MOTOGP » PICS: Iannone, Espargaro last turn crash

$5,000 for the headbutt? How much for riding like a spanner?

serious thats a lot of money

What a joke, should have been suspended for the rest of 2009.

How much was the damage to Pol's bike worth? Looked like more than 5k to me - he got off too light.

he should have been banned for 2 races for not useing his head in the race.

I agree with Tokihashi. He should have the $5000 fine and pay the cost of repairing Espargaro's bike. Those 250 parts aint cheap!

Also, why is the fine in USD? $5000 is only worth about 15 euros nowdays.

and the research involved in getting those 250 parts to run on a 125 bike will cost a fair bit too eh Ronald

Joking aside, I think he needed punishing as he is exciting to watch but a race spoiler like that is not what people want to see really. However, he didnt intentionally take Espargaro out, yes a bonehead win or bin move but effectively he crashed and his bike collected Espargaro. So, he cant really be punished for crashing even though he took an innocent Espargaro with him but the fact he tried to nut Pol in the gravel basically gave Dorna some ammo to hit him with a fine.

I am not saying his move was ok but if you break it down into simple terms he just crashed!

oops. Ha Ha, well spotted Paul. See that's what Tokehasi Wakibaki does to you!

Ah... better than nothing...

From my point of view, he should stay home, while the rest is going to Estoril.
Like Edwards said: "some damned ass italian freak just overdid it!"

These are always tough calls by Race Direction.

There's often a fine line between an over-taking maneuver being under control and one being 'hope for the best'.

Race Direction certainly doesnt want to have Racers 2nd guessing themselves and worrying about a fine if they happen to crash and take somebody else along with them.

That's part of racing.

In hindsight we can all see that this attempt at passing was going to result in a crash so as somebody already pointed out, Iannone's co-co butt to Espargaro handed Race Direction a gift.

Espargaro is naturally unhappy. This incident has cost him the difference between 6th and 4th place in the standings.