MotoGP - contains spoilers.

[Matt-EUC]

If you don't want spoilers, stop reading now.









So, the Rossi v Marquez incident. I've watched it 20 or 30 times in slow motion. It looks to me as though it was predominantly Marc's fault. He leant on Rossi and probably threw him off balance, hence the leg movement to regain stability.

Race direction have given him 3 points on his licence and put him to the back of the grid for the final race. If they haven't already, I think they should look into it more thoroughly and interview the riders.


What are your thoughts?

Seen it. Seemed malicious to me. Buckled under pressure. Think of leguna secs a couple of years ago, very competitive racing and all fair game. Marc has not changed, Rossi buckled. I think he got away very lightly indeed.

[Sir Trev]

Marc seemed to be goading him and Vale snapped. Not saying he handled it that well but Vale seemed to be deliberately pushing Marc towards the edge of the track. Did Marc deliberately make contact? Was Vale's leg movement involuntary as a consequence?? Has number 46 lost a few fans as a result???

Valencia will be interesting with Rossi at the back of the grid and it's a shame that less was made of Danni's excellent win.

You see people running others wide in racing all the time. It's more noticeable in bike racing, but look at some of the running wide incidents in F1 and other car racing.

That being said, Rossi was very blatantly doing it, and I don't actually have a problem with that as a racing manoeuvre to try and make an overtake stick. The frustrating thing for Rossi (& his fans), is that to me at least, it is clear that marquez accelerates and hits rossi, where his leg comes off.

Both riders in my opinion are to blame, maybe Rossi more so, but I think those penalty points are a little harsh. Given that the appeal has been rejected, that's that and so the championship will all depend on upon whether Rossi can finish within 6 points of Lorenzo. At Valencia, I'm not so sure.

[Red Herring]

I think it's just a case of two extremely talented riders putting it on the line to beat each other in a race, which is exactly what we want. They had both exchanged some pretty tough overtakes on each other and this was clearly frustrating Rossi as he could see his team mate getting away. He saw an opportunity to run Marquez wide, hopefully across the astra turf, which would have allowed him to make a break for it, so he went for it. Than in itself isn't very sporting, but it wasn't exactly dangerous. In the slow-mo you can see Rossi looking straight at Marquez and his forks moving as he moderates his throttle to stay alongside him. Marquez then deliberately turns into Rossi in an effort to force him up, they collide, and Marquez comes off. I've been on both sides of that move and I've never seen the rider on the outside win.... Marquez really should have known better.

My view is to tell them both to grow up, lets go racing in Spain, and lets put Rossi and Marquez next to each other on the grid, I don't particularly care at which end. It's going to be brilliant!

Rossi's actions weren't racing and regardless of what people think Marquez was or wasn't doing I have a hard time believing that anyone would try to make excuses for Rossi.

[Red Herring]

I'm not making excuses for Rossi, what he did wasn't very sporting but he didn't knock Marquez off.

Originally Posted by Red Herring

I'm not making excuses for Rossi, what he did wasn't very sporting but he didn't knock Marquez off.

That comment was not directed at you, but at the gazillion comments across the web supporting and making excuses for Rossi.

It was that unsporting behaviour that directly resulted in a rider down. Racing doesn't need it... and that is what he was penalised for.

[Redmist]

My view point before Malaysia:

Rossi winning another championship before starting the final chapter of his racing career: Fantastic, all the best to you, hope you do it mate.

During the race I was loving every moment of the duel between Rossi and Marquez and it was clear that Marquez was riding at his usual level, eager to race and I was hoping for 20 more laps of the same!!

Rossi's actions were misguided as best, he has been building up frustrations within himself from Phillip island.
They finally got the better of him. For me he dropped the ball and a deserving champion would not be drawn into such games. He could've finished the race fourth and we'd have an amazing showdown in Valencia.
He only has himself to blame for where he is now NOT Marquez.

After Malaysia: Rossi gone way down in my estimation, the GOAT title hanging by a thread, if indeed he ever had it.

They must have slowed down to about 30mph - talk about letting anger take over!