The rule of the minimum combined weight of the motorcycle and the rider introduced this year in the World Superbike Championship is applauded by several riders, but also a source of controversy – especially by Álvaro Bautista, who feels he is one of the most affected considering he is one of the lightest in the pack.
His chief mechanic, Giulio Nava, told the site GPOne.com that a rule like this in MotoGP would have to cover all riders, giving Aleix Espargaró as an example – a rider who weighs around 70kg despite being 1.80m tall:
– If they applied the same rule in MotoGP, they would have to put ballast on the entire grid. Let’s take an example, taking Aleix Espargaró as a rider. He is not smaller than [Jonathan] Rea, but he is incredibly compact, this is because MotoGP riders are much more compact than Superbike riders. And Aleix knows this very well, because if he doesn’t want to lose something to others, he is aware of the fact that he has to take much more care of himself by adhering to training and diet regimes.
