Toseland fumes at jump-start penalty
Added on Monday, October 19th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Toseland fumes at jump-start penalty
James Toseland was left fuming at Phillip Island yesterday after being hit with a ride-through penalty for what he felt was a harshly-called jump start.
The British rider finished 14th in Australia after being called in for a ride-through penalty after appearing to start prematurely at the lights and was clearly unhappy with the call as he made his way through the pitlane.
After the race, Toseland went with Tech 3 team principle Herve Poncharal to race direction and the pair remained unconvinced by the call, which was Toseland’s second false start of the season after he was disqualified for failing to observe a penalty at Laguna Seca.
“I’m really struggling to describe how I feel right now,” said Toseland. “All I can say is I feel the jump start decision was incredibly harsh and I am extremely disappointed. I have looked at the start on TV and I can’t see I’ve done anything wrong.
“It is hard for me to take but I’ve got to try and put it behind me as soon as possible and aim for a strong result in Sepang next weekend. I was confident of a strong race today and I was latched onto the back of the group fighting for fifth. I felt my pace was strong enough to have put up a strong fight for a positive result, but the ride-through ended all that,” he added.
“With James, I understand his frustration,” added Poncharal. “I went with him to Race Direction to look at the start and honestly speaking, it was a very marginal decision. We have to respect the decision of Race Direction and I am convinced that James will bounce back strongly in Malaysia next weekend.”
What did you think of the ruling? Discuss this and all of the fallout from Phillip Island in the Insidebikes forum.
