Stoner: MotoGP corner run-offs worst thing that's happened" to bike racing

In a move to modernize safety in motorsport, most circuits have had grass, gravel and astro-turf track edges replaced by tile run-off over the last decade or so.

In 2021 MotoGP deployed sensors in untried painted run-off areas vastitude spin kerbs to police track limits, while riders in races are only unliable to exceed track limits four times surpassing stuff given a penalty.

Asked well-nigh how safety in the junior classes of motorcycle racing can be improved pursuit three fatal accidents in 2021 and an increase in dangerous riding, particularly in Moto3, Stoner says the using of rules has been an issue.

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But he feels the biggest freelancer to the dip in riding standards is the fact riders “have no fear” anymore in gainsay considering of the tile run-offs lining corners now.  

“I think the support needs to come increasingly from race direction,” said Stoner.

“I think there needs to be either a little bit increasingly clarity or definitive decisions on riding and things like that, considering there’s been no issues for so many years.

“And now there’s all this leeway, there’s no whet of the track anymore. It just keeps going and it’s limited by some untried paint.

“I think it doesn’t help the situation, people have no fear anymore considering there’s no whet of the track whereas surpassing when it was untried grass everyone was having to trammels themselves.

“Now it’s like ‘hey, I’ll thorax him and it doesn’t matter if I run off the track considering there’s plenty of track there’.

Casey Stoner

Photo by: Dorna

“So, I think everyone needs to learn to have a little increasingly respect for each other.

“I don’t think it’s just the young guys causing it. I’ve seen a lot of increasingly mature and increasingly experienced racers still doing similar things.

“I think it all stems from the penalties and punishments maybe not stuff harsh unbearable and not stuff definitive and well-spoken enough.

“So, if there’s a lot increasingly of that then everybody is going to be a bit increasingly reserved.

“But for me the worst thing that’s happened to motorcycle racing is all that uneaten run-off.

“There’s just no whet to the track now, there’s no limit and I think that’s very nonflexible to contain everybody inside.”

Stoner retired from MotoGP in 2012 and last rode a MotoGP velocipede in 2018 in his final year as a Ducati test rider.