Content Warning: Fatal incidents are discussed in this piece. You may find this upsetting. Look after yourselves – Dre x
When you’re a bike fan, you have to accept that some days, shit is going to be grim. Dark. It’s the inevitable nature of knowing how dangerous this sport can be at its worst, and how frustrating it can be when you’re a fan on the sidelines, feeling helpless.
Sepang’s 2025 weekend was marred by a horrific incident during the Sighting Lap. Noah Dettwiler’s bike had a technical issue and was slowing off the apex on the run to Turn 4. While that was happening, Moto3 World Champion Jose Antonio Rueda was coming out of that turn at near full racing speed, and didn’t realise Dettwiler had a problem. He smashes into the back of Dettwiler’s bike. Both men were airlifted to hospital. Since then, at time of writing, Rudea is awake and alert, with a broken hand and a severe concussion. Dettwiler’s in hospital and facing “multiple surgeries”. Send him some prayers, I know I will be.
As a result, the Moto3 race was reduced to 10 laps, and Moto2 was moved to the final race of the day to preserve MotoGP’s original time slot.
Today is everything I hate about being a MotoGP fan. Moto3 is a series that I think a lot of people have genuinely stepped back from because of its inherent danger. 150mph bikes that race in huge packs and it’s incredibly hard to pull any sort of gap with week-to-week. With many, it feels like you’re waiting for the accident to happen. Today was arguably even worse, with a crash on the Sighting Lap. I know, the easy explanation is to call it a “freak accident” and not to read too deeply into it, but it’s an accident to fits into the unsettling nature of lightweight racing.
A strong reminder to you readers – I know bike fans want to pin everything on Liberty Media because so many of you don’t like F1, but anyone who knows MotoGP knows the squeeze on the smaller categories has been happening for years. A big one that not many have spoken on, is the removal of Moto2 and Moto3 warm-up sessions on Sunday. They were cut for the MotoGP Rider’s Parade and “Hero Walks”, as part of the series’ stronger focus on the premier-class. An element of the sport the riders are hating more and more with the soft admittance they’re copying the F1 model by hook and by crook.
So when you’ve only got the sighting lap and the warm-up lap to gauge conditions of a track before you race on Sunday, you’re going to ride at least moderately hard. That knowledge is priceless when you’ve got a race less than half an hour later. If we had warm-ups, riders probably wouldn’t need to race at 90% on a sighter. But this is the races.
And then there’s the decision itself to race on. Look, I don’t envy any race director, or decision maker that has to make these kinds of decisions. It is a loveless, thankless task with no “good outcome”. But it’s more than obvious to me that the Moto3 shouldn’t have gone ahead, so many of the Premier Class riders spoke out about being mentally shaken up by hearing of Dettwiler’s condition, let alone his Moto3 friends and peers, some of whom had seen it with their own eyes. When Marco Bezzecchi, Pecco Bagnaia, Alex Rins and Joan Mir all say it was a questionable decision, these are the people we immensely respect for wrapping their legs around 2,000bhp per ton missiles… yeah. Not sure this was the right call.
I get it. We’re in the entertainment business, and that world will always say: “The show must go on”, but for me… it just doesn’t. Taiyo Furusato’s first win in the class should be seen as a joyous day for him and his country, but it hangs over a dark cloud.
It’s another awful day in a horrible year for Motorcycle racing.. Former JuniorGP racer Borja Gomez passed away in July at Magny-Cours in an accident that many have reported was an extreme case of negligence from the organisers, lacking marshals and an ambulance that took 10 minutes to get to the accident. Mat Oxley was one of the few mainstream biking journalists to report on it.
Pau Alsina passed away from head injuries in a Junior GP event at Aragon. And of course, the tragic deaths of Owen Jenner and Shane Richardson in the British Supersport series at Oulton Park under the BSB paddock. Horrific, and even worse when you see the disjointed coverage from some, and the predatory nature of the tabloid press that never covers said series when the idea of a teenager dying on a bike makes for a good clickrate.
Moto3 is set to change. There is a major reboot coming in 2028. Yamaha R7 engine’s. Yamaha frames. A one-make series to reduce costs and take the competition element away, for a healthier series. And hopefully, a bit more horsepower will help bridge the gap between Moto3 and 2, with their Triumph’s producing 100 more horsepower than the current Moto3 prototypes. Hopefully it’ll make for better, smarter riders as they progress their careers. But those Moto3 bikes are just going to be rebranded as Moto4, and kept in the Talent Cups and Junior GP Championships. We’re essentially just hiding that danger and making it someone else’s problem. And that big change is still over two years away.
Add that to the diminishing scope of the juniors under Dorna’s umbrella, the questionable broadcasting decisions of replaying crashes when we don’t know the condition of the riders involved (No, being ‘conscious’ doesn’t mean they’re not seriously injured), the race to bottom to share misinformation, the conversations we’re still having to have about handling concussions after Valentin Perrone’s in Mandalika.
The race from the top where we have to do everything to appease the TV contracts and get the show on the road again, the fact we only have these difficult conversations when something awful happens and we lack proactivity… It just makes me feel sad and dirty to be a bike fan.
I’m not under any illusions, these days are inevitable. No matter how “safe” it is, people will always get hurt in this sport. But it’s how we handle those days that makes the sport what it is. And we’re not covering ourselves in glory here, at all. There’s better ways the sport can carry itself. And it shouldn’t have to take fresh blood being spilled for us to see that.
