[Parth46]

Mark Webb - Race Direction Director

“We heard from both riders. Marquez told us that he was just riding his normal race and minding his own business, making passes on Valentino without contact. Which is true. And that he had no intention of disturbing Valentino.

“Valentino on the other side said it was clear to him that Marc was deliberately slowing down the pace and making it difficult for Valentino to race. That he deliberately ran wide in the turn in order to give himself an advantage in order to get away from Marquez.

“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.

“Valentino reacted to what he saw as provocation from Marquez and unfortunately his reaction was a manoeuvre that was against the rules. It's irresponsible riding causing a crash. We believe the contact was deliberate. He says he did not want Marquez to crash, but he did want to run him wide.”

No decision was taken during the actual race as Webb wanted to speak to both riders and watch the video replays at length.

Full Text : http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/224...unishment.html

[shyn]

The Race Director speaks:

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."
Source: http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2015/1...marquez/188434

[RoadSurfer]

Call me a blind Rossi fan or anything, but it is a fact that MM touched Rossi's knee on that particular turn and only then Rossi's leg came of the bike. Now I agree it was Rossi's mistake to first try and block MM there. But MM was unnecessarily being agressive on laps 4, 5 & 6. He was almost ready to crash down himself but not let Rossi off.

[nkrishnap]

With all the heated stuff going on and off the track expected this. Marquez trying to race hard with Rossi by letting Lorenzo go. Then the aggressvie moves to get the better on Rossi and to prove his Ego was bigger than Rossi. Was this legal, Yes but poor in racing spirit and unethical. I certainly he has no business deciding who wins the championship when he is out of it.

What Rossi did was illegal and got penalized. The championship is gone for all reckoning.

How I wish it was Argentina kind of incident to take off Marquez

[Hatari]

Madness from Rossi, and pure frustration, the world knows it was intentional. Got away easy I think. He has lost the right to complain about Marc after doing this.

Coming to Marc, no harm if he favors Lorenzo. Can't see it though, be did snatch victory from him in the last race, why not stay in 2nd if he wanted Lorenzo to be champion.
Anyway, blocking is not against the rules.

Coming to the championship, it is by no means over. Anything can happen at Malaysia.

[nitro.1000bhp]

From crash.net

Dani Pedrosa has accused Valentino Rossi of backtracking on his previous stance as an advocate of the mantra that 'racing is racing' after Sunday's high drama in the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang.

Race winner Pedrosa says Rossi has contradicted himself by claiming Marc Marquez was trying to help Jorge Lorenzo at Phillip Island after becoming embroiled in a battle with Rossi and Andrea Iannone for third before going on to win the race.

Rossi came in for criticism after colliding with Marquez at Sepang, forcing the outgoing world champion to crash out of the race as the friction between them spilled over.

“In my opinion, first of all I think Valentino should be here to explain that [question on whether Marquez had interfered with Rossi's race at Sepang],” said Pedrosa in the post-race press conference.

“Other than that, I think racing is racing and that in the past I say many times we should race more calm. I remember [saying] with Marco [Simoncelli] that we should race more calm because this is MotoGP, the bikes are big, dangerous and we should try [to be less aggressive].

“But always Valentino was saying, 'this is racing and racing is like this and we should fight'. Now, he's changing his comments to what I was saying before,” Pedrosa added.

“A little bit contradiction in this moment of what he always said and what he is saying now. Maybe [it is because] tension in the championship is there obviously, but it's a very learning moment clearly, I've never been MotoGP champion and I respect all of the riders, especially Valentino, Marc and Jorge because they are great champions.

“But a championship is good when you win it because you are the man.”

Pedrosa also emphasised that Rossi has a responsibility to perform with integrity given his millions of fans around the world and his status as a motorcycling great.

“The thing that I see is that Valentino has been always one of, or the greatest, in this period, so he has a lot of fans around the world and he is one who many fans and riders and young riders look up to him,” Pedrosa said.

“It's a little bit tricky now to see these actions because everybody can make mistakes obviously but I think that's why he should be here, because many people look what he is doing and he has to take care about what we do because we must try to be right and do things correctly.”

Amen! Hats off to Dani for being bold enough to say this.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by RoadSurfer

Call me a blind Rossi fan or anything, but it is a fact that MM touched Rossi's knee on that particular turn and only then Rossi's leg came of the bike. Now I agree it was Rossi's mistake to first try and block MM there. But MM was unnecessarily being agressive on laps 4, 5 & 6. He was almost ready to crash down himself but not let Rossi off.

Ditto!
That was two touches, coming over from the previous few. Qualified people who have tremendous "experience" have judged the incident, and penalized the man. It was an off moment from the guy, uncharacteristic. But will I be rooting for him till he hangs up his boots? HELL YES!!
I don't subscribe to the theory that he is supporting Lorenzo in any way. It's just a byproduct of the situation. Mm wanted to tangle with Rossi after what he said.
That helps Lorenzo, so be it.
You could say by the same measure that there is a nexus between Dani and Rossi then.

[Parth46]

Originally Posted by RoadSurfer

Call me a blind Rossi fan or anything, but it is a fact that MM touched Rossi's knee on that particular turn and only then Rossi's leg came of the bike. Now I agree it was Rossi's mistake to first try and block MM there. But MM was unnecessarily being agressive on laps 4, 5 & 6. He was almost ready to crash down himself but not let Rossi off.

Totally agree, the knee touch was quite clearly visible.

Being a blind Rossi fan is a bit risky on this thread!

All you'll get are long discourses and homilies on how Rossi is off his rocker, JLO is a stone-cold master tactician, and you-know-who, the poor guy who got mercilessly kicked today, the guy who's the embodiment of clean racing, him who has never ever touched anyone in his life while blasting through, is Rossi+Stoner+Brad Pitt+Modi all in one - the complete package!

Originally Posted by mayankk

But will I be rooting for him till he hangs up his boots? HELL YES!!

Cheers!

[badri]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Mm wanted to tangle with Rossi after what he said.

+1.

My initial thoughts after Rossi made his press statement on Thursday was on the lines of "What is he trying to achieve?". If any Marc would be more incensed after a verbal attack rather than tone down. That's exactly what happened. Someone in twitter summarized it perfectly "The problem is that Rossi is dealing with a younger himself".

In the race, if Rossi would have kept his cool he would have either been in 3rd or 4th position at Sepang as well as go through regular QP in Valencia. He got too worked up and reacted in a manner very unlike of himself.

Coming back to Lorenzo's attack that the penalty is too lenient, I think he is justified in voicing his opinion. He was always a fierce advocate of safety and was very vocal about it in the past too (remember his spat with Simoncelli in a press conference?). Also, he is fighting for the championship with Rossi and he is sure to take every chance available to gain a psychological upper hand. Who wouldn't?

[Jaggu]

Rosi speaks finally

Video

https://www.facebook.com/devino.clas...6272059670877/

Text
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2015/1...types=og.likes

Rossi shares his views on the dramatic incident between him & Marquez at the Malaysian GP.
Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi addressed the world’s media after meeting with Race Direction to explain his views on the clash with Marc Marquez during the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix:

Marc Marquez said you took your leg off and kicked him, was it a case of red mist?
“No Marquez knows that is not true, because it is very clear from the image, especially from the helicopter that I don’t want to make him crash. I just want to make him lose time and go out of the line and slow down because also this time, a lot worse than in Australia, he make his dirty game no? When I go wide, wide, wide, I slow down, we almost stop and I look at him to say, “F**K, what the f**k are you doing?”

After we touch and he touched with his handlebar on the right on my leg, and I lose the foot from the foot peg, but if you look at the image from the helicopter it is clear that when I lose the foot from the footrest Marquez had already crashed. So I don’t want to kick him. Also if you give a kick to a MotoGP™ bike, it don’t crash. It is not that you kick the bike; it is very heavy, like this, and he crash. But unfortunately we touched; he wanted to turn because I go very wide and I fell his handlebar on my leg her, on my thigh and I lose the leg on the foot peg. It is like this.”

What is your opinion on the sanction you have been handed?
“For me is not fair, also because like this, Marquez win his fight! His program is okay because he made me lose the championship. Especially for me the sanction is not good because I don’t want to make him crash purposefully, I just reacted to his behaviour. I didn’t kick him and I didn’t want to make him crash.

But you know, you don’t say nothing in the press Conference, maybe change something. But for me this is unfair; as I just want to fight for the championship with Jorge and the better man win. Like this it doesn’t happen.”

Is there anything that you regret?
“I don’t know, I don’t want to make him crash, but I had to try to do something. At that moment Jorge was already gone, but I’ve said everything.”

Do you think the Championship is over?
“It is not over, but this sanction cut my leg and make Marquez win.”

[mayankk]

Here's the top side video.

https://youtu.be/ntVuIYrbtKg

[badri]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Rosi speaks finally

Video

Text
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2015/1...types=og.likes

To be honest, I'm starting to get sympathetic towards Rossi after watching this video. I wish this incident wouldn't have happened and a straight fight b/w Rossi and Lorenzo would have been all the more preferable for us fans and spectators.

[Parth46]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Rosi speaks finally

This is saddening and infuriating at the same time!

Agree, Rossi shouldn't have lost his cool and made Marc run a bit wide, but who the hell gave Marc Marquez the right to barge in on a guy's championship title chances and decide to spoil his chances of winning the title?

This guy is in over his head. Right since the beginning of the season we knew that one day Marc will cause some major problems and destroy races and heck, even an entire season in one fell swoop.

MM fanbois can flame me all you like, but it's true that Marc is an immature racer and his behavior is simply unworthy of a world champion and one that aspires to be the GOAT.

For those who still don't think MM is helping Lorenzo - three different entities, Valentino Rossi, Race Direction and Andrea Iannone can't all be wrong when they all clearly admit that Marquez's tactics though legal and clearly unethical and his pace has varied inexplicably.

This is not what the sport deserves, this is not what the fans deserve.

Lorenzo : "I've lost respect for Rossi"

Yeah, like the million boos he got today are not an indicator of what respect he himself commands. He's almost won this title on a platter now, but it'll always be known as the title Marc Marquez won for him, more race wins than Rossi be damned.

Rant Over.

EDIT : With all the hate, this seemed appropriate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSCISgFpc6g

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Rosi speaks finally

Video

Text
http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2015/1...types=og.likes

We can debate it all day, but personally, I think, what Rossi has done on the track(Marquez incident) is not acceptable. I hope we will have a wet race in Valencia and Rossi can do what Marquez has done there in 2012, Moto2.
We need fair fight on track. Period.

[ashwin.terminat]

Marquez's views on the incident:

Can you explain what happened with Valentino Rossi?
“Yeah of course you know for me it is easy to explain what happened because on the TV you can see clear. You can see in the video from many points, the helicopter, from in front. I was inside and of course we were overtaking for some laps but I felt I was able to be faster and to catch the front guys. But yeah, on that corner, corner 14, Valentino passed me. I heard the bike then I pick it up, but then I saw that he was completely straight and looking at me and stopping a lot. I was just waiting because there was nothing to do in that point and then I saw that with his leg he pushed my arm and my front brake and then I lock the front wheel and I crash.
Luckily I am good, in good physical condition, this is the most important but you know during my career I have many moments you know, I mean many battles and everything, but never have I felt this. That another rider give me a big push and push me out with the leg. But in the end, my result in the race was zero points. This was of course not my target, my target was to finish these two races on the podium, but it is like this.”
Did you pay attention to what Valentino Rossi said?
“You know I don’t want to be inside more on the Championship and on the season. For me it’s a race decision just I explain what I feel. I explained what I feel. I know that I finish on the gravel, I crash and I have zero points and Valentino will start last in Valencia. But you know, what I feel is that is race incident is not a race incident.”
How is it possible for a rider to intentionally knock another rider off and still receive points?
“For that reason I am like this, because of course we can fight, we can overtake, we can have small contact, but in this race until that moment we never had contact. I overtake him but always in a good place, but I don’t know how inside the helmet you can think to push out with the leg another rider so…Yeah I never see that, okay I am very young but for that reason I am very disappointed.”
This all seem to start at the Press Conference on Thursday and has just continued…
“Yes of course on Thursday Valentino surprised everybody after my victory in Phillip Island, but you know I didn’t consider that because I just did my weekend. I was struggling during all weekend to set up the bike well, as you saw in the video it was moving a lot. I know that I was struggling a lot in the first part of the race with the full tank because the geometry we use I was struggling a little bit, but I know that the second part of the race was my strongest point and my target was to fight with Jorge, Valentino and Dani. We tried but in the end another rider pushed me out. So in the end it is zero points, okay, still I was fighting for third place in the championship but now that’s it.”

Yamaha's views on the incident:

What’s your reaction to the Penalty against Valentino?
“I think that what happened today, the incident on track was the result of at least a couple of races of fierce competition between Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi. From the first race in Phillip Island it has led to the accusation the Valentino made the other day about Marc’s attempt to control the race and attempt to influence the Championship and I think that what we saw in the race was the revenge of Marc Marquez towards Valentino’s statements in the media.
So whilst, if you analyse the race in details today and you study every move that Marc did, there was nothing illegal about any single move, but I think you have to see the bigger picture and you have to question the motivation of the style of race and the way and the attempt of Marc to clearly disturb Valentino to the maximum. Finally that resulted in an overflow of frustration by Valentino and that boiled over and he made a move that was an incorrect move by taking Marc out to the side of the track. Then unfortunately Marc deicide to turn in hit the leg, that caused an incident and Marc fell off.
I am very sad that the incident resulted in the crash of another rider. I think that Valentino was found, shall we say, the one in the race that did a manoeuvre that was not legal. This was finally the result and that’s why he was penalised.
He was given a penalty initially of three penalty points, which is you add that together with the one he already has it creates four points which means he will start at the back of the grid in Valencia. So anyway, our job as a team is to defend the interest of our riders, so whilst we cannot deny that Valentino’s move was not the sort of move we want to see in MotoGP at that time. At the same time we feel that the penalty is quite harsh, to give three points when normally Valentino is not a dirty rider. He is not a rider that creates issues and problems for other people, so as a team we appealed to the FIM to the first decision of the Race Direction. Then Valentino was heard by the FIM, then the FIM also consulted Race Direction, then the FUIM also consulted Marc Marquez and Honda and finally after a period of forty-five minutes or something we have the results of the appeal and it’s been rejected.
So the original penalty of three points against Valentino stands and in the appeal process, if you have a decision of Race Direction you can then take an appeal to the FIM steward. If the FIM Steward rejects your appeal and agrees with the original decision, it’s no longer appealable. It’s final, so case closed.”
From the helicopter images you can see Marquez touched Valentino’s leg and Rossi said this made his foot slip and he wasn’t kicking Marc, do you agree with this?
“It is not only what I have seen, but what Valentino has told me. In this case I think the images back it up. A kick is generally an aggressive forward motion; in this case his leg went off the back and basically Valentino said he was touched and his leg went off the footrest and flicked out. I don’t think it’s probably very wise to kick a 157kg RC213V.”
Do you think Rossi’s actions were justified?
“I am not defending his actions. This is why he received the penalty as it was judged that this was not a move within the rules of racing.”