MotoGP Malaysia....

[hybrid]

I know there are some Rossi fans here, so what are your thoughts on the incident, and what are your thoughts on Rossi suggesting that Marc is purposely slowing him up?

Personally, I thought Jorgie's comments summed it up nicely:

I don't think it's a good decision. He took out Marc, and Marc gets zero points but he gets 16 points.

"I think it's unfair and maybe because of his name he can get no (worse) decision this time.

"It's unbelievable, I didn't believe it."

"Not only me, but a lot of people will lose respect for him as a sportsman," he said. "He's one of the greatest riders in history but I think a lot of people will change their opinions."

I was a Rossi fan 10 years ago.
These days I'm not. He has repeatedly shown that he likes to scrap only when it all goes his way. When it doesn't go his way, he gets nasty.

He seems to expect that once he passes Marc, that Marc should just let him go and is no longer allowed to race.

[pkay]

Agree, old man can't keep up with the heat of it all(I'm old too so can be ageist) - as for the dithering crap he was sprouting at the press conference, must have made sense in Italian cause it didn't make sense in English. Lorenzo's reply was hilarious. As for the antics on the track - pathetic. I guess he gets leeway cause of who he is - I reckon the Spanish crowd will fix him up when they get to the last round. Lorenzo has already won the mind game so that backfired as well.

[hybrid]

That's the other thing I forgot about speaking of crowds. What's with boo-ing Jorgie on the podium?!?!
None of this has anything to do with him and the poor guy gets booed.

I'm no huge fan of Lorenzo either (although big respect as a rider), but that was terrible on the part of the crowd.

dithering crap he was sprouting at the press conference, must have made sense in Italian cause it didn't make sense in English.

What he said after the race this time around didn't make much sense either. I can't imagine anyone was going to believe his rubbish.

Unfortunately I lose a lot of time with Marc and at Turn 14 I try to go a bit wide to take a better line and make him slow

Yeah... ok buddy. Apparently riding out on the marbles is "a better line".

[OzzyElsie]

Bloody Spanish mafia - Marques, Loranzo, Dorna, FIM

Its a Spanish conspiracy; Marques was playing to the crowd, playing to his sponsors Repsol (Spanish), doing a little 'pay back', took a dive; they're Spanish and play the girlie game of soccer, they learn at an early age the value of 'taking a dive' and they are past masters at it, the strategy and the execution.

If ya can't beat on the track beat with the rule book.

[ged]

Bloody Spanish mafia - Marques, Loranzo, Dorna, FIM

Hahahaha.

The Race Director acknowledged that the fault lay with both riders. Marquez was being a pratt. There is just no reason to be cutting someone up like that on lap 5, unless of course your trying to deliberately impede them......

Valentino cultivates a public persona of being a laid back, easy going, smiling mr.nice guy, but you don't win 9 world championships by being a nice guy. He is one hard nosed competitor and it's certainly not the first time it has come out.

It was undoubtedly poor sportsmanship, but it was done with such cunning and typical Italian efficiency that you can't help but laugh your bloody head off!

Bravo! I'd have nerfed the little prick too.

[2TInstitute]

Mike Webb was being diplomatic dividing blame, stopwatch tells a different story which is Rossi's fastest laps were racing with Marquez. Consistently a half a second slower if he was "held up' the stop watch would show it.
Rossi had a brain explosion and it started on thursday.

Those with long memories remember the premeditated gang up on Hans Spaan at Phillip Island in 1990 that allowed Caparossi to win his first title. The perfect "Liberace" Caparossi gave Harada to win a world title, both went unpunished.

[ged]

I don't know if it was as cut and dried as people are assuming. Rather than watching lap times, Rossi would only have seen Lorenzo disappearing into the horizon while he was stuck playing silly buggers with Marquez. They were both losing time on the leaders and Marquez knew it.

It was pretty clear what was going to happen. Rossi was getting more and more agitated as it went on and on. I counted 15 position changes between them in the lead up. I've never seen anybody racing like that on lap 5, because there is just no need to. Marquez was playing games.

When we were watching it, I had even said on the prior lap "Oh oh. Rossi is going to nerf him off"....

Watching the slo mo replay at different angles creates conflicting interpretations each time you watch it. The overhead pretty clearly shows Rossi kicking out, but the side on shows Marquez's head touch his thigh before he lifts his knee. His foot would have been in very close proximity to being crushed, so you would naturally lift it out of the way.

Whatever the reality, there is enough grey area for Rossi to plead his case and have some grounds for reasononable doubt.

Loris was involved in one or two othe notorious nerfing incidents as well. Assen chicane? I've been struggling to remember the detail... (Your memory is obviously a lot better than mine 2T!) which was pretty funny because I noticed Loris was on the riders committee in Malaysia as well....

[EPApolice]

The two of them are both arrogant assholes and its a pity they both didn't hit the deck. What ever is actually going on the fact is Rossi should have been at the front not the back and he could have hung back for a few laps if he was so concerned. Mind you Marquez could have not bothered leaning in but Rossi's intention was clear to push him wide perhaps not off the bike but that's life.
Rossi is a paranoid dick and a professional victim who thinks he has a right of passage, if Rossi had any mates then he could also get some assistance too.

[pkay]

Come on it's racing that's what they are supposed to do, have we been so numbed by processional races that the first time there is a bit of racing some dick can run the other guy off the road cause he was being "held up"? Maybe Rossi needs to go to car racing where there is no overtaking and he can tootle around sprouting conspiracy theories to his pit crew over the in-car communication system....

[OzzyElsie]

The two of them are both arrogant assholes .....

I think most of them at that level are - the arrogant definitely (call it confidence, self belief, killer instinct, determination or what you will) the asshole is somewhat optional or at least disguised or managed.

.....Rossi is a paranoid dick and a professional victim ....

Who plays to media like a fiddle, particularly the European media.

And has the European fanboys eating out of his hand thanks to the sop that the European media feeds them. A symbiotic relationship - Rossi gives charming quotable quotes with a smile for his own ends, the media run with it because they know their audience want to hear it, Rossi has the crowd 'with him', dressed in their $50 46 T shirts, cap and beer holder thank you very much, which gives Rossi the edge when it comes to his competitors, his sponsors, Dorna or the FIM, and his pocket - Rossi Incorp.

I know what Casey wants - "the FIM to do its job". Casey's memory is not going back to the 'cut the track' incident at LS is it? And a few other "did your ambition outweigh your ability" takedowns.

I think that move over the sand trip at Assen this year was a 'cut the track' and premeditated as well.

Rossi is so far in the wrong and stupid. It shows his feet of clay. I think it was always there in Rossi's character it is just that he has had a dream run for sooooo long. When it comes to racing he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth but Rossi buckles under pressure. I seem to remember Rossi gifting a world championship to Hayden with an unforced error.

The loss of three points I agree with, I'm sorry to see him start at the back of the grid at Valencia. It will be interesting to see friend and foe, to see the fingers and toes trod on, as he comes through the pack - thats if he turns up .

[hybrid]

I think it was always there in Rossi's character it is just that he has had a dream run for sooooo long.

Definitely agree. You look back at others.. Biaggi, Gibernau, Stoner. There could be others too.
During the Biaggi and Gibernau periods, I was in love with Rossi, so he could do no wrong.

It would be interesting to go back and watch all that transpire now.

It will be interesting to see friend and foe, to see the fingers and toes trod on, as he comes through the pack - thats if he turns up

If he doesn't, it will certainly throw some more on the fire. Those who think Rossi is a dickhead will feel even more justified in that opinion, and the Rossi fanboys will applaud his "sticking it to the man".

[ged]

I think that move over the sand trip at Assen this year was a 'cut the track' and premeditated as well.


The loss of three points I agree with, I'm sorry to see him start at the back of the grid at Valencia.

If he didn't have a Plan B for the chicane at Assen, he wouldn't have won 9 titles. He wasn't excluded then either, so technically legal apparently.

I agree with you there Ozzy. It virtually precludes him from winning the World Championship and the real shame of the whole affair is that we have been robbed of the unfolding title fight between Rossi and Lorenzo which personally, I had been enjoying.

Oh! Another Spanish MotoGP world champion. How about that......

[OzzyElsie]

If he didn't have a Plan B for the chicane at Assen, he wouldn't have won 9 titles. He wasn't excluded then either, so technically legal apparently.

Technically illegal, but practically unprovable.

But hey, he got away with it, and as Val would tell you; "winners are grinners and the rest can sort themselves out"

The legal response would have been to hold his line or 'lean on' Marc and force him to slow and run wider at the next LH, or do the 'under and over' if MM was overcommitted. Both of these legal responses had less certainty than the premeditated 'cut the track' but unprovable option.

As for 9 World Champs. I think that was as much as been on the best team, with the best bike, with the best mechanic, with the best sponsor and the most money to make it all work and be worth while. And there is no doubt in my mind Val had a full appreciation of all of the above when he was 15. But what would you expect from someone who sat on his fathers lap and heard his father and Barry Sheen bitch about GP racing its faults and who was making all the money and who was taking the risks.

You can argue the toss as to what was more important in his 9 championships, the riding talent or the off bike talent or the talent as a Spin Doctor to inflate his own image and ego.

[ged]

Haha. Yeah, undoubtedly. But I don't begrudge him his "marketing success". Whatever. When the flag drops...., and generally he's been pretty bloody good. His 2 years with Ducati being the exception, which might underscore your point? Dunno.

Whatever the means, his record is as it is and will rank in history accordingly.

[OzzyElsie]

Whatever the means, his record is as it is and will rank in history accordingly.

The numbers are for the nerds and the unthinking. The judgment of the informed and thinking might be different.

Unfortunately numbers are more enduring, and Rossi knows it.