Marc Marquez has gotten another light slap on the wrist – his third this season after Qatar with his run in with Thomas Luthi and Catalunya which ended in tears for Pol Espargaro – from the Race Direction for punting off track Mika Kallio during the final Moto2 free practice this morning at Motegi.
The incident took place ten minutes into the session when Kallio outbraked Marquez at turn seven – the S Curve – and was going for the line in the next right hand corner, when Marquez probably going into a red mist moment, turned in on the inside and found the Marc VDS rider in front him, speared him which sent Kallio him into a massive highside.
The Spaniard survived the incident and would later go on to finish second in the session, while the Finn had to take a brief trip to the medical center to get his right arm checked out.
Obviously Kallio wasn’t happy about the incident nor the fact he qualified on 15th, blaming the incident for his starting position: “The only thing I can say about today is that it’s not possible for tomorrow to be any worse! Someone should have maybe told Marc Marquez that the race is tomorrow, because his move in free practice this morning was completely out of order.
He ran wide into the turn and I went under him cleanly, only for him to torpedo me from behind at the next turn.
He hit me so hard he bent the swinging arm; I don’t think he even thought about shutting off.
This afternoon we had problems with the clutch, which may well be a result of the crash, but it means I’ll start tomorrow from the fifth row of the grid.
It will make for a tough race but, like I said, it can’t be any worse than today.
”“Mika has endured a disastrous day through no fault of his own.
Marc Marquez’s move on Mika in free practice this morning was beyond reckless and it’s lucky that it’s just the bike we had to replace and not the rider as well.
He wasn’t sanctioned for the crash because it was a ‘racing incident’ apparently, which makes about as much sense as Marquez’s reasons for trying such a suicidal move in the first place.
Anyway, Mika has put today behind him and is determined to battle his way through the field to a top ten finish and I have no doubt in his ability to do this,” added Team Principal Michael Bartholemy.
Apparently the Race Direction let Marquez off with another ‘yellow card’ for dangerous riding, because Kallio’s Marc VDS team didn’t lodge an official complaint, which sounds absurd, because Race Direction has complete discretion over these questions, and we were once lead to believe by the Riders Safety Commission that after two yellow cards, the third one forsees some sort of penalty.
Unfortunately not handing Marquez a penalty or a fine futher endorses the idea that fans have that the talented Spaniard – because he is extremely talented – is the ‘Annointed One’ and therefore untouchable.