VOL. 52 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 10, 2015 P43
Briefly...
Yamaha cancelled a Saturday night
"All-Star" gala dinner. This was to
have been a highlight of their 60th
anniversary celebrations, with cham-
pions from all motorcycle sport disci-
plines flown in for the party. Instead,
in the midst of the furore after the
Sepang debacle, it was cancelled
with just three days to go. A state-
ment from Yamaha Racing chief Lin
Jarvis stated: "The reason for the our
decision is because Yamaha wishes
to concentrate all of our efforts to
provide our full support to both Val-
entino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo as
they challenge each other to de-
termine who will finally be crowned
2015 champion.
A very threatening race-day pro-
nouncement from Dorna had more
than a hint of the jackboot. It was an
instruction to photographers not to
go on track post-race to photograph
any winning rider's celebrations, or
whatever else might happen. Larded
with capital letters, it read: "For the
sake of everyone's safety and to
maintain a good image of the sport, it
is of VITAL importance that you STAY
in the service road and DO NOT go
out to the track, grass, or any other
area where the celebrating rider is
going. If we see you on the Race
Control cameras or on the Interna-
tional Feed program, YOU WILL BE
PENALIZED by not receiving accred-
itation in the future and your pass will
be removed immediately."
Rossi's hopes for his penalty to
be suspended pending Court of
Arbitration for Sport judgement
came crashing down before hostili-
ties resumed at Valencia. While the
court will consider the case in due
that gave Jorge the half-second
advantage that put him narrowly
out of reach.
Marquez was 0.263 of a sec-
ond adrift at the end, with Dani
less than half a second behind.
But why, asked Rossi rhetorical-
Even though the Spaniard's ex-
planation was plausible: that he'd
been planning an attack in the
last laps, as at Indianapolis, but
that when Pedrosa caught up a
two-second gap and passed him
briefly on the penultimate lap,
continued on next page
