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LCR Honda rider Taka Nakagami has admitted that he was “ready to receive some penalty” for triggering a three-bike crash at the last round of the 2022 MotoGP championship, after an ambitious Turn 1 overtaking manoeuvre potentially took Pecco Bagnaia out of the title race and left Alex Rins with a broken wrist.
Lucky to walk away in one piece after essentially headbutting Bagnaia’s rear wheel but leaving himself briefly hospitalised after the incident, the Japanese rider was passed fit for this weekend’s German Grand Prix – and said that his first order of business at the Sachsenring was to find the other two and apologise for what had happened.
“I’m still not 100% recovered, but I’ve confirmed that I’m fit to ride again this weekend and this is a miracle after that accident,” said Nakagami, who also praised his helmet supplier Arai for “saving my life”.
“This morning I apologised to Pecco and Alex because I didn’t have a chance after the race, because I was in hospital, and for me it was really important to do it face to face.
“I apologised to them, because it was totally my mistake. I explained everything to them, and apologised for the accident because I destroyed their races.
“Now I feel much better because apologising face to face was so important to me. It gives me a clear mind to focus on the weekend.”
However, while he might have been lucky to escape serious injury in the crash, Nakagami didn’t escape blame, with pretty much all of his MotoGP rivals in agreement that he’d made a mistake worthy of punishment.
That view wasn’t shared by the MotoGP stewards, though, with no penalty coming his way afterwards, much to the shock of everyone involved including, he admitted, Nakagami himself.
“To be honest I didn’t make any mistake on the braking point, it was totally under control,” he explained. “But unfortunately I had quite a big slipstream on the braking and I didn’t expect it. In the end, I couldn’t stop well, and I couldn’t avoid the crash.
“Until the last moment I tried to stop the bike but it wasn’t possible. I locked the front and I hit Pecco and Alex. It was a nasty crash and in the end it was my mistake.
“To be honest, I was ready to receive some penalty, but in the end I couldn’t decide, and the stewards decided it was a racing incident. Everyone was thinking that I would get some penalty, and I understand clearly that it was my mistake.
“Unfortunately I destroyed two riders’ races, and if they change their mind and I get a penalty I would accept that. If I had got one, I couldn’t say anything because it was my mistake.”
That’s set to add fresh fuel to the controversy surrounding not only this incident but many more decisions made by the stewards panel led by Freddie Spencer since his appointment in 2018.
Following the race in Barcelona, Rins called for a ‘too old’ Spencer to be sacked while still fired up after the race – and he didn’t exactly withdraw the comments with the benefit of hindsight despite also being passed fit to ride at this weekend’s race.
Alex has worked hard on his recovery and he has now been declared fit by the circuit doctors to ride this weekend! We’re right behind you, mate! 💙💪🏼 @motogp #news @Rins42 #GermanGP #alexrins pic.twitter.com/Ytvx35UCE7
— Team Suzuki Ecstar (@suzukimotogp) June 16, 2022
“I don’t have any problem with him,” Rins said of Nakagami, “and I accepted the apology. But it’s important that he understands what he did wrong.
“He said yes, that he totally agrees that he made a mistake, and that’s it.
“I was quite surprised because he told me ‘Alex, after the race I was waiting for a penalty and the stewards didn’t give me one’.
“It’s a thing to talk about in the safety commission [on Friday] because personally I think it is a mistake that they didn’t penalise him. We’ll talk with all the riders and try to improve the security of the championship. I’m not saying it’s not secure, but right now I think the stewards are not doing perfect work.
“Saying that Freddie was too old wasn’t the right thing, but after the race you have a lot of adrenaline. But I still think that they can improve in their job.
“It’s not easy to give a penalty to a rider, but when a rider is saying that they were waiting on the penalty and Lucio [Cechinello, LCR team boss] says on TV that they would understand if they received a penalty, it’s difficult to understand why they didn’t.”
