Regarding the Rossi/Marquez Sepang thing - I could only find this in the regulations: FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations 2015 "1.21 2. Riders must ride in a responsible manner which does not cause danger to other competitors or participants, either on the track or in the pit lane." Perhaps the FIM will have to look at the Regulations to avoid having riders out on track whose only job will be to act as blockers to slow down target individuals, for a few critical laps. And I thought it was a requirement that every rider in the race should be doing their best to win.
Blocking my ass it was bloody racing and it was exciting until the incident but Rossi fans of course will see it different
Let me start by saying I'm not a Rossi fan or MM fan, I'm a fan of bike racing and have been for over 50 years. One of the unspoken rules of racing is that you don't become involved in a championship fight once you have no chance of winning. You can still go out to get the best result you are able to get, but you do not interfere with the championship protagonist's. Now, it appears that MM was circulating at a second a lap slower than he was able to do in practice while most others were going at it flat out. The natural assumption is that once Dani and Jorge had got away then MM's aim appears to be to interfere with Rossi's race. Which is exactly how I read it. I can understand Rossi getting annoyed with this and once he realised he wasn't going to be able to take the fight to the two leaders, because of Marc's antics, I think he, rightly, wanted to remonstrate with him ie " what the f*#k are you doing" The rest is history. What it has done is spoil this years championship. Whoever wins now it will be a hollow victory. If Lorenzo wins its because Rossi started from the back....if Rossi wins people will say he should have been disqualified. Such a shame as up til now his was shaping up to be one of the best seasons ever.
Check the laps times from that race, Rossi inevitably lost time during their relentless series of overtakes on lap 5 and probably on lap 6. Marquez's race then ended after the contact with Rossi on lap 7. But even when free from Marquez, Rossi only lapped quicker than Lorenzo once in the entire race and was never faster than Pedrossa it would have been more exciting to see the two yams on the front row and battling it out in the last race, but Rossi only has him self to blame for that not happening
VR got in front of MM several times, if he thought MM was holding him up then once he passed MM he should have used his skill to keep in front of him. It seemed obvious to me that VR was not going to beat MM in the race (well not fairly). IMO, riders have a right to race as fast or as slow as they want, those that want to win go for it, go for it regardless of what others are doing.Let's face it, their race teams will have a little word if they are unhappy with what they are doing. Why should MM have not tried to beat VR ? If MM or any other riders did not race to beat opponents then it would kind of 'not be racing' or am I missing something ? So did Dani Pedrosa deliberately try to stop Lorenzo winning the championship by beating him and stopping him getting 25 points ?, a case could be made if you follow the VR logic. As far as I am concerned, loads of race fans were cheated out of watching the race between the two riders concerned going to the end of the race and the championship has been made a bit of a farce, again to the detriment of the fans.........who after all, are the people who help these guys become rich and famous.
If it had been, say, Cal Crutchlow instead of MM who had been interfering with VR I think CC would have been roundly condemned for his actions. As Josh Brooke's said " Marques was being a dick and got what he deserved"
Well, finally managed to watch the other camera angles that have been blocked by Dorna on You-Tube thanks to some far eastern posters. Helicopter, on board, slow mo etc. As I've said previous, I'm no fan boy of either rider, more of a Cal Crutchlow follower really. Anyway, from watching the footage, it clearly seems that Marquez was playing games, some very dubious overtaking and generally not riding like he usually does, IE, going all out for the win. It seems like he was trying to either, prove a point, or show Rossi that he could ride rings around him (control/bully). But, he obviously lacks the experience that Rossi has gained over many years and against many aggressive opponents. In those final few seconds, as Rossi ran him wide and slowed them both down, I think he forgot a fundamental piece of physics... A motorbike doesn't like being leant over at slow speeds, it falls over !! Looking at the helicopter and on board slo-mo footage, Marquex was leant over far too much for the road speed they were doing, it looks like he was using Rossi as a prop, or trying to lean on Rossi for some reason, and Rossi let him then pulled away the prop, and Marquez fell over, there was no kick or push. Yes Rossi's foot came off his foot peg, because he knew that he was supporting the weight of Marquez and there was no way Marqeuz could stand the bike back up at such a slow speed, any centrifugal assistance was long gone. Quite simply, Rossi taught Marquez a major lesson in experience and showed that he isn't 9 times world champ for no reason, he sucked him in and let him trip himself up..
t0m541, By far the best comment so far. Frame by Frame on youtube shows it perfectly. Marquez has spoiled a great year of Motogp, spoiled brat.
"Quite simply, Rossi taught Marquez a major lesson in experience and showed that he isn't 9 times world champ for no reason, he sucked him in and let him trip himself up" Sorry mate but that's total bollox. Rossi's starting one of the most important races of his career from the back of the grid, Marquez will start from wherever he qualifies. Rossi has all but given the championship to Lorenzo and Marquez will still end up third in the championship. What sort of lesson is that? What Rossi did was stupid.....even if it was understandable.
Lorenzo could fall off, or finish further back than you think, Rossi could fight his way up to a place where he gets enough points, anything could happen yet But fact is Rossi put himself there due to after race ramblings about MM at PI and then trying to run MM out of the race at Malaysia, so it is his fault that he is back of grid! Will be an interesting race anyway
JB also pointed out that MM was riding as if it were the final lap. He had claimed previously he had nothing no loose, so doing what he did was to irritate, provoke and spoil VR's race. He was riding like a dick using up all his tyres and didn't care if he would finish or not in the top 10. Unfortunately for VR, he could not get away from MM without sacrificing his tyres so early in the race. He could have just sat behind MM and finished 4th. But he is a racer and to do that because of MM's antiques probably was difficult for him in the heat of the moment. Now looking at the replay in slo-mo. I think MM had leaned the bike too much on VR's rear tyre, and he could have caught it with his lever. Remember how he leaned on petrosa and broke off DP's traction sensor cable and caused him to crash at the following corner
Gotta love following quote from that article. My how five years can change someone eh? Original HRC Nakamoto press release here.http://www.hondaracingcorporation.c...xecutive-vice-president/#.VjcJka9co6M.twitter
Your missing the point.. When AI battled with VR in PI none of us complained, the reason for this is because AI was running his own race at his best pace so fair play even though it meant VR losing points. The big difference is MM deliberately slowed down to mess with VR.
I think you might be missing Shiny's point Matt? well unless I have read Shiny's post wrong Rossi at Motegi 5 years ago in 2010 was all over his team mate, Lorenzo, even though Lorenzo could (and did) win the championship and Rossi couldn't, and when Lorenzo complained to yamaha, Rossi said that if he was not there to race then he might as well have stayed at home. That's what Marquez said too isn't it? Or is it different rules for other riders? So I guess racer's will always race, its how it should be, yes "My how five years can change someone eh? "
I think this one will run and run.. From my point of view I would have been OK with Marquez beating Rossi, what I'm not ok with is him deliberately interfering with his race. Likewise, Rossi racing Lorenzo in 2010 is fine by me if he wasn't deliberately impeding him.
This is where we differ as I don't see that MM was doing anything more than hard racing Rossi, but will agree that this will run and run Rossi fans of course see it different lol
you don't need to be a Rossi fan to see it different, as a non bias observer i see it different from you Simon,
