Cycle News

IN THE WIND P16 WAR ERUPTS BETWEEN MARQUEZ AND ROSSI C ontroversy erupted during the Malaysian GP, October 25, when Valentino Rossi was accused of deliberately kicking out to push off Honda-mounted rival Marc Marquez, in a bitter continuation of a personal ven- detta he had begun on the eve of practice. The alleged kick came after the pair had been fiercely en- gaged, changing place count- less times, with a frustrated Rossi gesturing angrily to under- line the appearance of deliber- ate delaying tactics by Marquez. On lap seven of 20 of the Malaysian GP, as they entered a fast right-hander, Rossi, on the inside slowed markedly, pushing Marquez to the outside of the track. There was contact, and Marquez crashed out of a sixth race this year. Race Direction waited until after the race to review the inci- dent, and punished Rossi with three penalty points. The end result is that he will start the final GP at Valencia from the back row of the grid. Ironically, this was his 329th GP start, putting him one ahead of the previous record holder Loris Capirossi. Afterwards, Marquez de- nied he had been deliberately slowing Rossi, simply battling for position, and he was crystal clear in his accusation. He'd been surprised when Rossi had turned twice to look at him, but, "I did not expect him to take off his leg and push my handlebar and front brake," Marquez said. "For me it doesn't matter if you are Valentino or another rider—with this type of action it shows you are out of control." It could be because of the title pressure on Rossi, he said, but he pledged that this personal battle "can't go on any further." Rossi firmly denied that he had kicked out or even deliberately caused the crash, pronouncing himself "very disappointed" with the penalty points, which he of- ficially appealed, however race direction rejected it. "I did not kick him," he said. He had looked at the images with Race Direction, and said the helicopter view gave the lie to the side-on appearance of a kick. "From the helicopter, it is quite clear that I go wide. I don't want to say I did a normal corner—I wanted to go to him, slow down, and make him lose time. It is the only thing I could do, because in every braking he overtook me, slowed a lot in the corners, and didn't open the throttle in the straights. "When I slow down, slow down, slow down and I go to cut his line, we touch. He touched me with the handlebar on my left leg, and it is for that reason he crashed. "You can see frame-by-frame that when I lose the foot on the footpeg Marquez is already down, he has already crashed." Michael Scott Rossi and Marquez's war reached a dizzying new height in Malaysia.

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