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TKART magazine Editorial | Did the regulation “steal” the 2021 OKJ world championship from Slater?
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2021 OKJ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:
THE INJUSTICE SUBMITTED BY SLATER MUST NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. THERE IS A SOLUTION!

Yanek Sterzel
13 November 2021

On Sunday 31 October something happened that had never happened before in karting. My friend Paolo Bombara from LeCont pointed this out to me: that of Campillos is the first world championship in which the title was taken away from the driver who crossed the finish line first due to a penalty given for a front bumper in the incorrect position.

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What am I talking about? The technical solution introduced for the very first time in the now distant 2014 (Academy Trophy race): front bumpers must be collapsible and when a bumper loses its original position following a collision, the driver is given a penalty: it used to be 30 seconds, now it’s 5. What hasn't changed is that the penalties are accepted without any fuss, without the possibility of exonerating yourself. Without an appeal, essentially. It all started with a noble mission, that of avoiding the classic rear-end collision, a manoeuver often abused and really difficult to notify considering that during a kart racing weekend there are dozens and dozens of heats, all with about thirty drivers competing for who knows how many laps: regrading rear-end collisions, it is easy to imagine that countless of them are repeated and without any practical possibility, on the part of the stewards, of being able to sanction them all. So, not without controversy, the rule has somehow been accepted over time by kart drivers and their teams: it is part of the game.
However, on 31 October a race brought to everyone's attention how much this rule is necessary but, at the same time, a huge sporting injustice, so much so that I would say it is ridiculous. Necessary, but still ridiculous.

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