And as I said at the time. why would he take that risk. He was catching at a rate of knots and there were plenty of laps to go. Why would VR risk going down the road for some imagined payback for a move that MM made on him which was a copy of the one he made on CS? You are seriously reaching here, IMO.
And as I said at the time. why would he take that risk. He was catching at a rate of knots and there were plenty of laps to go. Why would VR risk going down the road for some imagined payback for a move that MM made on him which was a copy of the one he made on CS? You are seriously reaching here, IMO.
At the end of the day Rossi was past when MM came back at him and then contact was made. For it to be a deliberate punt why would VR pass him cleanly then have to rely on MM trying for a re-pass in order to "deliberately" take him out? What if MM had conceded after the initial pass? Seems way too convoluted to me,
Regarding Sepang, when MM accelerated he was as close to the edge of the track as he got - VR pushed him no further and at around the same time as MM accelerated VR looked ahead and accelerated too. So he defo realised at the point of acceleration how close to the track edge VR was going to push him because he was there. VR headed out of the corner, loosely following the track edge rather than heading more for the inside of the track as MM did. The apex had long been missed and the racing line after the corner is toward the outer edge of the track, so VRs route after the incident was not unlike that which a rider would take having run seriously wide at that corner.
This is where Gaz and michaelm's supposition that MM still has some vision issues begin to make sense. Possibly, allegedly, etc.
Regarding not cedeing an inch being foreign to MM - your 'avin a larf
Sure, he has taken out less riders than anyone on a per capita basis, in the time I have followed the sport, except perhaps Stoner in the premier class although the one crash caused by Stoner had rather severe consequences in terms of injuries to other riders.
Also De Puniet at Assen 2008, but that was a pure riding error on cold tyres on the first lap, with nothing Machiavellian involved (there are those who would perhaps see some irony in the subject of Machiavelli's famous "The Prince" substantially being Duke Valentino, aka Cesare Borgia).
). Remind me, where / when was that?Sometimes the impossible does happen though cf MM cutting the wire on Dani's bike last year; just because that incident was freakish doesn't let MM off imo, he was following Dani too closely for no apparent reason and with no room for error, and could as easily have hit Dani's wheel. As I have said, whatever happened in the end at Sepang was Rossi's fault also imo, he shouldn't have been there, and can't presume how MM will react to such a non-racing move. I don't believe he deliberately kicked out, or that he deliberately kicked the brake lever in particular, but the contact was due to Rossi's move and once it occurred became uncontrolled; even if MM's response was due to him being startled Valentino is still the cause.I was sure there was a DePuniet one where he lowsided into him, just couldn't remember where or when. Although un-intended, it was still Rossi's fault, as Jerez 2011 was.
I really don't remember an incident with Edwards & Hayden (too many years drinking Sav Blanc possibly
Regarding LS 2008, I was really referring to the corkscrew incident - without quick thinking and reactions from CS, VR would have skittled him. I'd agree that VR can't be blamed for Stoner's actual off track excursion at Laguna, except from a "mind games" POV, having hassled him so much to stop him riding away into the lead. But JPS thinks VR deliberately caused the Argentina incident this year, so....
I was trying to list all the incidents I could remember where Rossi was at fault in order to try to see if I could make any sense of JPS's comments. Motegi 2010 was a race that people have complained about, in particular the other rider in the battle, so it was in there; same with Laguna 2008.
I'd agree that Jerez 2005 was dirty and, as you know, I am in two minds as to how dirty Sepang 2015 actually was - yes VR was in the wrong and the penalty was justified under the rules, but to say he had an intent to cause MM to crash, not so, IMO.
Those that witter about VR kicking the brake lever need lessons in the laws of physics IMO. With the lever guard in place there is no way to get a foot inbetween the guard and the lever, especially when you are looking forward and your bike is accelerating (how ever little) away from the other bike. Even assuming it was possible to get it in there, how to get it out without getting it stuck and causing yourself to crash as well, becomes the next challenge!
It's why I have given much more serious consideration to you and Gaz thinking MM's vision still has issues - the fact MM claimed that the impossible had happened and Honda claimed they had data to show it had happened but then conveniently didn't want to release that data as it would pour fuel on the fire... It makes a lot more sense if MM & his employer are trying to draw attention away from the odd fact that MM appeared to deliberately ride into another bike at close to walking speeds, given his obvious skill on a bike. If he did have even occasional vision issues, and it came out, I presume he'd lose his race license...
It's quite amazing this is even debatable. But that's the odd world that Rossi fandom has created. A world where too many 'clean' overtaking moves is 'dirty' racing. Where not being able to pass a rider who's pattern of winning, won 7 flag to flag races, is proof of protecting him. Where winning a ....... race against the guy you are supposedly protecting is the spark that initiated all this suspicion. Its futile to argue with someone that believes Marquez is at fault in any shape or form once Rossi made the deliberate surprise attack on him to take him off the race line and while there manipulated the speed and position of his machine ultimately causing the victim to crash.
