Mel gets a warning
By TMX Archives on 22nd Jun 12
Mel Pocock and Jeffrey Herlings were the first riders to be invited for a conversation with Youthstream president, Giuseppe Luongo, the FIM MX Committee chairman, Wolfgang Srb and FIM race director, Dave Nicoll, at Bastogne, over the weekend.
The young Brit was not confronted with any allegations of wrong doings on the track one week earlier in Portugal but he did get a ticking-off for a Twitter post during the week before the race.
"In the heat of the moment after France I had tweeted that I would get revenge for what he did to Arnaud at St Jean, if I got the chance,” explained Mel. "I didn't really mean it and did nothing in Portugal.”
This has even been confirmed by Dutch spectators who, unlike the onlookers in the pit lane and on TV, saw first-hand what happened, or – more precisely – did not happen! It appears that Herlings, aware of the Twitter post, decided not to attempt to lap Mel.
On Saturday evening the triumvirate met with the team owners and managers.
Luongo said: "Our message is especially addressed to the manufacturers and the team owners – please control your team staff and riders better.
"What happened in Mexico, in France and in Portugal is unacceptable and this is not only the fault of the riders – who are constantly under a lot of pressure – but it is especially the fault of the responsible people around them, who, instead of giving good advice to calm things down, push them over their limits on and off the track.
"We understand that on the race track the competition is high because there are manufacturers and sponsors who invest a lot of money and work to have victories, and this is fine, but the competition must be fair.
"Riders and teams have to understand that they are ambassadors of our sport, and have to give an example of fairness and respect when they are on the bike, in the paddock and when they speak in front of media.
"Youthstream will have zero tolerance with anyone (riders and team members) who brings a negative image to the World Championship and to everyone's work.
"The team's participation agreement stipulates that Youthstream's partner is the team, and it is the team which is responsible for their own staff and riders.
"Therefore Youthstream will sanction the team for problems caused by a rider or a team member, independently from the FIM, which is the sole authority able to apply sporting sanctions.
"The relationship between YS and the manufacturers is better and the large majority of the manufacturers and international sponsors very much support Youthstream's policy to cover the growing markets around the world.
"Manufacturers and sponsors invest huge amounts of money into the teams, and Youthstream and its sponsors invest into the series promotion.
"Due to the economical crisis we know the times in Europe and USA are complicated.
"And for this reason it's imperative to go to markets where manufacturers can sell their bikes and sponsors can sell their products.”
