From a press release issued by Seven Stars Honda:

Re: protest to the disqualification of #11 team

The Jury of the meeting decided that the #11 machine has been disqualified as it was carried back to the pit by a wrecker after the 2nd lap incident. Honda made a protest to the Jury as the rider got on the wrecker following the instruction of track marshal.

However, the protest has been rejected due to the reason that Nicky Hayden did not reject the instruction of the marshal to get on a wrecker.

This decision is unacceptable for Honda, but we decided that we should not continue the protesting as it would be meaningless to do so.

Koji Nakajima

Managing Director Honda Racing Corporation/General Manager of Seven Stars Honda teams


And now a very good question, posed by a reader:

FIRST PERSON/OPINION

Via e-mail:

I am writing to express my opinion.

Regarding Suzuka 2003: When did they change the rules? It used to be that you were penalized if you didn’t obey the marshals. Now Hayden gets bagged because he didn’t disobey?

Unacceptable, and lame to boot.

Thanks for listening.

David Yesman
Norwich, Vermont