Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/661756
IN THE WIND P26 AND SO IT CONTINUES W ho was behind the booing and caterwauling at Lo- sail? Must be Valentino Rossi, hinted Jorge Lorenzo darkly, as reported by Spanish newspaper Marca. "The only person who can resolve this is not interested in doing so," he told the major Madrid daily publication. He didn't need to name names. Shortly before, at the pre-race conference, Lorenzo and fellow victim Marc Marquez had been given the chance to air their views on the conspicu- ously aimed fans' shouting at the opening round. "I don't like this in football and I don't like it in MotoGP," Marquez said. The importance was not "the color of the fans' shirts but how much they enjoy the race. I think most people enjoyed the Qatar race." Lorenzo wondered "what he had done wrong? Just risking our lives trying to be the best…" Then Rossi's turn, but he resisted a chance to admonish his over-vocal fans: "It wasn't me who created this situation." Michael Scott Time to build a bridge, boys. TAXMAN BEARS DOWN ON DORNA T he cloud over Dorna fi- nances and CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta lingered as the protest- ing Spaniard departed for South America, where he issued an indignant rebuttal of fresh accu- sations that had surfaced. Ezpeleta, fellow director Enrique Aldama, as well as the company, already face massive fines (3.9 mil- lion and 2.7 million Euros apiece) for adjudged tax evasion in 2003 and 2004, having lost their appeal against earlier conviction. Dorna continues to insist that this "leverage recapitaliza- tion" was a common and legiti- mate business practice. The latest attack comes from Spanish trade union Manos Limpias (Clean Hands), which requested Ezpeleta's provisional arrest. This was triggered by a complaint from Italian logistics company owner Pier Carlo Bot- tero, alleging further tax fraud. But Ezpeleta was quick to suggest a personal grudge: Bottero's company Sel had been deposed after many years of contracting to Dorna. A six-point rebuttal stated that Dorna was "not worried" about any charges, explaining that when they had replaced Sel with another logistics company in 2014 "for entrepreneurial rea- sons," Bottero had threatened legal action, only to be rebuffed by Italian courts. The allegations, said the statement, were "manifestly un- founded and false" and they had already instructed their own law- yers to "study and pursue legal action to defend [our] interests, image, prestige and reputation." Michael Scott "Wasn't me!" Carmelo Ezpeleta's copping it from all angles at the moment.