, perhaps to enable a post-race penalty to be applied.

The GP Commission say they intend to “closely examine the regulations” and will also make an in-depth study of new technology to assist race officials in reviewing these incidents.

Butler said the technology would mainly be increased cameras and video replay machines, plus additional assistance of officials, in monitoring the TV evidence during a race.

This is bad for one main reason if Rossi wins…its called an asterisk.  It will look like this in the minds of many:

2006 MotoGP World Champion - Valentino Rossi*

Whether its Barry Bonds in baseball or doping so often found in Track & Field stars, the wins are tainted.

I think Rossi is the better rider this year - clearly.  He is only a few points down with two DNF’s and a 1-point showing.  But up to this point, everything has been ‘part of racing’.  Screw ups by track officials are part of racing, but they should and can be corrected.  It appears that this time, the mistake cannot.  It will be interesting to follow the comments, etc. coming out of the riders and teams over the next couple of weeks.