Friday pm - Jorge's Experience Should Prompt New Injury Criteria
So the decision has been taken for Jorge - he's suffering from concussion and will not race here on Sunday. He now has two weeks to recuperate before the next grand prix at
Donington. But this whole agony of watching him crash and pick himself up again for three consecutive races before Barcelona should spark a debate within
MotoGP - and within the whole of motorcycle racing - about the criteria for permitting injured riders to get back in the saddle. At the moment they're too loose.
Friday pm - Does Jorge Need to Take a Rest?
Will somebody give
Jorge Lorenzo a day off? Before his big crash in China, where he fractured both ankles, he rode the Fiat Yamaha to three poles, three podium positions including a win, and led the world championship. He was the golden boy of the year.
In China, Lorenzo displayed the kind of bang-head-against-wall stoicism that is his trademark to qualify fourth and finish fourth. In France he survived two big crashes in practice to qualify fifth and finish in an unbelievable second place. At Mugello he qualified seventh and crashed in the race. Now he's third in the points standing and, as I write, in hospital being checked over after another crash today.
Knowing Jorge, he will probably want to get back on the Fiat Yamaha. But surely the message is that this guy should have been rested after China. At just 21, it's not like he's short of time to win the MotoGP championship another year.
Under the pressure of this being their home race, fellow Spaniards
Dani Pedrosa,
Toni Elias and 250cc rider Alvaro Bautista also crashed at Montmeló today. But they're not carrying the kind of injuries that Jorge is.
Friday pm - Scott's a Role Model for Brit Youth
Some observers of this sport make a powerful argument against breeding teen professionals: limits their emotional development, the critics say. But every one of them that I meet appears so articulate, aware and totally rounded that you wish that all of Broken Britain's youth could carry themselves like this.
