I can't believe people are taking Rossi's comments about Marquez and Lorenzo seriously. I'm pretty sure he made those comments with tongue FIRMLY in cheek.
If Marquez were REALLY helping Lorenzo, he would've FOLLOWED Lorenzo over the finish line, not passed him and relegating Jorge to second (which Lorenzo himself pointed out in the press conference). If anything, Marquez helped Rossi by limiting the damage had Lorenzo won.
If anyone could be accused of "Helping Lorenzo," it would be Rossi's fellow Italian and friend Andrea Iannone, who pipped Rossi at the finish and took the last podium position.
I think Rossi might be giving Marquez a wee bit too much credit. I believe he's saying it 93 had the potential to clear off at the front and if he did, Rossi would have had a better chance at beating JLo?
Not sure about that one, Marquez has had a miserable season with what, 5 crashes and 2 decisive head to head whoopings by the VR46, himself. So is MM good enough to toy with the other aliens at 210 MPH? Not sure I buy it...
Like Jamie said, if anyone is too "blame" (blame implies someone did something wrong which doesn't fit in this case) it's Iannone. I mean , he's the non-alien who stuck his head in the mix with that unbelieveable fast Ducati (that seemed to turn alright too!)
Marquez was also smart enough to cover his tracks by saying in his first interview off the bike that his front tire was overheating when he pushed the pace....that would be a reasonable explanation of having inconsistent periods during the race, if the data even supports that. I haven't personally looked at it yet.
What's the point? Marquez was considerably faster on the last two laps?
Did anyone else hear him say his front tire was overheating and he was forced to back off, then he let it go to win the race?
You can look at those lap times for 93 and see where he goes fast then slows because he's front tire overheating. Seems to me his front cooled down in perfect timing to win that race.
Rossi pipped Lorenzo for the final position on the front row. Not an issue because we've seen Lorenzo grab the holeshot from the second row MANY times in the past.
Should be a humdinger of a race though! Rain predicted overnight so the track will be COMPLETELY different during the race too. Nothing like throwing as many variables as possible into the mix.
Damn, 45 minutes until the red lights go out and I don't know how to kill the time. If I go sit on the couch, I'm gonna fall asleep with visions of blue yamahas dancing in my head.
Rossi and Marquez clashed in the race, which resulted in Marquez on the ground. Race direction gave Rossi several penalty points, which means his season culmination makes it that he will have to start the Valencia MotoGP finale from the back row.
Long discussion on this at ADVrider. The gist seems to be that the officials agree that Marquez was not faultless. This slow motion video gives a different perspective on the crash:
(Message edited by Hughlysses on October 25, 2015)
MotoGP™ Race Director Mike Webb explains Race Direction’s decision after the clash between Rossi and Marquez at the Malaysian GP.
After the on-track clash at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez that saw the latter crash, MotoGP™ Race Director Mike Webb explains Race Direction’s decision:
What was Race Direction’s decision and view on the incident? “The decision is that Race Direction has imposed three penalties points on Valentino Rossi for irresponsible riding that is deliberately causing contact. Deliberately running wide in a corner in order to try and force another rider off line. The result was a crash and so it’s irresponsible riding causing a crash and for that we have imposed three penalties points on Rossi.
It looked like we were going to have a great race, but unfortunately it ended in an incident that’s controversial. I have to say that the Movistar Yamaha team have appealed against Race Direction’s decision, so now that appeal will be heard by FIM stewards.”
What were the views that the riders expressed to race direction? “I can give you a general feeling rather than a quote from our hearing, because obviously it a closed door hearing. Marc explained that he was riding his normal race waiting for the tyres to feel good and going fast when he could and slowing down when he had to.
Valentino was of the opinion that Marc was deliberately slowing the pace of the race down and doing so unfairly. We listened to both riders; our opinion was that there was some fault on both sides, but as far as the rulebook goes Marquez did not make any contact, did not break any rules as such, but we feel that his behaviour was causing problems to Rossi who reacted. Unfortunately he reacted in a way that is against the rules.”
Movistar Yamaha are now appealing, what are the next steps if the appeal is accepted or rejected? “The FIM stewards here at the race will hear the appeal. There is a time limit of 30 minutes to lodge an appeal, that’s been done. The appeal is underway and they will hear it as soon as possible within the next 30 minutes.
If Yamaha are not happy with the steward’s decision, they have five days to lodge an appeal with the FIM International Disciplinary Court. So they have five days and then the FIM lawyers get involved to have another hearing.”
I think Rossi's big mistake was accusation Marc of holding him up at PI. MM may well have messed with Rossi a bit by getting in the middle of that three way battle for third and slowing it up a bit. He claims he was saving his tires and he did indeed have the rubber needed to chase down Lorenzo in the amazing last lap. Hard to say what effect he had on Rossi not catching Lorenzo, seems like not much.
By accusing Marc Vale just seems to have pissed him off; "you thought I messed with you last week well watch this!" seems to have been Marcs attitude this week. He certainly was messing up Rossi by battling so hard so early in the the race; not normal tactics by any means. I can understand Vale being pissed off.
Still Rossi should not have done what heeded and I think the punishments pretty fair. It will present him with a real challenge in Spain. It will be fun to see him blast through the field to get up to the front.
He needs to get right on Lorenzos tail and pretty much stay there to win the championship.
Years ago, I read an interview with retired AMA Pro champ Mat Mladin. He was asked about his personality and attitude towards other riders and he made the comment to effect of: "Make no mistake. Valentino Rossi will laugh, makes jokes and seem as friendly as anyone in an interview... but get between him and a championship and he'll slip the knife into your back as fast as anyone."
Looks like Mat may've been on to something. If I recall correctly, Mat's point was that he was the more "honest" of the two...
IMO Rossi was pissed and trying to run Marquez wide, Marquez bumped Rossi's leg and that's when Rossi pushed back with his leg. That's what I saw. I'm not even a Rossi fan I'm a Marquez fan. Watch the scene very closely and you'll see it. I think the leg push was just a natural reaction when getting bumped in the leg. Rossi was definitely guilty of trying to run Marquez wide.
It will be fun to see him blast through the field to get up to the front.
Yes, it will. Marquez had an early lap crash during the season and managed to pull a 5th place finish. No doubt Vale will have to have the race of season and also hope Lorenzo doesn't have a good race.
IN order to win, here is where Rossi can finish in relation to JLo (and win the Championship.)
VERY interesting. This just popped up in my Facebook feed. When you watch it, you can CLEARLY see Marquez running right into Rossi's leg, and Vale trying to push him away with his knee. Marquez was already crashing at that point.