CN
III IN THE PADDOCK
P110
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
T
he fact that old stager
Valentino Rossi led the
championship race after
race was already surreal. His
fight with Marc Marquez, and its
ever-growing consequences,
projects the whole World Cham-
pionship soap opera firmly into
the Theatre of the Absurd.
The news that an Italian TV
crew had a scuffle with Mar-
quez and family outside his
home at Cervera (the satirical
show's hosts were there to
present the Spaniard with the
"Coppia di Minchia," which
loosely translates as "A crock
of shit") is just the latest in an
extraordinary chain of events.
And they keep accelerating to-
wards...who knows what, but it
won't be settled until long after
the final race.
It came on the same day as
a sensational and unequivo-
cal statement from HRC big
cheese Shuhei Nakamoto, the
executive vice president who
runs the Repsol Honda show.
Analysis of data proves,
he states, "that even though
[Marquez] was picking up the
bike trying to avoid contact with
Valentino, his front brake lever
suddenly received an impact
that locked the front tire, which
is the reason for his crash. We
believe that this pressure was a
result of Rossi's kick."
DID HE DIVE OR WAS HE KICKED?
