mtbride

Except for the fact that JL was faster than Rossi the whole race ... Rossi could not match JL on any lap, except for one lap. Could be he had the pace to match Rossi but not Lorenzo, especially in the beginning of the race when JL is always very fast. But ja, probably a 50/50 here on what he did then

Not my call to make, it's Race Directions call they made. He broke a rule in the rulebook, plain and simple.

I know that, the official rule Rossi broke was irresponsible riding causing another rider to crash, as per Race Direction. Same as Simoncelli did to Pedrosa for example.

He had problems in turn 4 the whole week-end, don't tell me that he gifted JL the pass, unless you think him and JL arranged it before hand that turn 4 will be the place ... So a normal hard pass is now a kamakazi move ... if Rossi did not say anything Thursday, you would have thought it was a normal hard pass like any other seen 1 million times. In fact it was clean passes considering what he has done in the past. I agree that he did interfere with Rossi and probably deserved what he got after Rossi got frustrated, but he only broke some "unwritten" rule, not an official rule. There are various other times in bike racing that this has happened, in particular by a guy named Capirossi in his time. Does not make it right though.

Unfortunately the one tyre rule has decided more championships than one would think. One year it suits one bike manu and th next the other. Its the dumbest rule ever. Reckon thats what caused stoner to start crashing more and more, just could not get the front end heated up on the duc

Stoner repeatedly asked Ducati to change things on the bike, but they never did because he was winning! Maybe if they listened it could have been a bike more than just he could ride and win with.

Totally possible ... like Capirossi did with the dutch guy couple years ago. 3 other Italians ganged up and ran him wide etc.

Can't believe these 2 are now racing against each other http://www.gpone.com/images/ARCHIVIO/2013/Foto/04_Aprile/rossi-marquez.JPG btw how do i post pictures directly in the comments? Must it 1st be in your gallery or whatever?

Yup, proves that it's about the bike as well, not just about the rider. Think Honda said that to Rossi at some stage and that's one of the reasons he left Honda, whoever read his book can maybe confirm that.

Ja, one they could not fix in "80 seconds" ...

haha. Jaja, I think that was Stoner's specialty on the Duc, remember how many times he folded the front end

He does not only complain about not being on a factory bike, he also says things like if he did not have traffic in front of him, of if he did not mess up quali, he could have been on the front row etc. Or if he wasnt held up in the race at the start he could have been with the aliens in front ... ain't happening not matter what.

CC also talks way more than he walks ... figure of speech. Always saying he COULD have done this and COULD have done that if not for this or that, but never does.

You guys need to sign the petition ... https://www.change.org/p/motogp-race-director-mike-webb-remove-the-penalty-from-valentino-rossi-and-bring-back-integrity-to-the-championship-2246013d-9c5a-44e9-b306-02c667fce09c

Wow on my own here now, and Steven it seems haha. Yes, read somewhere MM does alot of flat track stuff, to force himself to get new ways of passing people

Setups probably also play a big role. MM on last years chassis, and Pedro on this years. MM could just not get the new one to work for him. MM needs that rear wheel sliding out alot it seems, where Pedro does not do that, he rides more like the guys on the Yamahas. MM style can make him the fastest rider, but it seems a risky style as well.

You saying control himself, or control the Honda ... problem is if he rides within his limits then he'll end up in 5th, but he needed to over-ride that Honda way too much this year. But I agree, he needs to grow up a little and learn from his mistakes. Yup, JL fastest on his own, but MM is a more complete rider, in that he can fight and be aggressive, and also clear off on his own, he does not mind either. Michelin tyres ... wonder if Rossi will get a "special" assignment like he did few years back ... Here's a table that summarizes the rules : https://motomatters.com/analysis/2015/03/23/the_2015_motogp_rules_primer_engines_fue.html

No way in hell will they drop him, crap to admit it, but he is the fastest guy in MotoGP at present ... all might change next year with the new rules though, maybe Yamaha does not have a competitive bike (highly unlikely), and then he might leave. When Rossi left for Ducati, I think they sort of choose JL above Rossi in way, in their minds he was more of a title challenger than Rossi at that time. Yup Pedro always been on a Honda ...

Don't think JL will ever leave Yamaha (well hopefully not, I can't stand the guy), and I think he will find the Honda just unrideable for his style. He might take 2 years to adapt, then it's too late. Pedro will probably be fine on the Yamaha. Reckon once you can ride the Honda, then any other bike is easy (other than the Duc that Stoner left everyone ...)

After reading a lot of articles on this whole episode, and looking at the bigger picture, I do think he did intentionally interfere with Rossi in the way of making aggressive passes every 2nd corner and stuffing up Rossi's rhythm at Sepang. PI it was alot less obvious, but he might have also.

https://motomatters.com/analysis/2015/10/27/2015_sepang_motogp_round_up_heroes_who_h.html Long read but a must read if you're interested in the whole debacle

Would love to see him battle with JL, just to prove all the people thinking they have a bromance wrong ... JL never been my favourite

If Rossi is correct then MM is a douche and needs to be penalized and banned and taught a lesson

haha Lorenzo seems to have even less supporters than MM

As I said above, do not agree with his actions at Assen, but at Sepang no issue for me without proof from telemetry