MotoGP

[Gnarly]

So what time does the race start?

 

14h45

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

I see the Change.org petition has crested 700,000 signatures, and has resulted in an open letter to the CAS

 

An Open Letter to CAS, FIM and DORNA

Nicholas Davis

Virginia Water, United Kingdom

Nov 2, 2015 — For translations please use https://translate.google.com or visit https://www.facebook.com/FairMotoGPChampionship/ where a team of volunteer translators are working to complete translations in many languages. Thank you

.....

An Open Letter for the Attention of : 

Court of Arbitration for Sport, Lausanne, Switzerland
FIM (International Motorcycling Federation) : Mike Webb, Vito Ippolito
DORNA Sports: Carmelo Ezpeleta, Javier Alonso

cc. Yamaha: Lin Jarvis, William Favero

November 2nd 2015

Dear Sirs,

On Sunday October 25th 2015 we witnessed an unfortunate event in the Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, which resulted in Valentino Rossi being sanctioned with a 3 point penalty. 

The FIM issued Mr Rossi with 3 penalty points under Regulation 1.21.2 “Behaviour during Practice and Race” making the following statement …

“Motive : On the 25th of October 2015, during the MotoGP race of the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix, you deliberately ran wide on Turn 14 in order to force another rider off line, resulting in contact causing the other rider to crash. 

This is considered to be irresponsible riding causing danger to other competitors and is therefore an infringement of article 1.21.2 (see below) of the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix Regulations.”

For reference Regulation 1.21.2 states “Riders must ride in a responsible manner which does not cause danger to other competitors or participants, either on track or in the pit lane. 

Any infringement of this rule will be penalised with one the following penalties:

1) Penalty Points
2) Fine
3) Change of Position
4) Ride Through
5) Time Penalty
6) Drop of Any Number of Grid Positions at the Rider’s Next Race.
7) Disqualification
8) Withdrawal of Championship Points
9) Suspension”

The Petition

This penalty sent shock waves among the world’s MotoGP followers. We were so dismayed by this ruling that we felt compelled to begin a petition against the decision.

Over 700,000 people have already collectively signed this petition, and sub-petitions, all of which are publicly available to view on the websitehttps://www.change.org/p/motogp-dorna-amp-fim-remove-the-penalty-from-valentino-rossi-and-bring-back-integrity-to-the-championship.

We now wish to provide further explanation for the petition and ask, with all sincerity, that you give your full consideration to the points raised herein. We hope that this helps assist in achieving a just result when considering the appeal requested by Mr Valentino Rossi on Friday October 30th through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

………

Valentino Rossi (VR), rider 46, was riding responsibly when he slowed his pace in a controlled manner. He did so in order to alleviate the danger to both himself and Marc Marquez (MM), rider 93, that was being caused by MM’s continued aggressive/dangerous riding style of the previous 4 laps. 

VR’s actions did not leave MM with only one option, i.e. to collide with VR. MM could have taken multiple other actions, but instead of avoiding contact he leant into VR. The collision and consequential fall of MM were the sole result of MM’s actions within the unfolding situation. 

This is further evidenced by MM’s continuing race tactic to use his bike as a battering ram, as witnessed in many previous Grand Prix races; actions that are rarely seen in MotoGP from experienced and respectful Championship riders. 

The suggestion that VR had kicked MM has not only been disproved by video evidence, but would also defy the laws of physics given the weight of both MM and his bike. If a kick had occurred the bike of MM would have fallen in a style closer to a high-side i.e. throwing the rider over the top instead of sliding him underneath the bike, which is what occurs when the front wheel washes out. The bike of VR would also have been pushed in the opposite direction to the force of any kick; this was not the case.

VR should never have been put in a position where it became necessary for him (VR) to deal with this situation. VR and his team management had on a number of occasions made attempts to get race control to address the growing problem of MM’s conduct.


October 18th 2015

It was reported by riders Valentino Rossi (Rider 46) and Andrea Ianonne (Rider 29) that, during the Phillip Island Grand Prix (October 18th), MM was intentionally slowing and manipulating the pace of the race, which in turn manipulates the Championship, bearing in mind that Valentino Rossi is the current Championship Leader. 

MM made the statement denying that his slowing race was deliberate, claiming that he was losing front end control, but that it later came back to him and enabled him to lap more than a second-a-lap quicker than race leader Jorge Lorenzo and pass him all within one (final) lap. Such a claim/statement is an insult to the intelligence of all MotoGP fans.

The claims by Riders 46 and 29 were dismissed by the FIM. 


October 22nd 2015

Rider 46 made a public statement of his concerns that rider 93 was intentionally riding to sabotage the championship. He then made a further statement that it was his intention, through his public statement, to make a declaration to MM and race officials, but still no action was taken by series’ officials.


October 24th 

Massimo Meregalli of Yamaha went to Race Control to suggest they intervene to ease the simmering tensions between riders 46 and 93 prior to the Sepang Grand Prix. However, Race Control replied that it was not necessary to call the two riders.


October 25th 

During the Sepang Grand Prix, MM continued the same unethical tactics with greater ferocity, manipulating, sabotaging and dangerous conduct causing VR to raise his hand to draw attention to it in Lap 6. MM did not take this opportunity to pass VR, neither did MM alter his riding style. No intervention was made by race officials at this point. 

The continued aggressive and provoking riding of MM led VR to slow his pace in order to make eye contact with MM and express his frustration with MM’s actions. Had MM wished to pass VR, as was his claim, he had more than ample opportunity to do so. He at no point needed to follow VR’s line. He could have taken another line, but instead chose to ride into VR, making contact and resulting in him coming off his bike, as previously stated, as previously stated.

We would further point out Rider 93 then in contravention of rule 1.2.1.6 …

“If the Rider encounters a problem with the machine which will result in his retirement from the practice or the race, then he should not attempt to rejoin and tour at reduced speed to the pits, but should pull off the track and park his machine in a safe place as indicated by the marshals.” 

This further brings into question MM's motives in the desperation to get back to the team so quickly. As with his being placed 4th at the time that he fell, almost the entire field would have had to negotiate him on his return journey. 

Concerns

MM for a second time denied that his actions (this time at Sepang) had been intentional. This time, however, the FIM acknowledged that they could see MM had intentionally acted in this way, but still no penalty was made to MM on the basis that his passes were clean, no contact was made and that he had not broken any regulations. 

Video footage, that is clearly available to you, shows frequent contact and his riding had caused VR to raise his hand on the lap previous to the Turn 14 incident. 

These actions by MM show a clear intention of sabotage of Mr Rossi’s campaign and consequently the Championship. His actions have already affected the World Championship Outcome thus far by sabotaging the last two races, and if the sanction to VR remains, MM will have been successful in sabotaging and manipulating all of the 3 final races and Championship.

With this is mind, the lack of penalty to MM in addition to the penalisation of VR is endorsing and cementing the misplaced intentions of MM, and further condoning the corruption of the Championship by MM.

Since MM has reached appoint of no longer be able to retain his World Championship Title his behaviour and intentions, within the Championship, have become one of personal vendetta, as witnessed by the fans, to the extent that it is causing danger to other competitors and sinking the standard of the sport. 

To allow the actions of MM to continue unchecked sends a message to the supporters of the sport that the Championship will bend to the reckless will and immature ethics of a single rider. A decision which is fuelling negative comments worldwide, about the sport, that surely no party wishes to see?

This is further amplified by the race officials overlooking the situation whereby Jorge Lorenzo (JL) passed Valentino Rossi on a yellow flag. VR turned his head to look at the marshal and reduced his speed; this is not the actions of a man who is prepared t do anything at any cost to win. Jorge Lorenzo did not slow and yet he was not penalised for this action, nor was he asked to drop a position. This is reinforcing a sense of a lack of fairness in the Championship. Even though it is a small incident in comparison to the Turn 14 incident, it still occurred without penalty.

If JL were to succeed in his pursuit of the Championship it surely should not be through the intentional sabotage of another rider; this would only serve JL with a dishonourable and tainted Championship success, which is a disservice to his season’s work and to the sport.


In summary 

Rider 46’s actions were not dangerous and did not cause the collision and subsequent fall of rider 93; therefore rider 46 did not contravene regulation 1.21.2. 

Rider 93 chose to willingly use and capitalise upon the actions of rider 46 in order to make rider contact yet again, whilst claiming the collision to be as a result of rider 46’s manoeuvre. Through rider 93’s own actions his bike fell; MM then immediately released a false statement of intent to fans and race officials.

All manner of rumours about the sport being corrupted and controlled by sponsor, manufacturer and national interests are circulating; alienating the fans and customers of the sport. We urge you to reverse this penalty, enabling VR to take his earned grid position, and return the sense of integrity to the sport so that the championship is clean and fair. And, we ask that you further consider removing MM from the final race, under Regulation 1.21.2, to ensure a safe final race.

On behalf of the 700,000+ petitioners and fans of MotoGP I thank you for your time in considering our petition.

Yours Sincerely
Nicholas Davis, UK
Massimo Iezzi, Italy

 

[Tubehunter]

....Snipped

In summary 

Rider 46’s actions were not dangerous and did not cause the collision and subsequent fall of rider 93; therefore rider 46 did not contravene regulation 1.21.2. 

Rider 93 chose to willingly use and capitalise upon the actions of rider 46 in order to make rider contact yet again, whilst claiming the collision to be as a result of rider 46’s manoeuvre. Through rider 93’s own actions his bike fell; MM then immediately released a false statement of intent to fans and race officials.

All manner of rumours about the sport being corrupted and controlled by sponsor, manufacturer and national interests are circulating; alienating the fans and customers of the sport. We urge you to reverse this penalty, enabling VR to take his earned grid position, and return the sense of integrity to the sport so that the championship is clean and fair. And, we ask that you further consider removing MM from the final race, under Regulation 1.21.2, to ensure a safe final race.
 

Hehe, these guys have a solid idea about writing to CAS, but then lose the plot with their last request eishhhh. Like HRC would accept something like this happening????

[dirtrider]

Rossi for president !

[Iwan Kemp]

So apparently this happened...

 

Lorenzo request for intervention in Rossi penalty case rejected

http://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/lorenzo-request-for-intervention-in-rossi-penalty-case-rejected/

 

No mention of his intentions or what he wanted to argue, though.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

So apparently this happened...

 

Lorenzo request for intervention in Rossi penalty case rejected

http://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/lorenzo-request-for-intervention-in-rossi-penalty-case-rejected/

 

No mention of his intentions or what he wanted to argue, though.

any more reason other than to be a raging ********?

 

No, thought not. 

 

Edit: Must say that my estimation of him as a racer with dignity has been seriously tarnished by his hissy fits. 

 

Reminds me of a 3 year old who can't get his way. 

Edited November 3, 2015 by Myles Mayhew

[KingTJ]

any more reason other than to be a raging ********?

 

No, thought not. 

 

Edit: Must say that my estimation of him as a racer with dignity has been seriously tarnished by his hissy fits. 

 

Reminds me of a 3 year old who can't get his way.

Yep every last bit of dignity he could have salvaged from this incidence has gone out the door. ...what  a total ****!!

 

Nb. It makes the other report of him storming the FIM hearing more believable...as well as the conspiracy theories.

Edited November 4, 2015 by KingTJ

[Gnarly]

The calm before the storm here.....

[Iwan Kemp]

Sheesh, right. Going to be a HECTIC weekend regardless of the outcome. One that will be remembered and talked about for years and years to come.

 

This will be bigger than the moon landing. 

[Tubehunter]

Some interesting articles about regarding the permutations for the team rosters going into 2016 after the past couple of weeks and the fallout thereafter.

 

Seems like Yamaha might have to separate the garage crews even more should VR and JL still be team mates come March next year.... Essentially run it like two completely individual teams, unless they're able to work out some other options. Some speculation that a move to Duc might be the easiest way out for JL with AI coming to Yammie to take his seat there! Contracts are all tied up to the end of 2016 for the main batch of contenders though! 

 

CAS ruling comes tomorrow. Will be surprised if they rule in VR's favour! (Pleasantly surprised!)

[mtbride]

Some interesting articles about regarding the permutations for the team rosters going into 2016 after the past couple of weeks and the fallout thereafter.

 

Seems like Yamaha might have to separate the garage crews even more should VR and JL still be team mates come March next year.... Essentially run it like two completely individual teams, unless they're able to work out some other options. Some speculation that a move to Duc might be the easiest way out for JL with AI coming to Yammie to take his seat there! Contracts are all tied up to the end of 2016 for the main batch of contenders though! 

 

CAS ruling comes tomorrow. Will be surprised if they rule in VR's favour! (Pleasantly surprised!)

 

Do not see JL going anywhere fast ... if I was Yamaha, I would rather keep him than Rossi (ignoring personal tastes and personalities and all that @#$%, because of Rossi's age and probably retiring in 3/4 years), why does Rossi not try the Ducati for a 2nd time. 2nd time lucky maybe.

[Iwan Kemp]

Some interesting articles about regarding the permutations for the team rosters going into 2016 after the past couple of weeks and the fallout thereafter.

 

Seems like Yamaha might have to separate the garage crews even more should VR and JL still be team mates come March next year.... Essentially run it like two completely individual teams, unless they're able to work out some other options. Some speculation that a move to Duc might be the easiest way out for JL with AI coming to Yammie to take his seat there! Contracts are all tied up to the end of 2016 for the main batch of contenders though! 

 

Article on that

 

http://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/analysis-can-rossi-and-lorenzo-still-be-teammates-in-2016/

[Gnarly]

 

 

This will be bigger than the moon landing. 

 

Well the moon landing and Rossi's "kick" are the same.... never happened.

[mtbride]

Pernat sure can talk alot ... we'll see what is truth and what not. Always has alot to say about everyone and everything in MotoGP.

 

So how is this different than the years in which there was a wall between VR and JL? Surely a wall can go up again and it will be the same?

Edited November 5, 2015 by Kraggie

[Steven Knoetze (sk27)]

Isnt the wall still there??

Seems the tensuon in that Yamaha garage may have been a contributing factor in the whole MM assisting JL accusation.

I know that VR miraculous turnarounds in Sunday warmup have been attributed to him being given access to JL data. This would explain the rift. Again just speculation but some cases VR has been nowhere and in WU he suddenly "found something" and usually in the order of half a second in most cases.

Think the original was because of data accessibility/sharing too.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Isnt the wall still there??

Seems the tensuon in that Yamaha garage may have been a contributing factor in the whole MM assisting JL accusation.

I know that VR miraculous turnarounds in Sunday warmup have been attributed to him being given access to JL data. This would explain the rift. Again just speculation but some cases VR has been nowhere and in WU he suddenly "found something" and usually in the order of half a second in most cases.

Think the original was because of data accessibility/sharing too.

Again, you come in with that. According to the pit crews themselves, they share data all the time. It's hardly "stealing" data, and it's hardly underhanded. You make it sound like espionage. 

 

The wall was because they wanted to segregate tehmselves psychologically, but also because of the Michelin / Bridgestone tyre sponsorships and the 2 tyre providers not wanting to give too much away...

 

Look here...

 

http://www.cycleworld.com/2015/08/10/behind-the-scenes-yamaha-motogp/

 

EDIT: It would be utterly STUPID of Yamaha not to allow the sharing of data between 2 riders, in order to gain the maximum benefit from their investment in the sport. Utterly, utterly stupid. 

Edited November 5, 2015 by Myles Mayhew