MotoGP 2015: Rossi vs Marquez at Sepang

[Omer Said]

I think that whatever the circumstances, such a direct kick to another rider is absoulately terrible and i believe he should have been disqualified. They DQed Schumacher out of 1997 because of his move on Villeneuve, this is ten times worse in my opinion. It is a "Road Rash" video game material at best.

What is your opinion?

 

[kedy89]

Not sure what to think of it. Marquez has been driving like a moron before, cutting in right before Rossi a few times, almost touching his front wheel. That already might have ended up in a crash, like it did for Dovizioso.
I've criticized Hamilton in the Austin thread for not leaving his opponents the room to survive. It's pretty much the same for Marquez, just that it's way more essential to leave that bit of room in motorcycle racing.
What Rossi did wasn't correct (rather referring to the running wide than the kick, see later), but you also have to consider what lead him to do it. Marquez appeared to be playing with him, like he already did in Phillip Island imo.

As for the kick, in this video/gif it looks like Marquez leans in on Rossi, touching his knee already before the kick happens.

 

[Travis]

Dorna love the controversy! They'll be a hell of a lot more people interested in the final round than ever before...sad thing is Pedrosa had a ride for the ages and was the guy who came out of all of this mess with the most class yet he's all but forgotten.

Finding a calm voice in this is tough - Rossi has a legion of fans who think he's the best rider of all time (for the record, I don't think that title can go to one person) and then there are the rest of society who like a rider and/or a manufacturer.

It's funny reading the comments of ex-riders - most (Stoner, Forgarty, Beatie) think it was a dangerous move by Rossi as he turned left on a right corner. A few others (McWilliams, Edwards) think what Rossi did was fine too. Troy Bayliss thought it was amusing watching two ego's clash, noting it was good the crash happened at low speed.

From my days watching the World Superbikes back in the 1990's, I love the commentators known as 'Keith and Julian'. Julian Ryder, along time MotoGP and WSBK commentator posted the following on Twitter: "Also amazed at the puritans outraged by people racing title contenders at this stage of season. Moto3 must have been hell for them".

For me, Motor racing is about you getting past your oppostion, not asking them to get out of the way because they have a title to win. Remember Rossi was famed for toying with his rivals in his heyday, now it's considered bad because the new generation want to beat him?

The fact is Rossi started this drama in the Thursday press conference, accusing Marquez of helping Lorenzo at PI - which is idiotic given Marc won the race thus taking 5 points off Lorenzo. Marquez is about winning races at this point and I'm sure he doesn't care about who he mugs to do so and neither do HRC.

Rossi hasn't got a clean slate and nor has Marquez and in the end the opinion that really matters is that of Race Direction who reviewed the incident after the race and awarded Rossi three penalty points.

Further, it was the opinion of Race Direction that both riders were at fault: “Finally, we actually believe there is fault on both sides. Despite what Marquez said we think he was deliberately trying to affect the pace of Valentino. However he didn't actually break any rules. Whatever we think about the spirit of the championship, according to the rule book he didn't make contact. His passes were clean. He rode within the rules."

All of which sets up an epic final round. If Rossi wins the world title from the back of the grid, the image of him as the G.O.A.T by his fans will be cemented for all time. If Lorenzo wins, it'll likely be remembered as the title that Rossi lost because of outside influences, just like when Nicky Hayden won the world title in 2006.

 

[Michael Stead]

The fact is Rossi started this drama in the Thursday press conference, accusing Marquez of helping Lorenzo at PI.

^ This.

Rossi started the games at the press conference. He was hoping that by accusing Marquez of interfering in the the championship that Marquez would steer clear of him for the remaining rounds. What happened was the opposite. Marquez didn't have the pace to stay with Pedrosa and Lorenzo so he decided 'if your going to accuse me of messing with you, I'm going to mess with you'. Rossi lost his temper. I don't think he meant to crash him and I think the 'kick' was Rossi's boot coming off the peg after making contact, but he did go out of his way to try and run Marquez out of road.

 

[Travis]

Great write up about the lead up and events at Sepang: https://motomatters.com/analysis/2015/10/27/2015_sepang_motogp_round_up_heroes_who_h.html

The only rider who comes out smelling like roses is the man who won the race: Dani Pedrosa

 

[johnnymat]

This isn't the first time that Rossi has gone over the edge. I remember years ago when he punted a Spanish rider off on the last corner on the last lap. It sure as hell wasn't an accident then and this one wasn't either. Rossi got away with a minor penalty. Had it been Lorenzo or Marquez that did that, they would have been suspended.

 

[Kurt Vanhee]

A more funny approach of the rivalry

 

[Jonathan Menéndez]

This isn't the first time that Rossi has gone over the edge. I remember years ago when he punted a Spanish rider off on the last corner on the last lap. It sure as hell wasn't an accident then and this one wasn't either. Rossi got away with a minor penalty. Had it been Lorenzo or Marquez that did that, they would have been suspended.

Sete Gibernau, Jerez 2005. Marquez did the same with Lorenzo in 2013.

We can ask Aspar, Barros, Biaggi, Sete, Hopkins, Stoner, Bautista, Pedrosa ... about Rossi (on track, of having same bike, jokes, statements crossings) Marquez is a tough nut to crack. The same methods not always work. At least with MM.

 

[johnnymat]

Sete Gibernau, Jerez 2005. Marquez did the same with Lorenzo in 2013.

We can ask Aspar, Barros, Biaggi, Sete, Hopkins, Stoner, Bautista, Pedrosa ... about Rossi (on track, of having same bike, jokes, statements crossings) Marquez is a tough nut to crack. The same methods not always work. At least with MM.

Thanks for refreshing my memory. I couldn't remember who it was at Jerez. You're right; a lot of the riders have done the same thing.

 

[Travis]

That's the crux of the issue: no rider has a blemish free record. The difference is that in the past many riders have been given penalties, sometimes even missing races, for what has been judged as a too agressive pass whereas one rider historically has not. If one doesn't believe me, take a look at the penalities given to Hopkins, Bautista & Simoncelli (to name a few) for incidents as aggressus as that of last Sunday.

Rossi mentioned during the Thursday press conference about Marc's Phillip Island lap times and the journo's - who should know better - then started to question the epic last lap by Marquez. Has Rossi not had more than one epic ride from nowhere win? As for Sepang lap times, any questions have been refuted by ex-GP rider Randy Mamola.

Rossi pushed tensions even futher when he questioned whether Marc was ever his fan in the first place, a comment one can read about and much more here. Make sure to read Max Oxley's comments to the Rossi fans who believe MM is 100% in the wrong. Be warned there are a lot of one-eyed comments

Then there is the 'Lorenzo passed under a yellow flag' arguement which is also BS. One can read about that theory and more being debunked here.

If all that nonsense wasn't enough, there are claims that MM deliberately fell off! I know the Rossi muppet brigade were nuts, the latest theory takes clutching at straws to a new level of stupid. HRC would also be thrilled to know their rider gave up a likely third place finish..

The entire off-track panto is pathetic; it's great for hits for the bowel scaping websites such as crash.net!

 

[Travis]

I think the entire saga has reached a conclusion: https://motomatters.com/blog/2015/11/03/editor_s_blog_motogp_s_descent_into_madn.html