Championship leader Bezzecchi banned from Czech GP after striking track marshal

Bezzecchi crashed on Saturday while he seemed on course for a top-five finish in the sprint race in Brno. After his crash, the Aprilia rider initially walked away from his bike but then returned when he saw the machine was still running while marshals were attempting to pick it up.

Video footage shows Bezzecchi hurrying toward his bike to press the kill switch and shut it down. In doing so, he forcefully pushes a marshal aside. While the marshal appears to try to explain that he was only attempting to lift the bike, Bezzecchi switches off his machine. He then slaps the marshal in the face with an open hand, after which the Italian walks away.

The incident was investigated by race direction, which subsequently decided to ban Bezzecchi from Sunday’s Grand Prix. The Italian was originally set to start from fourth place but must now watch from the sidelines.

The stewards described his behavior at the time as detrimental to the interests of the sport due to aggressive and unprofessional physical contact with a marshal. Bezzecchi later personally apologized to the track official involved.

The suspension comes at a particularly painful moment for the Aprilia rider. Bezzecchi entered the weekend as the world championship leader but already left Saturday without points after his sprint race crash. His absence from the Grand Prix gives the competition a golden opportunity to gain on the Italian. In particular, Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, who finished first and third during today’s Sprint.

Teammate Jorge Martin is his closest pursuer in the standings, but his Sunday is also far from ideal: the Spaniard managed no better than P10 in qualifying and must additionally serve a double long-lap penalty for the major crash he caused in Hungary.

This is not the first time Bezzecchi has run into trouble after an incident with marshals. During the 2022 Valencia Grand Prix, he received a one-thousand-euro fine as a MotoGP rookie after he grabbed and shoved a marshal following a crash in which his Ducati caught fire.

Due to Bezzecchi’s race ban, the starting grid for the Czech Grand Prix now consists of twenty riders. Alex Marquez is also absent after withdrawing earlier this weekend to continue recovering from his injury.