![Supersport Motorcycle Racer Caught Doping [Updated] Angel Rodríguez CEV Spanish Supersport1 560x420](http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Angel-Rodríguez-CEV-Spanish-Supersport1-560x420.jpg "Angel-Rodríguez-CEV-Spanish-Supersport")
First it was baseball, then the witch-hunt progressed through the other professional sports, going as far as NASCAR and Formula1. So, it makes logic sense to say that it was only a matter of time before the issues of athletic doping entered into the motorcycle racing world.
While the issue of doping in motorsports seems almost absurd, considering the benefits of athletic doping are deminimus when machinery takes center-stage, it would seem our beloved sport is not immune from athletes looking for that extra edge during competition.
UPDATE: David Emmett of MotoGP Matters has revealed in the comments below that Rodríguez, while testing positive during a doping screening, in fact had recreation drugs in his system, not performance enhancing drugs as we had thought earlier. Thanks for the tip David.
The Real Federación Española de Motociclismo (RFME), the Spanish version of our AMA, have announced that 2008 600cc National Champion, Angel Rodríguez, has tested positive for doping, which was later confirmed with a secondary sample. Rodríguez, the current points leader for the 2009 season, tested positive at the July 19th Spanish Supersport race at Albacete, Spain.
Because of these testing results, Rodríguez’s season is now over, even though the RFME hasn’t come to an official conclusion on the sanctions and punishment it will impose on the young Spanish rider. Howver, it is likely that Rodríguez is likely facing a 2-year suspension from motorcycle racing.
While the incident is tragic, it legitimizes the drug testing the FIM has conducted on MotoGP and other Grand Prix racers, and shows that even in motorcycling, riders are looking for any edge they can get to rise above the rest.
The big question now, is what sort of discussions this incident will bring forth in arenas like the AMA and MotoGP.
Source: Motociclismo
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Rodri failed a drug test, but reportedly, he didn’t fail because of performance enhancing drugs, but rather for banned recreational substances. Just as Anthony Gobert failed a drug test for using a different banned recreational substance, it raises the question of why such substances are banned. Neither of the substances involved have any performance benefits – quite the opposite. But rules are rules and both men broke them, and even worse, got caught.
Hmm…what’s your source David? I’m going off what Motociclismo reported.
My source is someone who writes for Motociclismo, who knows Rodri personally. But the FME has declined to name the substance involved, to save everyone’s embarrassment.
Wonder why they’re saying he was doping then, if they know it was a performance enhancing drug. A suspicious case of Viagra perhaps?
The exact RFME quote is “La Real Federación Española de Motociclismo comunica que el piloto Ángel Rodríguez Campillo ha dado positivo en el análisis antidopaje” which translates as “The RFME announces that the rider Angel Rodriguez had a positive result during the analysis of an anti-doping test.” The Motociclismo headline mangles the news to fit a headline. But strictly speaking, any substance found which is on the list of banned substances is a violation of the anti-doping code, whether it is performance enhancing or not. This whole thing plays out to the N-th degree in professional cycling, which I follow quite closely. It’s so easy to fail a doping test, even if you haven’t used anything which will actually help your performance.
Do you know what list motorcycling uses? Is it the WADA list of banned substances?
It would appear so, as the WADA list mentions the FIM specifically in provisions on alcohol and beta-blockers.
http://www.wada-ama.org/rtecontent/document/2009_Prohibited_List_ENG_Final_20_Sept_08.pdf