Truth. It really is fascinating this point has to be made on this forum, where supposedly there are knowledgable people who understand motorcycle road racing. Passing Bautista who was 2 second a lap slower was one thing, passing Lorenzo, who won his races this year exactly like this, was quite another! Hey look, Rossi passed a bunch of slow guys, therefore Valencia has a big passing lane. How dumb do you have to be to make this conclusion? None of them were going to fight back anyway, Rossi made sure that wouldn't happened with his epic whine and tongue lashings.
About the unique thin race line at Valencia: It doesn't mean people can't pass, it means that passing a guy for the lead, who is generally the fastest guy on the track is a special proposition! Hence why Oxley made a point of saying for the LEAD! Did he say, hey, you can't pass at Valencia for 5th place? I'm laughing thinking how this razor thin line isn't being understood here. In order for Marc to have attempted a pass on Lorenzo, who was practically at the limit, would have required Marquez to go off the race line. Why is this true? Because Lorenzo was occupying that ideal race line, and he wasn't going to move out of the way. So the best strategy for Marc was to be on his ..., push him to the limit, then if a mistake happened (that means going off the race line) then Marquez was there to make up the space! What does that mean in terms of racing? This means the rider then loses time when attempting a pass, because to go off the race line isn't ideal, the consequence is to lose time. So to gain the position, there has to be time made up somehow. Its simple mechanics. Therefore an extra risk must be taken to make up this time as a consequence of going off the ideal race line, in this case a very small narrow space. Is this risk possible, reasonable (and given the pace of the guy in front of you) worth the extraordinary action? This is why pointing out LAP TIME, as has been done on this thread means .... all!!! (Oh, I know the people pointing out Pedro and Marc's lap time won't understand this point.) This means the rider behind needs something to compensate for going off the ideal line. Either a better drive out of the corner or brake deeper into the corner, or just blow the braking marker and punt the rider, like Rossi did at Jerez 05. Lorenzo had them both covered. In fact this absurd idea that because Pedrosa had greater pace and riding the SAME equipment to then draw the conclusion-- therefore Marquez failed to attempt a pass, is mind boggling when you consider the observable fact that Pedrosa wasn't even able to pass his teammate. What happened when Pedrosa tried a pass? The answer is: Pedrosa, with his better pace still had to do something to gain the position, the simple mechanics of the action caused him to go wide. WHY? Because that was the consequence of trying to make up time and the space, the consequence was to go wide, that is how hard it is to pass when the guy in front of you is riding within similar pace combined with a THIN RACE LINE. Marquez then occupied that space, because again, Marquez was running a similar pace, at least fast enough to capitalize on Pedrosa going off the ideal line. WHY? WHY?
WHY?!!! Because that is the characteristic and consequence of a fine race line. Pedrosa was not able to execute a pass on Marquez! Yet Pedrosa had slightly greater pace, these are facts! So how in the sane world anybody would say Marquez was sandbagging by not passing Lorenzo, who had better drive is pure stupidity and or a failure to appreciate the pace at which Lorenzo was going. You see what is happening is that people are comparing a pass at other tracks or a pass in other conditions, for lower positions, not considering the stakes that were on the table either. If the question is, could have Marc made a bonsai lunge to attempt a pass, the answer is yes. The thing is people assume this would have stuck. Add to this, Marc was under orders, thanks to ..... ... Rossi and his Race Direction friends, not to do something stupid. And add to that, he had learned before Rossi's tainted of people's minds, that he needed to be more measure, as he admitted at the award show (that 'graceless' Rossi snubbed). That is the .... these fools can't get into their head. What they are thinking as a failure for Marc to attempt a typical Marquez pass was no longer on the table. Again, thanks to ..... ... Rossi who put a chilling effect on spirited racing, because he no longer like it. They expected Marquez to bonsai like he did at Jerez. Except imagine if he had done that to Rossi? Oh lord, the internet would have broken, and a petition to lynch Marquez wouldn't have been needed, they would have invaded the track and clubbed him to death on the spot! Could Marquez have done that? Yes, anybody can. Just blow the braking marker. Is that a clean pass attempt? No. I seriously don't think the racing line is being understood here and what that means for the mechanics of a pass. Now add to this Lorenzo's pace. To say Pedrosa or Marquez passing Lorenzo would have been a given is absurd to the nth degree. Not only was Pedrosa not able to pass his own teammate on the "same" equipment, but think about what Lorenzo would have been capable of doing to preserve his championship.
I'm reminded of the movie, Morons in Space. "Morons, I'm surrounded by Morons!"
