MotoAmerica boss Rainey responds to Petrucci 170mph crash criticisms

MotoAmerica boss Wayne Rainey has responded to Danilo Petrucci’s criticisms of his series after the former MotoGP rider went through ‘probably of the worst crashes’ of his career at Virginia International Raceway.

Petrucci says he went down in a sixth-gear corner at more than 170mph, rolled for 100 metres and took himself to the medical centre after waiting for bikes to stop passing him.Rainey has defended his organisation but admitted that changes will be made ‘where necessary’.

“Attention to detail is paramount when it comes to safety and the safety of our riders is our number-one priority,” said Rainey.

“That’s where we start, and our process goes forward from there. In MotoAmerica’s eight years of racing, we have never neglected a rider who was injured. I have nothing but respect for Danilo (Petrucci) and his safety and the safety of all our riders is of the utmost importance.

We will never minimize a rider’s injury nor their views of the incident that took place. We needed to get to Danilo more quickly and we will study the incident and will make changes where necessary. The situation was made even more difficult in that, although the crash was after the checkered flag, the track was still hot with riders still at speed and thus mobilizing workers becomes more difficult.

Additionally, Race Direction places a lot of emphasis on what they witness of a rider’s actions following an incident. Petrucci was standing and walking under his own power and that quickly lessens the severity of the response. We hope Danilo’s injuries are healing and he’s feeling better. And we look forward to seeing him at Road America.”