MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group

But if you are going to make decisions like this and you are going to kind of put these things on the riders, I think there has to be kind of a give and take because to come down so hard line on something like this, is very, very bizarre.

And it is very Liberty and very Dorna at a certain point, because even outside of this, looking at the racing side of things, we've seen this sort of kind of ham-fisted action on stuff constantly, basically since the Espelettas took control of the sport.

And the Liberty side of things is clearly doing the exact same behavioral patterns of, we've seen that there is a thing that we do not agree with, does not align with our vision of the sport.

So we are going to come down on it hard and fast with a real hammer blow.

it should have been maybe an option more explored than it ultimately was.

Dorna said yesterday when they were asked about it, the forecast didn't show the visibility issues.

Can I just ask a question, like a dummy question? How do you predict visibility?

Well, this is what I was going to say, is that Phillip Island is unpredictable, isn't it? We know that just because a forecast says one thing doesn't mean that's going to be the case.

I

just think that Conlucker...

I was thinking even from my own perspective about how I would personally feel right now if I was still working for Dorna and being asked to fly... out to the middle of the war zone.

But like, I think people forget, like if the championship goes, and I think maybe it was Massimo Ravola was talking about this, then you're compelled to go.

Ducati, not...

Dorna, Liberty, whoever they are, SMEG, not happy at all.

So Indonesia, they say, right, anybody missing a promotional event will be subject to a 5,000 euro fine.

Warning, first time, 5,000 euro, second time.

It's currently run by the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, which is a setup in Melbourne that had been running the Formula One in Albert Park for years.

Backstory is, Dorna, MotoGP, Sports Entertainment Group, essentially have asked for updates to Phillip Island.

The owner, Lindsay Fox & Co, that's not happening.

There was a talk about maybe going to Albert Park and doing something similar to doing Adelaide up there.

It's, it, it's those sort of, yeah, as you say, those gray, those gray areas.

Because I mean, it started with, um, uh, so at the end of the 8- 800cc era, we, when we switched back to the 1000s, basically, uh, Carmelo Ezpeleta and Dorna could see that the factories were sort of tiptoeing away.

Obviously, they got bitten by Kawasaki when they left.

Yeah.

But, um, f- there, you know, at, at any point, as we've seen with Suzuki multiple times, they can decide to leave.

You know, they can, they can just decide to, to, to bug out and deci- and, and go off and do something else.

And, um, you know, Dorna, Carmelo Ezpeleta especially, was determined not to do that.

'Cause there was a period of maybe a month after, at the end of 2008, during the financial crisis, that Honda was seriously considering stopping racing.

And whether or not all of the writers have realized that yet, some of them certainly have, some of them haven't.

But, I mean, the teams have realized it, and there's a very different attitude coming from them, regardless to how much Dorna have said, oh, the teams wanted to get rid of warm-up.

That's not what the teams have told us, and it's certainly not what Moto2 and Moto3 teams believe after two seasons of experience in it.

It's nonsense.

Yeah, totally agree with that.

On the promotional activity side, this is coming to a head in the light of Marc Marquez.

Was he fined and told off by Dorna?

He wasn't fined because they only changed the rule after he did it to insert the potential for fines.

And that's not going to happen anytime soon because, you know, yes, Liberty Media owns it, but fundamentally...

Dorner MotoGP group now is still fully in control you know Carmelo Espeleta Carlos Espeleta has been made as you know as co-CEO you know he's very much being lined up now to take over from his dad once once Carmelo decides to retire and And so that kind of way of thinking just carries on and will continue to carry on for as long as, you know, Carlos is in charge and that kind of Dorna sort of, you know, the way things are just now, carry on.

So it's almost like a bit of an impasse as well.

The riders could certainly do more to change it.