Romain Febvre criticises the FIM: ‘They just don’t listen to us riders’

Immediately after the French Grand Prix, reigning MXGP champion Romain Febvre had spoken critically about the situation in the Motocross World Championship during the post-race press conference. The Frenchman later apologised for this. The background to this was the serious crash involving Thibault Benistant, who was treated at the side of the track without the race being stopped. Now, on Jase Macalpine’s Gypsy Tales podcast, Febvre has once again voiced his criticism of the World Championship.

Controversial penalties

Febvre has denounced the sometimes controversial and harsh penalties imposed when yellow flags are waved. Riders often feel disadvantaged, as the final link in a chain of decisions. Sacha Coenen had five points deducted at the German Grand Prix because he spotted the yellow flag too late and consequently braked too late. However, when the opposite occurs – where flags are not shown or are shown too late – nothing happens. One need only recall the case of Kay de Wolf in Argentina in 2022 (video at the end of this section). Another recent example, though not from the World Championship, is the case of Max Nagl, who, at the Masters race in Tensfeld, crashed into stragglers who had fallen without any warning or yellow flags, sustaining serious injuries in the process.

We often perceive the penalties as unfair and as an act against the rider.

Romain Febvre

Referee decisions or grassroots democracy?

“In our sport, we have the Race Director, who makes his decision entirely on his own,” says Febvre. “But all perspectives should be considered. We often perceive the penalties as unfair and as an act against the rider. They think we’re fighting against them when we voice criticism,” explains Febvre. “But that’s not true. We’re all working towards the same goal: for our sport to grow and gain popularity.” From Febvre’s point of view, that’s understandable, but these refereeing decisions are simply not a matter for grassroots democracy. The Race Director is trained and experienced. In sport, an authority must decide quickly and precisely, whether you like it or not. A decision may seem unfair in hindsight, but do we really want to see multiple versions of the points standings at every race? Isn’t the confusion over the points standings caused by penalties – which affect the World Championship table but not the Grand Prix result – complicated enough? To stick with the example of Sacha Coenen: In the Grand Prix standings for the German Grand Prix, he is listed with 47 points – 25 for winning Race 1 and 22 for second place in Race 2. In the overall World Championship standings, however, 5 points were deducted from his total. This is just one of several such cases.

Professionalising flag marshals

Febvre suggests providing better training for the flag marshals or even professionalising the role. “Ideally, the same flag marshals should always be present at every World Championship round. We race in countries like Thailand, where they don’t even know the colours of the flags. Ultimately, this means that the risks we take as riders – and even the outcome of the World Championship – depend on people who can’t tell the flags apart. In the USA, they do it better. In Supercross, the marshals also react much more quickly.” However, there are far worse incidents in the USA than in the World Championship – incidents of which Febvre is apparently unaware. One need only recall the hair-raising case of Izaih Clark at the Supercross mud race in Birmingham.

Cooperation rather than confrontation

Incidentally, following the aforementioned incident involving Kay de Wolf in Argentina, the FIM and Infront Moto Racing reacted immediately at the time and instructed the marshals to look exclusively in the direction of travel, which has in some cases already reached excessive proportions. Just take a look at the marshals, for example at the German Grand Prix, and see how stoically they stare in one direction. So each side has its own perception and draws its own conclusions from it. At the end of the day, the promoter also has to work within a budget and cannot simply hire staff who are deployed for 40 days a year but expect to be paid for the whole year – not to mention additional travel and accommodation costs. That is the other side of the coin. That is why, ultimately, cooperation is needed from all sides. Cooperation rather than confrontation, on both a large and small scale – and, really, nothing new under the sun.