'No restart' rule enforced after Brands chaos

Following the cancellation of races at Brands Hatch, BSB organisers announce the reinforcement of a rule that prevents any rider from remounting their bike after a crash.
James Westmoreland Team WFR - [picture credit: Ian Hopgood Photography.com]
James Westmoreland Team WFR - [picture credit: Ian Hopgood Photography.com]
© Ian Hopgood Photography

The MCRCB has announced that it is re-introducing a rule that will prevent riders from remounting after a crash in an effort to avoid a repeat of the circumstances that caused part of the Brands Hatch opener to be cancelled.

The second British Superbike encounter of the day was one of a handful of races to be abandoned after the track was deemed to be too dangerous to ride in the wake of a circuit-wide fuel spill that had contaminated the surface.

Caused when riders crashed, remounted and rode the length of the circuit whilst unwittingly dropping fuel from the damaged bikes, the liquid, coupled to the wet conditions mixing with the detergent used to clear the surface, prevented any two-wheel races being restarted.

As such, organisers have announced the introduction of a new rule that prevents a rider from re-joining the circuit after crashing their bike. The new regulation is effective from this weekend's second round at Thruxton.

"The situation at Brands Hatch was the catalyst for the MCRCB and MSVR to review the situation," said series director Stuart Higgs. "We have never been completely comfortable with the rule that was introduced back in 1996 as often riders have remounted with no apparent damage only to subsequently have a fluid leak, mechanical damage or, for instance as Tommy Hill disastrously discovered in 2010 at Oulton Park, no brakes."

Though Higgs admits the introduction of the one-bike rule puts added pressure on teams to rebuild any damaged bikes in a shorter time frame, he says the new rule has met with no resistence.

"Superbike team managers have expressed support and we had no negative responses to our e-mail from anyone else. There are some 250 motorcycle road race meetings held in the UK each year and all but 12 BSB and 3 World Championship events have a no re-start rule.

"We understand the one bike rule has put riders under severe pressure to get their bike back at any cost but this has left our championship and their safety quite vulnerable.

"The one bike rule will remain in the current climate - its success shows in maintaining the grid numbers and this has been replicated in the Moto2, Moto3, Supersport and Superbike World Championships and it is proposed for the MotoGP class in 2013."

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