The Jerez marshal who was caught on tape stealing a piece from Alex Rins’ Suzuki MotoGP bike after the Spanish GP has been forced to return it.
After a solid recovery from Rins to finish second at Jerez behind Honda’s Marc Marquez, the Suzuki MotoGP rider was off to celebrate his first podium at the circuit with the fans when a marshal took the opportunity to steal a piece from the #42 GSX-RR.
Post the grand prix, a video soon started to circulate which showed the marshal stealing the piece and putting into his pocket when Rins was off climbing the barrier. He returned to his bike and sped away for the podium celebrations, while the marshal stood there.
At the press conference, Rins was asked about the theft which the Spaniard laughed it off, while revealing it to be a brake fluid tank cover with ‘Rins’ and ’42’ marked on it. He joked to buy it on Wallapop (Spain’s equivalent to e-Bay) if he happens to see it.
He doesn’t have to buy it though as the organisers spotted the marshal and forced him to not only apologise to Rins and the whole Suzuki team, but also return the piece. While it is not clear but such instances would mean that he may never get to marshal again.
“I’ve seen [the video footage of the theft], yes,” said Rins. “It’s incredible. I don’t have the word to define it [the bike piece], I think it’s the brake fluid tank cover on the handlebars. I’m sure it’s already on Wallapop and they must be asking 1000 Euros for it.
“In the piece it says ‘Rins’ and ’42’. If I see it on sale on the internet, I will buy it. I’m willing to exchange it for a knee brace.” Even though Rins laughed it off but it is indeed a serious matter as marshals – even though they aren’t paid – they cannot steal a part.
Even with crashes, they are to return as much debris which could be vital for the team to identify if something broke on their bike or car. Aside the incident, Rins had a pretty solid ride to climb his way up to second as he followed the Austin win with another supreme run.
He is now just one point behind Marquez, as he sits two ahead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and eight of Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi. “It was incredible,” he said. “Finishing in first position two weeks ago and now second position it’s very nice.
“We just need to improve the qualifying, starting on the fourth row it’s very hard to overtake the riders. Before the start of the race we knew that my rhythm, my race pace was nice and was there, but the strategy was to overtake fast.
“I lost a lot of time with Dovizioso, then Marquez goes a little bit but anyway I’m happy, we had good consistency and we will try to keep the rhythm.” With Rins now in the thick of things, Suzuki as well puts themselves on the map again against its top rivals.
Here’s how the Spanish GP panned out to be