Marco Bezzecchi will sit out Sunday's Czech Grand Prix at Brno, suspended by MotoGP's stewards after he struck a trackside marshal in the aftermath of his sprint crash — a moment that has cost the championship leader dearly both on track and off it.
The Aprilia rider crashed in the closing stages of Saturday's sprint while running inside the top five, ceding ground to team-mate Jorge Martin. As marshals recovered the bike, footage showed the machine over-revving when it was lifted from the ground. Bezzecchi pushed one marshal's face and then slapped him twice. The FIM stewards, whose panel is led by Simon Crafar, suspended him from the remainder of the weekend, ruling him out of the main race.
Aprilia lodged an immediate appeal, heard on Saturday night by the appeals stewards — a separate body with the power to overturn, escalate or even toughen a penalty. They rejected it.
"Physical aggression towards marshals is wholly unacceptable in professional motorsport and cannot be tolerated irrespective of the circumstances leading to the incident," the citing document read. The panel said it was "particularly significant that the individuals involved were marshals actively engaged in the recovery of the rider's machine following an accident."
Aprilia team principal Massimo Rivola told the world feed the appeal was not a sign the team disagreed with the ruling. "The reason why we appealed in the beginning was we felt it a disproportion from the action to the penalty according to what we saw in other cases — similar cases — in the past," he said. He also issued an apology: "We also want to apologise to the marshal. Second, we accept the penalty. We also don't tolerate this kind of behaviour."
On Sunday morning a visibly upset Bezzecchi went to the marshals' post where the incident happened to apologise in person, and posted a statement to his social media channels. "I would like to apologise to the entire MotoGP community for my behaviour toward the trackside marshal," he wrote. "I'm also sorry because I know how much effort and sacrifice marshals make to ensure our safety. This behaviour shouldn't happen and there is no justification for it."
The marshal involved, interviewed by British broadcaster TNT, said he had been "shocked" in the moment and "really down" overnight, but added that he "understands" how the outburst came about and that it "really matters to me that he apologised."
The suspension could reshape the title fight. Bezzecchi's lead over Martin had already shrunk to 15 points after the sprint, and Martin — despite two long-lap penalties to serve as punishment for causing a Hungary pile-up — can now limit his losses. Reigning champion Marc Marquez, 102 points adrift at the start of June after injury and surgery, has already cut the deficit to 65 and starts Sunday with another opening. Ai Ogura, meanwhile, lines up on pole for the race Bezzecchi will watch from the sidelines.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/bezzecchi-banned-from-czech-gp-after-striking-marshal-at-brno). Visit for full coverage.*