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VOLUME 56 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 P141 and very narrowly outsmart the youngster. Maverick Vinales's Yamaha was, by the end, a very close third, and then came Rossi and his protégé Franco Morbidelli. It was a great ride by both Marquez and Quartararo. But the booing of the yellow army was as if the win had somehow been unsporting, and achieved at the expense of the local hero. I'm not sure how Rossi feels about it. He has in the past deplored the booing from his fans, and it's nice to think he's enough of a sporting gent to mean it. At the same time, he's a self-confessed ruthless killer, who has never taken kindly to any other riders treading on his turf. Back when he was supreme, Max Biaggi was a major target for his scorn, skilfully expressed, so that he swept a tide of agree- ment along with him. Next it was the turn of Sete Gibernau. Rossi tortured and teased him, and finally accused him of being "a spy, after the Italian was put to the back of the grid at Qatar when his team illegally laid rubber down on his grid position. "He will never win another race," he said, famously. And correctly. Next it was former friend Marco Melandri, who was left bemused by the hostility. Rossi could beat all three of them. It's been different with Marquez, but the long-term vendetta has continued all the same as the younger rider has increasingly outstripped him on the track. Seemingly, it hurts. The history has been spec- tacular ever since the first public fall-out in Malaysia in 2015. At that time, Rossi was leading the championship from Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo by 13 points. Marquez was out of touch. Then, before the Sepang race, Rossi unaccountably accused Marquez of plotting against him to help Lorenzo win the championship. He worked this out in spite of the fact that Marquez had actually beaten Lorenzo in Australia, damaging his countryman's chances by five points. Come Sunday, Rossi engaged in an extraordinary exercise of baulking and blocking the Honda rider. Then kicked him off (did he, or didn't he?) and out of the race. Repsol Honda's plans for a public denunciation at the next race, the final round in Valencia, were mysteriously cancelled at the last minute. But the back-of- the-grid penalty given to Rossi cost him the championship by a slender five points. The episode was incompre- hensible, but it was Valentino who got most of the fans' sup- port. They loved him, and he was angry. Therefore he must be right. From there on the enmity simmered, usually expressed by public cold shouldering and once a refusal to shake hands, but now and then breaking the surface more obviously, but never more violently than in Ar- gentina last year. There, a clearly overwrought Marquez, who had stalled on the grid, made an ill-judged pass on Valentino and knocked him off. When he went to the pit to apologize, along with team boss Alberto Puig, both Rossi and his Yamaha team somewhat spite- fully turned their backs. Things had got a lot worse again. On-track hostility re-emerged at Rossi's home race, when he deliberately clashed with Mar- quez in qualifying, almost put- ting him down and then calmly turned the blame the other way, knowing he would carry the opinion of the Italian fans with him. A bit cynical, but that's fair enough. Nobody at this level goes racing to make friends. But it's also a bit sad, like he's having trouble letting go. Actually that's unfair. It's not Rossi to blame. He's very intel- ligent and plays a very clever game. It's the fans who can't let go, and it's Valentino who makes the money out of them. Sorry, but they're beginning to look—and to sound—like a bunch of suckers. CN