[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by VLOCT

I hope to see most of the riders at the back let Rossi pass them without hindering him, which they should.

I am curious to know, why should they?

Because they are not fighting for the championship while Rossi is?

No one should let anyone else through intentionally. Just like Vitaly Petrov did against Alonso. Everyone has a right to fight for their place. That is sportsmanship. Why sacrifice the sport for one individual?

I hope to see Rossi blitz through the pack and get up on his own accord to fight with the Ducatis and the Hondas and Lorenzo. I hope no one steps aside and lets Rossi through without a fight; that should not be how Rossi would want it.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

I am curious to know, why should they?

No they wont. Pretty sure. Add to that, Rossi is not the best of starters. But, I am sure there will be some overtakes in the first few that will be questioned by various camps.
I am hoping for magic, fireworks, and an extremely uncharacteristic ride from Rossi.
Let there be a fight!

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by mayankk

But, I am sure there will be some overtakes in the first few that will be questioned by various camps.

Haha. This is totally agree with! Given what's at stake, anything is possible this Sunday.

Originally Posted by mayankk

I am hoping for magic, fireworks, and an extremely uncharacteristic ride from Rossi.
Let there be a fight!

Rossi will come out all guns blazing on Sunday. To come so close but to be denied at what will be your best and probably last chance at a 10th World Title. Only ones standing on his path are Pedrosa, Iannone, Lorenzo and Marquez.

Lorenzo has had a poor record here as well. Rossi has been on the podium 50% of the time while Lorenzo has only managed a podium finish 33% of the time. But when Lorenzo has been on the podium, he's managed to win the race 50% of the time, while Rossi has only managed to win 25% of the time when he is in the top 3.

The Hondas have achieved a lot of success. Pedrosa in particular. Standing on the podium 80% of the time and winning the race almost 50% of the time.

All said and done, these numbers will not play on the mind of the riders. All that will matter to Rossi is, 312 points vs 305 points and to safeguard that 7-point advantage come what may.

[Parth46]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

I am curious to know, why should they?

No one is going to give an inch, refer riders' thoughts here:

Will riders get out of the way to let Rossi through? "My team spends millions of Euros a year to go racing. So I’ll be racing," replied Cal Crutchlow. Similar replies were given by most riders, whatever their sympathies in the affair. It was not even particularly easy to stand aside to let someone else through, as several riders pointed out. The bikes don't have mirrors, and you can't just let someone past because you think it might be Valentino Rossi. Make a mistake, and you could be giving up a position to the man you were fighting for points with.

Kinda expected CAS to uphold the penalty, and Rossi has his work cut out in front of him.

Here's to an amazing ride by THE DOCTOR and winning his tenth title, it'll be even sweeter when he wins the title starting from the back of the grid and a Kodak moment for Team Marcenzo!

EDIT : Since Rossi can afford to finish just behind JLO, there would be few things more valuable than the look on Lorenzo's face IF in the final lap of the race, his pit board reads "ROSSI +0.2". There are some things money can't buy and this would surely be one of it.!

[a*ed]

What time is the race on Sunday and which channel would be telecasting it?

[Parth46]

Originally Posted by a*ed

What time is the race on Sunday and which channel would be telecasting it?

1830 IST this Sunday on Ten Sports/Ten HD

[SohailPistawala]

By the Way, The First free practice of Motogp has started. Motogp site shows live timings of the riders.

[five46]

FP1 Front Runners - MM, JLo, Dani, Dovi, Vale, Pol

[five46]

FP2 Frontrunners: JLo, Dani, Ion, Vale, MM

[VLOCT]

All I meant was if Rossi is faster and wants to pass, don't play dirty in deliberating slowing him down by the back markers. Typically most of them don't. Just hoping for a clean race.

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by badri

Italian journalists go to Marquez's home for meting out insults and get roughed up.

Now, Lorenzo requests for participation in Rossi's appeal <snip> The examples cited include penalties given for Barbera, Simoncelli, Bautista and Lorenzo himself for similar incidents in past.

http://deportes.elpais.com/deportes/...83_879447.html

While it may seem like unsporting act by Lorenzo, neither Marquez nor Rossi were shining examples of sportsmanship either in the past few weeks. My opinion is that Rossi may not get the stay considering that Race Direction and FIM both upheld the penalty.

Indeed, the unsportman like conduct by Rossi goes underided, unmocked. He's the holy cow on the MotoGP grid.

Now it's becoming a nationalist thing. Italian sponsors dropping JL and the like. Maybe it's better to blame other riders if you can't pass them, than to blame luck for tyres giving up earlier than you estimated.

Originally Posted by Parth46

Lorenzo's frankly inexplicable,spiteful attitude will always find a hateful mention, especially when he is not even involved in the entire episode.

Can't Movistar Yamaha just ask him to stay put and focus on his race rather than these antics? Dude badly needs a better PR guy/publicist, more desperately than a man dying of thirst needs water.

For once I agree. He does have valid ground to appeal against overturning Rossi's penalty, and he should petition FIM/Dorna separately , than nose into an incident proceedings unrelated to him.

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Lorenzo had a chance to keep away from the controversy, just mind his own business at the next race and let his riding do the talking at Valencia. He is the faster rider in normal conditions. If he won the championship he would've been hailed for leading Rossi towards self-destruction in the heat of the battle. But instead, he is coming off looking worse than Marquez and Rossi and is showing every sign of weakness. I wonder what is Yamaha's view on Lorenzo trying to join the appeal - against his own team-mate and fellow factory Yamaha rider, for an incident that he was not a party to.

I'm typically one who turns off the TV post race celebrations, so off-the-grid comments and interviews are not something I follow, but Lorenzo running his mouth knowing Rossi's clout ( both in terms of clout over Dorna and fan-following in general ), he should have expect a PR disaster for him, he's a veteran racer now, not a noob. Should've let his track deeds do the talking while petitioning FIM for fairness in penalties separately. Of course, media is also a culprit, they will pester riders to get headline worthy comments, if he stays silent, he'd be labelled press unfriendly and snooty, like Pedrosa was.

Good press gets you so much leeway in swaying public opinion:
1. Rossi believes there's a conspiracy for which there's no evidence (lap time variation is fairly regular, not admissible as evidence of deliberate slowing ) - and fans and press believe him, sans reliable evidence.

2. Rossi accuses another rider of conspiring with another rival, again with no evidence - and some evidence on the contrary (passing JL on to win in PI), and press/fans still support Rossi. Should we also infer then, any riders who let Rossi pass are conspiring against Lorenzo ?

So you can accuse other riders (character assassination) on flimsy grounds and get away with it, if you're Rossi.

Originally Posted by VLOCT

I hope to see most of the riders at the back let Rossi pass them without hindering him, which they should. It'll be a shame to end this season without it being a nail biter. I know Rossi's team is burning the midnight oil to get him the best setup possible on that Yamaha. I can't wait.


I much prefer Pedrossa's style of racing, always clean, relentless and incredibly fast and always, always with respect to other riders and the situation on the track. I just love that kind of racing style.

Make no mistake, MM has some incredible riding skills, but is impetous (age???) and seemingly disrespectful. After the last race though, I find it difficult to like him without him growing up a lot, no matter whether he's the best out there or not.

Being a Ducatti guy, never thought Dovisiozo would amount to much on a Duc, and I think he has proved me right. Passing someone on the straightaway on a more powerful bike is not a great feat. Show me how you use all that power on the corners. However, Iannoni, now he has surprised me and I like him. He has shown real guts on a fabulous machine.

I know what you mean, but if some riders letting JL "pass" is uphelp as signs of conspiracy, can we not uphold other riders letting Rossi pass, as a counter conspiracy ? What's good for the goose, as they say.

The sad thing about Pedrosa is despite some lap records and fantastic wins, he's not had a title to his name and he's been around from , what 2006, in MotoGP class.

MM is and always was aggressive, since I'm seeing him in MotoGP from 2013. He was hailed as the next big thing (by those who were following his career from the 125s/250s/Moto2 classed ) largely due to this go-getting charging full steam attitude. This also causes him to crash more often, and that's a risk for other riders in proximity. But recall Pedrosa's comment - the young Rossi was no different, and on occasions defended the risky/reckless racing styles of Simoncelli , saying this is racing, it happens. Now that Rossi is facing a younger version of himself as a threat to his much cherished 10th trophy, he's found a dislike for the young one rather all of a sudden. No, I don't think it was the few 1st/2nd rivalries including the running straight through gravel that made MM dislike VR - MM always was aggressive, it was VR's outburst/accusation that MM surely didn't take kindly too.

I know Rossi fans hate to hear it, but Rossi's desperate and he's cracking. It's easier to blame someone else for "blocking" him and preventing a win, than to admit the competition is far stronger than he is used to. It's MM who now sits in his head. This might be his closest shot in 6 years, but it won't be without a fight.

Tomorrow, I hope MSEB doesn't play spoilsport.

[badri]

After the Sepang incident, especially after seeing the unsporting riding by Marquez, I feel a bit sorry for Rossi and wouldn't be unhappy if he won the title (I would prefer Lorenzo winning though). It's a long shot but possible. If the Hondas can get ahead of Lorenzo, it is quite feasible for Rossi to fight and come in 6th.

That said, I'm quite appalled by reaction of so called Rossi fans' extreme reactions over the last two weeks. This, after Rossi himself reprimanded them and said that whoever resorts to hatred actions against other riders are not his true fans.

- A website owner received threats after he posted Mike Webb's comments on his website. He was further threatened of dire consequences if he doesn't convince Dorna to overturn Rossi's penalty.

- In the twitter link below Look at the reaction of VR's fans from the stand above Valencia paddock as Lorenzo leaves Yamaha garage. Quite shameful considering the fact that a young lad is also influenced into this unsporting behaviour.

https://twitter.com/PhotoGP/status/662636019787964417

Below is an excellent read of a similar scene that happened at last years Valencia GP. Lorenzo had mistook that he finished third in qualifying where as he was bumped to fourth (yes, it did happen earlier to him). A fan heckled at him from the paddock above throwing insults from a safe distance. Kudos to Lorenzo for keeping his cool.

http://photo.gp/2014/11/13/lorenzo-pit-lane/

I understand that people are passionate about their riders and emotions run high. But this sort of behaviour is just short of hooliganism

Sources: www.motomatters.com, www.photo.gp

[niks_devil666]

Pune folks there are a few options where live screening is happening tomorrow eve.

1.Bottle rock at sus road with cover charge for drinks.

2. Swapnashilp hall at apte road/fc road by motohive. Free event by them.

Please make sure you guys don't miss the action at 630 pm tomorrow

[ecenandu]

Ah, looks like Lorenzo is going to win the title. It all depends on Honda now. If Vale has to win the title, both Hondas should finish ahead of Lorenzo.

Interesting race ahead. That crash of Vale looked like it caused because of cold tyre, he did a pretty relaxed out lap before the crash. Front end just washed out.

Lorenzo 1, Vale -0. As of now, mentally. That was Lorenzo's first pole here in Valencia, that is saying something about his determination, almost 0.5 second ahead of the next man, Marquez.

[shyn]

Lorenzo not only takes pole but smashed the lap record. And the Hondas are nearly half a second off his pace. Damn!
We all know how Lorenzo rides away into the horizon while leading the pack. Here's to hoping that the Hondas catch him and keep him engaged while Rossi makes overtakes by the dozen.
Full qualifying result: