Road to MotoGP: the scandal of Borja Gómez’s death

It is just over a month since European Superstock rider Borja Gómez was killed during a Thursday test session for an FIM JuniorGP World Championship round at Magny-Cours.

Motorcycle racing is a dangerous game, which can easily turn murderous if the people in charge don’t look after the riders.

Gómez would almost certainly still be alive today but for what appears to be serious negligence, which had the test day go ahead despite a disastrous lack of marshalling and medical facilities.

The 20-year-old Spaniard, who was leading the European Superstock and Spanish Superbike championships, crashed his Honda CBR600RR on fluid dropped by another motorcycle. Usually marshals warn oncoming riders of dropped oil or water with red-and-yellow reduced-adhesion flags. But there were no marshals to wave flags.

And neither were there marshals to retrieve Borja’s motorcycle from the track, so he returned to the machine. At that moment another rider crashed on the unflagged fluid, his fallen bike killing Borja.

Obviously, the test day should not have gone ahead without sufficient marshal and medical cover. The fact that it did is a scandal.

There were no flags or warning lights, and only one marshal, who didn’t go to help him move the bike

Dorna and the FIM are trying to distance themselves from the incident, claiming that the test day was the circuit’s responsibility, not theirs, despite the fact that it features on the FIM JuniorGP website as part of the weekend programme.

“These sessions/days are offered to teams, with safety measures implemented by the circuit,” say Dorna.

“These testing sessions are therefore enhanced track days but do not constitute official practice sessions,” say the FIM.

This is not acceptable. Dorna and the FIM shouldn’t allow test sessions for Dorna/FIM events to go ahead without marshalling and medical cover. And if they didn’t know what was happening that day, why not? Because there were already Dorna staff at Magny-Cours, preparing for the weekend.

Perhaps Dorna and the FIM don’t have a legal responsibility (this would be tested if the case went to court), but they certainly have a moral responsibility, and for them to wash their hands of Gómez’s death is deeply concerning.

Dorna basically owns international motorcycle racing, annually making around €200million (£174m) from their interests in the sport, so it’s ludicrous to suggest that the marshalling problem is a financial problem. After all, if racing clubs around the world can arrange proper marshalling and medical cover, why can’t a Dorna/FIM event?

What follows is part of a detailed recent testimony from Gómez’s fellow European Superstock rider Filippo Fuligni, who was one of three riders to crash in the incident that claimed Gómez’s life.

Fuligni was speaking to Edoardo Vercellesi and Mattia Sabino of the Yellow Flag Talks website, which focuses on motor sport safety. We thank Vercellesi and Sabino for allowing us to use Fuligni’s words, because it is vital that the circumstances of Gómez’s death are not forgotten and that his needless death at least leads to some kind of change for good.

“This is extremely serious. Everything that happened was completely avoidable”

“Coming out of Adelaide [the hairpin at the end of Magny-Cours’ back straight], Alberto Garcia, Borja Gómez’s team-mate, had a technical issue and his bike lost some water,” says Fuligni. “Two riders behind him passed over the fluid, one nearly crashed. Then Borja came through and crashed while braking for the Nürburgring chicane, the fast esses that follow Adelaide. He lost the front under braking and had a normal low-side crash.

“The accident happened around 12.07pm. Borja got up and ran toward the tyre barriers, probably — and this is my interpretation — because he realised something was off: crashing on the third lap of a free practice session, for an experienced rider like him, is unusual.

“There were no flags or warning lights in that corner, and only one marshal, who didn’t go to help him move the bike. About 22 seconds later, Joan Santos crashed. But what happened in those 22 seconds? Borja waited a little, then, since no one came to help him and the next three riders didn’t crash, because they didn’t hit the fluids, he went to pick up his bike. His only mistake, probably, was turning his back to the track, so he didn’t see Santos go down.

“Santos was absolutely not at fault, because even though 22 seconds had passed since Borja’s crash, there was no warning of any kind. Twenty-two seconds, in our world, is an eternity.

“I told the police the same thing, this is extremely serious. Everything that happened was completely avoidable. In that part of the track, there was only one young marshal, and he did nothing, no flag, no assistance.

“Santos got to the Nürburgring chicane and lost the front. He fell off his bike, but the bike regained grip, stood up and went straight towards Borja, hitting him from behind.

“On a 600cc Superstock bike you get there in full fifth gear, over 200km/h [125mph]. The impact must have been at least 130-150km/h [80-90mph] and with the bike weighing about 170 kilos a hit like that can only be fatal.

“I arrived about ten seconds later, and still, after two crashes, there were no warning signals and no marshal helping the riders. As I got closer, I saw some dust, so I instinctively rolled off the throttle and slowed into the braking zone, but I was right on the fluid and abruptly lost the front.

“I stopped sliding fairly quickly, far from the run-off area, and I climbed over the tyre barriers because something slippery was clearly on the track. As soon as I climbed over, the red warning panels [operated by someone watching the circuit CCTV in race control] lit up, but they didn’t indicate what kind of danger it was. And there was no yellow-and-red flag, which would have been appropriate, considering three crashes in thirty seconds.

“If I hadn’t waved my arms to warn others, more riders would have gone down. Once everyone was through, I got off the tyre wall. I saw three bikes on the ground and Santos was standing, but I couldn’t see the third rider. While walking back to my bike, my eye caught Borja’s body, completely motionless. I froze for a few seconds because it was a nasty sight. I went looking for help, but I saw no urgency from the staff to assist Borja, so I took off my helmet and gloves and went back to him myself.

“I couldn’t move him, so I slightly unzipped his suit. His eyes were open, but lifeless. I tried to feel if he had some pulse and if he was still breathing. I felt something vital, I don’t know if it was just a reflex or if he could still be revived. Had there been even the slightest chance of reviving him, the delay in assistance made it vain.

“The ambulance arrived between seven and ten minutes after the impact, which is a lot. On a racetrack there should usually be three ambulances, and they must arrive within three minutes at most.

“They immediately cancelled all Thursday track activity. I stayed at the scene with the ambulance for quite a while, then I spent some time with the team.

“I met with a few experienced riders to oppose continuing the weekend, while the team managers met with Dorna who, basically, washed their hands of it. They left it up to the teams to decide whether to go on or not but imposed that those who chose not to race could not dismantle their garage or structures until Sunday, under threat of fines. So Borja’s team had to stay there until Sunday, consumed by grief. I don’t think that’s right.

“It was decided to go ahead with racing, something that I and many others felt was wrong.