MotoGP investigates a technician who attacked a Moto3 rider for breaking the bike

Dorna Sports, manager of the Motorcycle World Championship, has opened an ex officio investigation into the assault by a technical manager of the CIP Green Power team on the British rider Tom Booth-Amos, of Moto3, which occurred at the 2019 Thai GP.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
01 October 2022 Saturday 12:35
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MotoGP investigates a technician who attacked a Moto3 rider for breaking the bike

Dorna Sports, manager of the Motorcycle World Championship, has opened an ex officio investigation into the assault by a technical manager of the CIP Green Power team on the British rider Tom Booth-Amos, of Moto3, which occurred at the 2019 Thai GP. In a video that has been leaked this Friday, three years after the events, the technical chief repeatedly attacks the young rider for having broken his motorcycle in the race. Booth-Amos has confirmed the veracity of the video.

It so happens that the technical manager who attacked the 26-year-old English driver is currently John McPhee's team leader at the Sterilgarda Max Racing Husqvarna, owned by former driver Max Biaggi. That is to say, the same structure that starred in the last Aragón GP in a shameful unsportsmanlike action by stopping a rival at the pit exit. The two offending mechanics were sanctioned with suspension in two grand prix, in Australia and Malaysia, and a fine of 2,000 euros.

The facts of the aggression of the technical manager, an Italian named Maurizio Cambarau, 44, date back to the 2019 Thai GP. The English driver returned to the pits after leaving the race due to a mechanical break. He is greeted by the technical manager of CIP Green Power in a very bad way. Tom Booth-Amos shrugs off the reproaches and exclaims, "It's fucking simple!" Then, as they both enter the garage, the technician slaps the pilot in the helmet from behind and kicks him several times while he yells at him.

The video was released on Friday, coinciding with the first day of the Thai GP. As soon as it was made public, the attacked pilot posted a statement on his Twitter profile confirming the veracity of the images.

“The video that has come to light is from the 2019 Thai Grand Prix. I had a lot of problems with the team that year, but I never got around to talking about it. I wanted to make sure I had a place in the 2020 season, because it was my dream to continue in the paddock", explains the youngster.

"That [the assault] happened after the race, when my bike broke due to a mechanical error. They told me not to talk about it and to keep quiet. I never said anything to anyone, not even Dorna or my manager. back then. That's just one of the many things that happened that year. People don't know what's going on behind the scenes," concludes the rider, who left the MotoGP championship at the end of that 2019 season. Now He competes in the Supersport World Championship with Kawasaki.

Sources from Dorna Sports consulted by this newspaper confirmed the opening of an investigation of the events, according to the "seriousness" of what happened. Given the exceptional nature of this incident, never seen in the World Championship, it will be Dorna, the FIM and the Riders Association (IRTA), at their highest levels, who will decide the sanction applied to the aggressor. The expulsion of the championship is one of the possible measures.

Some weight pilots in the World Championship, such as Aleix Espargaró, demanded that Dorna Sports expel the aggressor in a sudden way. The Catalan Aprilia rider explicitly asked the MotoGP sports director, Carlos Ezpeleta, to do so.