BTCC Snetterton....official thread n stuff.
Discussion
I think if you have followed this racing for years you were not surprised. Plato is a villain, always has been, yet is also the first to moan when people get their elbows out, as are most drivers.
The actual incident was pretty simple, he knew Sutton would spin, even if he kept a bit of right lock on, he would spin off his front.
What was inexcusable was the rather sad punt at the hairpin earlier.
His ego can't allow him to realise he was on the poor tyre, with a guy behind who was probably seconds a lap quicker who was trying everything to get past, did so in a forceful yes but fair manner in my eyes, and then just punted him up the back at the nearest opportunity.
I have seen it all before with Plato, we all have.
he is the Kyle Busch of BTCC, without the personality to actually play on it like Busch does so well.
The actual incident was pretty simple, he knew Sutton would spin, even if he kept a bit of right lock on, he would spin off his front.
What was inexcusable was the rather sad punt at the hairpin earlier.
His ego can't allow him to realise he was on the poor tyre, with a guy behind who was probably seconds a lap quicker who was trying everything to get past, did so in a forceful yes but fair manner in my eyes, and then just punted him up the back at the nearest opportunity.
I have seen it all before with Plato, we all have.
he is the Kyle Busch of BTCC, without the personality to actually play on it like Busch does so well.
There's a reason why I call Plato "cheating punt potatoe"... It's so deliberate I almost wonder if he's actually paid to be the pantomime villain. Certainly entertaining to watch and nothing beats something that makes you shout at the tv...
The cheating punt at agostini was the worst for me. He should've let Sutton back through and would have gained respect for it.
The 3-way coming together at brundle was more clumsy and psychological weakness than as non-racing than happened at agostini.
However it was his random behaviour that would've pist me off - sometimes giving space and letting Sutton run side-by-side on the outside of one corner, then deliberately running him off the track the next. Weird snap attitude change. It's like he needs hrt for men.
The cheating punt at agostini was the worst for me. He should've let Sutton back through and would have gained respect for it.
The 3-way coming together at brundle was more clumsy and psychological weakness than as non-racing than happened at agostini.
However it was his random behaviour that would've pist me off - sometimes giving space and letting Sutton run side-by-side on the outside of one corner, then deliberately running him off the track the next. Weird snap attitude change. It's like he needs hrt for men.
mattikake said:
There's a reason why I call Plato "cheating punt potatoe"... It's so deliberate I almost wonder if he's actually paid to be the pantomime villain. Certainly entertaining to watch and nothing beats something that makes you shout at the tv...
The cheating punt at agostini was the worst for me. He should've let Sutton back through and would have gained respect for it.
The 3-way coming together at brundle was more clumsy and psychological weakness than as non-racing than happened at agostini.
However it was his random behaviour that would've pist me off - sometimes giving space and letting Sutton run side-by-side on the outside of one corner, then deliberately running him off the track the next. Weird snap attitude change. It's like he needs hrt for men.
It's not as if Sutton hasn't ever given Plato a shunt up the back either..... Sutton is not all squeaky clean. The cheating punt at agostini was the worst for me. He should've let Sutton back through and would have gained respect for it.
The 3-way coming together at brundle was more clumsy and psychological weakness than as non-racing than happened at agostini.
However it was his random behaviour that would've pist me off - sometimes giving space and letting Sutton run side-by-side on the outside of one corner, then deliberately running him off the track the next. Weird snap attitude change. It's like he needs hrt for men.
But as to random behaviour..... why would you let your opponent know what you'r going to do every corner, every lap? You are hardly going to go to everyone at the beginning of the race and announce that you are going to give everyone a cars width at a particular corner. It's for the opponent to judge what you'r doing and what level of risk they want to associate to each move they intend to make. Sutton lucked out on the Risk assessment on this one.....
3 cars into one 90 degree left turn with the middle guy on hard tyres..... hmmmm. I'd have left Plato to have his own accident and nipped round him using my tyre advantage!!
super7 said:
It's not as if Sutton hasn't ever given Plato a shunt up the back either..... Sutton is not all squeaky clean.
Sutton has had nowhere near as many contact incidents as potatoe and I can't think of any that were deliberate to push you opponent out of the way. But it doesn't matter about history. Everyone is expect to rave fair and there are general driving standards that are expected.super7 said:
But as to random behaviour..... why would you let your opponent know what you'r going to do every corner, every lap? You are hardly going to go to everyone at the beginning of the race and announce that you are going to give everyone a cars width at a particular corner. It's for the opponent to judge what you'r doing and what level of risk they want to associate to each move they intend to make. Sutton lucked out on the Risk assessment on this one.....
Being random is good before a move but not AFTER your opponent commits. Psychotic.Motor-racing is dangerous and is always about trust. If you can't trust them to behave you can't race them. That's not a valid defense for a driver. It's more like giving a loaded gun to a mental patient - you daren't go near them. It's a sport not a war.
We all know potatoe is a bad loser. He's said so himself [on fifth gear].
super7 said:
3 into one 90 degree left turn with the middle guy on hard tyres..... hmmmm. I'd have left Plato to have his own accident and nipped round him using my tyre advantage!!
Agreed but potatoe knew sutton was on the outside and knew he'd be able to use him not to go off when going in way too fast for what his tyres were capable of. I can't decide if it's unsportsman like, dirty or plain cheating. Using tyre advantage had already failed numerous times too due to cheating punts (and on smiley too) so that's kind of a mute point.
Plato is such a blatant cheat. He got off lightly.
The Wookie said:
Hard tyre trying to outbrake and carry the same speed through as the other two cars on the softs, lots of dirt and marbles there being the last race of the weekend... The cars also have a tendency to hop badly and destabilise if you carry the braking too far into the left hander, so you sometimes have to choose between running wide or risk it bouncing itself into something unrecoverable
It might have been but I don't think you can just assert that it was obviously on purpose, it's an easy mistake to make and frankly Jason knows how to punt someone off without compromising himself like he did there!
I think part of the problem with analysing incidents like this is that Plato (along with other “old hands”) have sufficient previous form that in a “benefit of the doubt” situation a lot of people are going to assume the worst. It might have been but I don't think you can just assert that it was obviously on purpose, it's an easy mistake to make and frankly Jason knows how to punt someone off without compromising himself like he did there!
Probably best to let the stewards (with the benefit of in-car footage, telemetry data, etc, etc we don’t have access to) have the last word on this one, but to me it looked like the result of two drivers willingly and deliberately putting themselves into a “win or crash” situation, and when push came to shove neither of ‘em blinked. Not pretty, not really representative of Motorsport in general, but pretty much what I’ve come to expect from BTCC these days, and pretty much what Gow et-al and ITV4 are selling..
7/11 said:
For those with the inside knowledge of the BMR situation with Plato and Sutton, the on track action between the 2 was guaranteed to happen. It was just a question of where and when.
Care to elaborate.... Everyone knows something went on, it's more amazing they've kept the details fairly quiet.Gassing Station | General Motorsport | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff