Race 15: Motegi Japan

Ik vind het raar. Er is afgesproken dat een onafhankelijk bureau onderzoek zou doen in Motegi. Als daaruit blijkt dat het verblijf van een paar dagen in Motegi gewoon veilig is dan moeten ze gewoon gaan. Als je dan zo p[uur wil zijn moet je ook X-ray's in het ziekenhuis weigeren want de dosis radioactieve straling die je daar op loopt is vele malen hoger dan een verblijf op ongeveer 200 km van de plek des onheils. Ik begrijp dat je aanvankelijk bezorgd bent maar als uit onafhankelijk onderozke blijkt dat er niks aan de hand is dan moet je stoppen met zeuren. Het is paniekzaaierij door onkunde.[/quote]

Nou, dat idee heb ik dus ook een beetje. Dus hoop dat de Dorna de heren ergens zou kunnen verplichten. Of dat de teams druk uitoefenen op de heren...

Stoner en Lorenzo hebben beide verklaard op de persconferentie in Duitsland onder geen beding te zullen rijden in Motegi.

Lorenzo had dat besluit al een tijd terug genomen, Stoner heeft nu voor het eerst definitief zijn standpunt verkondigd.

Benieuwd wat de rest gaat doen en hoe Ezpeleta en consorten hier mee omgaan.

Doet me een beetje denken aan Misano 1990 (geloof ik) toen de rijders wegens de omstandigheden gingen staken en een beperkt veld alsnog van start ging.

Was het toen niet Chili die won?

Twee vragen die als eerst bij me opkomen:
Wat staat er in het contract wat de teams met de Dorna hebben over het wel of niet willen starten?
Wat is de actuele status in Japan? Je hoort verhalen dat het daar allemaal wel prima is,aar aan de andere kant zijn er wel weer besmette koeien... En hoe is het in Motegi? Kan maar zo zijn dat het daar idd veilig is.

The big news after qualifying is the news that the riders have decided to boycott the Motegi round of MotoGP. Instead of waiting for the independent report to be produced by an Italian agency with a lot of expertise in this area, all of the MotoGP riders - bar Hiroshi Aoyama - have decided they simply will not go. The report is to be finalized next weekend, with an official decision to be taken by the Motegi promoters - which, as owners of the circuit, eventually boils down to Honda - together with Dorna, the FIM and IRTA. If, as is expected, given previous reports by such fringe groups of wild-eyed lunatics such as the International Atomic Energy Authority, the UN's official body monitoring nuclear power, the report states that it is perfectly safe, then the riders will be in a state of open warfare with the series.

The problem is that this is a battle that the riders can only lose. Although the courage of Casey Stoner and Jorge Lorenzo - the ringleaders of the rebellion, though suspicions remain that older, craftier hands in the paddock have exacerbated the situation by pressing the right buttons for the youngsters - is to be applauded, their cause is certainly not. Stoner was perfectly clear in the press conference: "I will not go to Japan," he said, with Lorenzo adding that his decision had also been made not to go. But although the riders who already have a contract for 2012 are relatively safe, the riders who are not such big names may quickly crumble under the pressure from their current and potential future employers.

Ambushed at a press conference to present ENI as the official oil and fuel supplier for both the Moto2 and Moto3 categories until 2014, Carmelo Ezpeleta made the situation perfectly clear. Dorna has a contract with the Motegi race promoter. Dorna has a contract with IRTA. IRTA has a contract with the teams. The teams have contracts with their riders. If riders don't want to go, they must be replaced by their teams. But teams may try and claim damages from their riders if they refuse to go to Japan, deducting money from their wages, or in the worst case, suing the riders for breach of contract. Riders who are not in such a strong position - after all, who in their right mind would not sign Casey Stoner or Jorge Lorenzo to a contract? - may find themselves struggling to find a ride next year. Anyone on a satellite machine refusing to race in Japan is unlikely to be offered a ride by the same manufacturer for next year, or even by another Japanese manufacturer. Once the riders who hope to stay in the paddock realize their predicament, the resistance is likely to crumble. A 16-rider boycott would be very serious. A 2-rider boycott would look like impetuousness.

The most moving moment of the day came when a Japanese journalist asked the MotoGP riders about their "With you Japan" stickers on the bikes. The show of support after the initial earthquake had touched the hearts of his people, the journalist said, but now the riders are refusing to visit the country, and not allowing his nation the honor of staging a MotoGP race. How did they explain that contradiction? As spokesman for the rebels, Stoner tried to explain that he was fully supportive of the Japanese people, but that he did not feel that his support would be any greater if he visited the country. Some paddock wags suggested that the wording on the stickers be changed, the word "with" replaced by another four-letter word.

Herve Poncharal expressed his anger at the riders' decision, saying that their refusal to go to Japan showed a fundamental lack of respect for the country. "Japan has done a lot for motorcycle racing," the IRTA president pointed out, "So we should do something back."

Will the boycott hold? We shall know after Laguna Seca. The teams have planned a series of meetings with their riders in which they can expect to have set out to them in no uncertain terms just how foolish it would be not to go. Their decision is based solely on fear, and on ignorance of the fundamental nature of radiation. Given their chosen profession, that is hardly surprising, but as both the World Endurance Championship and Indy Car are due to race in Japan, their position seems untenable. As one Moto2 rider who did not sign the petition put it: "These guys have had so many MRIs and X-rays, they already glow in the dark." But that, the MotoGP riders believe, is somehow different. Such ignorance must be bliss.

Een sporter moet zelf de beslissing kunnen maken of hij het veilig genoeg vindt om ergens te starten.

(...)


Een sporter is (in dit geval in ieder geval) ook een werknemer, die een contract heeft met zijn werkgever. Als die werkgever vindt dat je moet gaan, dan ga je dus (nogmaals, nadat is bewezen dat het er veilig is. In feite is dat trouwens al bewezen, lees het gequote stukje van mij hierboven van David Emmett).

(...)
Als mijn werkgever tegen mij zou zeggen dat ik naar een leverancier moet welke op 150 km van de centrale ligt zou ik ook niet gaan. Het is niet gegarandeerd veilig dus ga ik niet.
De gevolgen van straling zijn overigens ook pas na jaren zichtbaar/aantoonbaar. Dan ben je te laat om er iets aan te kunnen doen.