Maria Herrera was world champion for a few minutes – and then she wasn’t!

In the first race on Saturday, Maria Herrera was handed two long laps for ‘irresponsible riding’ after her title rival Beatriz Neila had fallen following a collision, yet she still won comfortably.

In the second race, Herrera was penalised again – this time with serious consequences! On the final lap, the defending champion was battling with Paola Ramos and Neila for the lead when another collision occurred. Ramos was nudged by Herrera, slipped off her footrest and was thrown from her Yamaha R7 whilst travelling at full throttle.

I don’t understand why I was penalised.

Maria Herrera

Herrera crossed the finish line first, ahead of Neila, and celebrated exuberantly on the cool-down lap, as she was convinced she had become world champion for the second time. We saw burn-outs, her motorbike was decked out with a golden number 1, and Maria was presented with a champions’ T-shirt. It was only in the parc fermé that she learnt what the TV viewers had already known for a few minutes: she’d been handed a 6-second penalty for bumping into Ramos, meaning Neila was declared the winner and Herrera second. Instead of holding an unassailable 54-point lead ahead of the final two races of the season in Jerez in mid-October, her lead now stands at 44 points and the title race remains wide open.

Maria Herrera feels she has been treated unfairly

Herrera believes she was wrongly penalised in both races. “I was in the lead both times and couldn’t see the rider behind me,” the 29-year-old emphasised to SPEEDWEEK.com. “It’s a tricky corner, for sure. I wanted to turn in and rode more towards the centre because I knew Paola wanted to overtake me. So I closed the door on her. In the parc fermé, I then saw my position – even though I’d finished the race in first place. I don’t understand why I was given the penalty. I’ll have to speak to the FIM stewards to find out why – for the future. I wanted to seal the deal here, but now the championship is wide open again. Not because of my race, but because of the penalty. That was an external decision that has had a major impact on me.”