Wow, what a start by Rossi. It made me think of Lorenzo's amazing launches when he was riding the M1, taking the hole shot and putting it to good use setting a leading pace.
Then there were those metronomic laps Rossi starting knocking out like he was well inside his comfort zone. Have they fixed the M1? With Mavs win still fresh I couldn't help but wonder if some significant progress has been made in the Yamaha garage. Marquez was making his way through the pack but as he got closer to Rossi the gap seemed to exponentially decay making me think that Rossi was in control of this one and the rider who was more outside of their comfort zone might be Marquez. Was the sweetness of putting one over Marc at Sepang giving Rossi some kind of extra motivation? At this stage it wouldn't have surprised me to see Marquez throwing it down the road with nothing to lose. Part of me wanted an epic to and fro showdown between two of the biggest names in the sport but another part of me was glad that there could be no questionable grey areas with regards to the outcome. Its a shame really because if Rossi hung on and managed a victory I would have bet that he may have even shaken Marcs hand from the top step.