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So I guess Smith doesn't want a contract extension.

Rossi_fan said:
Bottom of the article. Why would you say something that goes against Yamaha or a Yamaha rider when your on the Yamaha team? Even if it's true, keep it to yourself.

MotoGP News - MotoGP Assen: Espargaro: Looks like anything goes on last corner
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I'd guess that he probably is not a fan of motorcycle racing as a contact sport.

When you look at the larger picture, this opens a door to more contact since MM is going to be sure to try and return the favor since he believes in his own legend of greatness.
 
It's an asinine comment, frankly.

To assume that Rossi wanted to get hit on the final corner not knowing the degree of impact, especially with a championship and win on the line, doesn't make sense. Valentino is not reckless.

Rossi went off the track because Marquez collided with him during a turn at maximum (or close to maximum) lean. How you could expect an impact at that point and in that vulnerable position is too dangerous. Valentino would have had to stick to the side of MM to avoid the gravel.

I have trouble believing that Rossi really wanted to ride through the gravel trap, or he wanted to risk a two-bike crash to save five points, with the other rider seventy points down in the championship.
 
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HEISMAN said:
It's an asinine comment, frankly.

To assume that Rossi wanted to get hit on the final corner not knowing the degree of impact, especially with a championship and win on the line, doesn't make sense. Valentino is not reckless.

Rossi went off the track because Marquez collided with him during a turn at maximum (or close to maximum) lean. How you could expect an impact at that point and in that vulnerable position is too dangerous. Valentino would have had to stick to the side of MM to avoid the gravel.

I have trouble believing that Rossi really wanted to ride through the gravel trap, or he wanted to risk a two-bike crash to save five points, with the other rider seventy points down in the championship.
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I don't think he wanted to ride through the gravel trap, but I do think he had an escape plan in case he felt any contact.
 
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HEISMAN said:
It's an asinine comment, frankly.

To assume that Rossi wanted to get hit on the final corner not knowing the degree of impact, especially with a championship and win on the line, doesn't make sense. Valentino is not reckless.

Rossi went off the track because Marquez collided with him during a turn at maximum (or close to maximum) lean. How you could expect an impact at that point and in that vulnerable position is too dangerous. Valentino would have had to stick to the side of MM to avoid the gravel.

I have trouble believing that Rossi really wanted to ride through the gravel trap, or he wanted to risk a two-bike crash to save five points, with the other rider seventy points down in the championship.
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Agree... tho I do firmly believe (given MM's history) that Rossi was not the least surprised. Doubtless, he and his crew reviewed videos from practice and could not help but note that Marquez was in fact practicing that exact move in the chicane over and over again. MM virtually telegraphed his intentions to anyone who was paying attention - well before the actual race. Rossi was well prepared. I reckon he was willing to take a calculated risk that was well within his comfort zone, in order to show MM that he is still skilled and supremely confident and not going to give an inch. So in that respect you could say that it was "virtually" as if he had set the whole thing up. MM was hoist by his own petard. The intention to save his tires and pass Rossi there was his whole game plan. After seeing MM showboating at Laguna Seca by cutting the corner in the corkscrew ala Rossi - I've felt that on some level it was more important in an Oedipal kind of way - for him to beat Rossi - than it was to win races.
 
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In any case Smith is entitled to his view, even if his view seems to be devoid of any logic. Or perhaps he is so overawed by Rossi that he actually believes that it is possible for VR to have planned and executed a plan that was incredibly high risk and had a very low probability of having a positive outcome. Same goes for Toseland, although I think his view is based purely on wanting to say something controversial so as to not to appear to be boring (he has and always will have the personality of a wheel of cheese) and poor value for money. I don't think Toseland actually believes his own words.

More important is the whole theory that Rossi is some sort of mind gaming master. I don't think this is particularly true, and if it IS true, it is amateurish at best. I just think that his rivals, in this case Marc, get all bent out of shape, and Rossi just has to be his smug old self and plead ignorance which is immensely annoying in itself.
 
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ratdeal said:
I just think that his rivals, in this case Marc, get all bent out of shape, and Rossi just has to be his smug old self and plead ignorance which is immensely annoying in itself.
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:lol:
 
ratdeal said:
In any case Smith is entitled to his view, even if his view seems to be devoid of any logic. Or perhaps he is so overawed by Rossi that he actually believes that it is possible for VR to have planned and executed a plan that was incredibly high risk and had a very low probability of having a positive outcome. Same goes for Toseland, although I think his view is based purely on wanting to say something controversial so as to not to appear to be boring (he has and always will have the personality of a wheel of cheese) and poor value for money. I don't think Toseland actually believes his own words.

More important is the whole theory that Rossi is some sort of mind gaming master. I don't think this is particularly true, and if it IS true, it is amateurish at best. I just think that his rivals, in this case Marc, get all bent out of shape, and Rossi just has to be his smug old self and plead ignorance which is immensely annoying in itself.
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Hmmm...Tose is up to no good here. The dubious top knot at Le Mans was even worse than Nicky's Assen atrocity, which is saying something given such tragic tonsorial topiary and his penchant for ..... hairstyles over the years. There's no doubt that our James seems to have more than a soft spot for Abi while Katie's out on tour - Craig Doyle in another toe curling cringeworthy moment even alluded to it live on air to which they both went redder than a pair of panigale's. The producers have not only separated them since then but Abi seems to be relegated to a brief appearance on the grid come race day under the vigilant and avuncular chaperoning skills of Hodgy...who seems quietly amused by it all.

I wish they'd send Neil and James out on track together. Last year at Aragon in the middle of filming his lap, Hodgy encountered the Hoff and they started racing each other. England 1 - Germany 0. Not often I get to type that.
 
Arrabbiata1 said:
Last year at Aragon in the middle of filming his lap, Hodgy encountered the Hoff and they started racing each other. England 1 - Germany 0. Not often I get to type that.
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Any video of this? That's gotta be the 'dog bollocks' (did I use it correctly) to watch!
 
A man in his thirties, without even a fannies wiff of style should not be rocking a cinnamon bun. It wasn't even ironic! I reckon Melua kicked him out of bed and down to the nearest garden centre for a pair of hedge shears.

And those pillocks chasing female co-presenters around the paddock! Get Ben Spies on the show. He looks like the kind of guy who pretends he wouldn't know hot female at 40 paces. That is until he's caught on the after race show poking his head out of a hospitality hot tub enjoying the fruits of Monster's labour...
 
HEISMAN said:
It's an asinine comment, frankly.

To assume that Rossi wanted to get hit on the final corner not knowing the degree of impact, especially with a championship and win on the line, doesn't make sense. Valentino is not reckless.

Rossi went off the track because Marquez collided with him during a turn at maximum (or close to maximum) lean. How you could expect an impact at that point and in that vulnerable position is too dangerous. Valentino would have had to stick to the side of MM to avoid the gravel.

I have trouble believing that Rossi really wanted to ride through the gravel trap, or he wanted to risk a two-bike crash to save five points, with the other rider seventy points down in the championship.
Click to expand...
I think Valentino had a plan to proceed as he did if Marc tried such a move on the corner which he probably was expecting; hardly reprehensible as the alternatives were crashing out of the race or conceding the corner and finishing second.

That he would have wanted or initiated contact is fanciful imo, as has been said the degree of contact is not controllable when there are 2 parties involved, although MM does have a record of making moves which appear reckless and careless (and probably are) but with enough control that he doesn't take himself or others out, not that he manages this invariably as Jumkie says.

Bottom line is that MM was not on a trajectory at his velocity to make the corner, Valentino was before MM hit him, end of story. Same applies to MM at Jerez in 2013 or Rossi at Jerez in 2005 imo.

As somebody perceptively said elsewhere, whilst the Sete last corner thing was dirty (it wasn't really dangerous imo) Valentino did not go so far as blaming Sete for the incident after the race.
 
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Most individuals with a modicum of sense have agreed that MM made an error not borne of riding incompetence, but poor decision making. To question whether or not VR caused a collision as part of a master plan is quite frankly, ridiculous. Bradley is considered one of the more astute riders in the paddock so I'd expect him to leave the Rossi lust at the door. Disappointing really.

The real question here if we assume I am correct (I don't think my assessment is groundless), when will Marquez learn to ride in a more considered manner if the rules clearly are written to protect the spectacle at all costs. And if the onus is on himself or HRC to ride more sensibly (and his reported complaints that HRC weren't backing him when he wished to lodge complaint would suggest he wields more power than once thought) then what will it take for him to adapt. Clearly he holds a warped perception of his actions when faced with criticism, and if this continues we are either going to see someone hurt, or he will suffer an internal crisis as his level of self-belief as it stands is bordering on the pathological.

His pattern of behaviour can't be reinforced by the organisers and HRC if we are to have a championship won on merit, and not compromised by his actions. And if we are to enjoy watching Marquez and his peers in the long term sans serious injury something must be done to curb his tendencies toward making rash decisions in the heat of battle.
 
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Keshav said:
Agree... tho I do firmly believe (given MM's history) that Rossi was not the least surprised. Doubtless, he and his crew reviewed videos from practice and could not help but note that Marquez was in fact practicing that exact move in the chicane over and over again. MM virtually telegraphed his intentions to anyone who was paying attention - well before the actual race. Rossi was well prepared. I reckon he was willing to take a calculated risk that was well within his comfort zone, in order to show MM that he is still skilled and supremely confident and not going to give an inch. So in that respect you could say that it was "virtually" as if he had set the whole thing up. MM was hoist by his own petard. The intention to save his tires and pass Rossi there was his whole game plan. After seeing MM showboating at Laguna Seca by cutting the corner in the corkscrew ala Rossi - I've felt that on some level it was more important in an Oedipal kind of way - for him to beat Rossi - than it was to win races.
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This is interesting. I watched some of Free Practice and I did not gather that Marquez was preparing for a final turn pass, at least I don't recall the commentators mentioning anything about it. In the Press Conference he did mention that he stalked Valentino all race to 'study very well where he can prepare to overtake' him.

I find it surprising he was so open about his intentions, but his post race comments seems to verify what people have been saying. From another article, a commenter pointed out that we've finally have confirmation, straight from the horse's mouth, that Marquez bullies opponents when overtaking. I believe they were referring to especially this statement, "during all the race I had studied perfectly the last chicane, to put the bike on the correct place, to not give the space to him, but okay, I didn't expect that he will cut [the corner]! In the end, what I feel is that we won the race but now for it doesn't matter."
- MotoGP News - MotoGP Assen: Marquez: I feel that we won the race

In essence, he was planning on forcing on Rossi between a rock and a hard place by basically closing the door on him at the next turn, where Rossi would be placed on the inside line. Marquez then expecting him to back out of it, but that's not what occurred. Marc instead received a role reversal of his intention, one turn earlier, only Marc didn't back out of it and created contact.

Also to add:
All great riders learn how to plan for contingencies to help them keep the bike on two wheels when the circumstances arrive. I just can't buy anyone who would deliberately put themselves in a position to take and expect a hit. Rossi went through the gravel to prevent the bike from ending up in a less desirable place...on the floor.
 
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The aerial shot seems to show MM snapping once he and Rossi 'pinch' which then steps the bike up and he runs wide...might have have made the corner better had he not ben pinched? Just a though and not making excuses for him of course.
 
ratdeal said:
And those pillocks chasing female co-presenters around the paddock! Get Ben Spies on the show. He looks like the kind of guy who pretends he wouldn't know hot female at 40 paces. That is until he's caught on the after race show poking his head out of a hospitality hot tub enjoying the fruits of Monster's labour...
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So "I guess Smith doesn't want a ..... extension?"
 

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