The most fundamental mistake you can make in motorsport – not waiting for the chequered flag

If there’s one thing that everyone in the world of motorsport knows, it’s that the chequered flag signals the end of the race. Everyone except Riccardo Russo that is, a rider in the Italian CIV motorcycle championship who threw away a healthy lead with one lap to go by prematurely celebrating his “win”.

It doesn’t really get much more embarrassing than this.

There was, as it turned out, one lap to go. The poor chap squeezed the throttle at some point during the lap once he realised his mistake to take fifth place. All a bit late by then though.

How will he ever live this down? The words “epic fail” are ones he will be associated with for a long time.

Personally, I can’t wait to hear from those blokes back in 3rd, 4th and 5th places who must have ridden past thinking, “What? did I miss something?”