2015 Sepang MotoGP Qualifying Practice Result: Records Smashed And Tension Raised

By David Emmett | Sat, 24/10/2015 - 07:00

Results and summary of qualifying for MotoGP:

Dani Pedrosa has taken a blistering pole at Sepang, destroying the existing record held by Jorge Lorenzo by half a second. The Repsol Honda rider went out a little later than the rest, having chosen to go for a one-stop strategy and not a two-stop, like most of the rest, and on his very first flying lap smashed the pole record. It is his first pole since Barcelona in 2014.

Repsol Honda teammate Marc Marquez took 2nd on the grid, the Spaniard going out early and going quickly on his first lap. Changing rear tires for his second run proved to be problematic, as he pushed the front and had a massive moment at Turn 12, completely losing the front wheel and yet somehow remaining on the bike. He improved on his final lap, but could get nowhere near his teammate.

Marquez also managed to stoke the fires of conspiracy, leading Jorge Lorenzo out of the pits, and allowing the Movistar Yamaha rider to set his fastest time behind him. Whether Marquez did it intentionally or not is unclear, as is whether he did it in response to Valentino Rossi's accusations on Thursday, but it will only have increased the tension between the two.

The spat certainly seems to have inspired Valentino Rossi. The Italian looked to be starting from 4th tomorrow, but an inspired last lap saw him just pip his teammate at the end, grabbing a front row start and taking 3rd. Rossi will have inspired his own set of conspiracy theories, following Andrea Iannone out for his first flying lap, but then setting his quickest flying lap on his own.

Jorge Lorenzo will head up the second row of the grid, though he thought that he had 3rd in the bag. Lorenzo could not improve on his fastest time in his last two runs. He rolled into pit lane and headed to Parc Fermé, where he was waved back to his pit box, much to his surprise. Rossi had snatched 3rd from Lorenzo after the Spaniard had finished, and he had not realized.

Cal Crutchlow put in an impressive performance to start from 5th on the grid. The LCR Honda rider was half a second slower than the front four, and just edged ahead of Andrea Iannone on the Ducati, who took 6th.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time Diff Diff Previous
1 26 Dani Pedrosa Honda 1'59.053    
2 93 Marc Marquez Honda 1'59.462 0.409 0.409
3 46 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'59.726 0.673 0.264
4 99 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1'59.737 0.684 0.011
5 35 Cal Crutchlow Honda 2'00.199 1.146 0.462
6 29 Andrea Iannone Ducati 2'00.224 1.171 0.025
7 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 2'00.423 1.370 0.199
8 25 Maverick Viñales Suzuki 2'00.478 1.425 0.055
9 38 Bradley Smith Yamaha 2'00.652 1.599 0.174
10 8 Hector Barbera Ducati 2'00.724 1.671 0.072
11 41 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki 2'00.724 1.671 0.000
12 44 Pol Espargaro Yamaha 2'00.794 1.741 0.070
Q1
Q2 25 Maverick Viñales Suzuki 2'00.753    
Q2 38 Bradley Smith Yamaha 2'00.765 0.012 0.012
13 9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 2'01.223 0.470 0.458
14 6 Stefan Bradl Aprilia 2'01.346 0.593 0.123
15 45 Scott Redding Honda 2'01.367 0.614 0.021
16 43 Jack Miller Honda 2'01.725 0.972 0.358
17 19 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 2'01.727 0.974 0.002
18 68 Yonny Hernandez Ducati 2'01.748 0.995 0.021
19 69 Nicky Hayden Honda 2'01.829 1.076 0.081
20 76 Loris Baz Yamaha Forward 2'01.862 1.109 0.033
21 24 Toni Elias Yamaha Forward 2'02.415 1.662 0.553
22 50 Eugene Laverty Honda 2'02.460 1.707 0.045
23 63 Mike Di Meglio Ducati 2'02.964 2.211 0.504
24 13 Anthony West Honda 2'03.855 3.102 0.891
25 55 Damian Cudlin ART 2'06.051 5.298 2.196

 

2015
17
MotoGP
Sepang, Malaysia
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Comments

Curious incidents!

1) Rossi annoyed at Marquez behind him 2) Iannone dragging Rossi round 3) Rossi getting 3rd place on his own 4) Lorenzo not realising pulling into Parc Fermé 5) Little tap on a backside from Marquez in Parc Fermé.

What a candy plate! A monster lap from Pedrosa, an impressive save from Marquez, and of course, the drama of Rossi vs. Lorenzo with a "thrill of the win" for one, and agony of "defeat" for the other. Edit: And a little bit of conspiracy fodder too, with Iannone and Rossi riding together.

Much admiration to the TV director too, as the middle of the session felt like watching an action movie, with great cuts between on-track action through sweeping curves, and exciting on-board close-ups*.

*Lorenzo lays down cat-fashion on the tank on the straights, and I couldn't help but laugh at the reappearance (?) of Rossi's turtle sticker. I'm really enjoying the novel views.

It ain't over 'till it's over... It still feels like anything could happen. Good stuff. :)

That lap from Dani was brutal!!

Marc actually looks like little angry and insulted kid. I really hope this drama does not blow in to Rossi face.

Anyway usual leading charge from Lorenzo is extremely unlikely. Will be interesting to see what will Marc do if Dani starts to run away from rest. Playing cat and mouse with Rossi/Lorenzo ...or will actually be interested to try and win?

We have interesting race ahead of us.

I hope.

LP

chummy gestures at practice start. Pedrosa is a Spanish gentleman, is he disappointed at MM's punk antics? Regardless, an incredible lap by #26, hopefully he gets his old lightning start and can ride for the win!

My gut says the Hondas may get away fast, but they will come back to the Yamahas. And quite possibly the one with the 46 on it first.

The devil showed his teeth before the weekend started, my gut says he's going to bare them in this race.......

Now it all comes down to the warm up, the race and heaven forbid, the traditional Sepang 15H00 cloud burst.
Surely this one should be the usual 4 horseman of the apocalypse showdown.
Statistically, the chances of another PI are zero unless race direction and the FIM conspire to give the top 4 a 5 second jump start advantage for the spectacle.
In other words, allow the top 4 to launch when the lights turn red and the rest hold up till they turn green!
That's not going to happen, so a gaggle of quick Ducati's and a sattelite Honda could really spoil the party early on and allow 2 or 3 to get away.
A shout out for young Maverick and old Hector, they have done sterling work for their teams this season.

...and now he's begging for tows? Marquez' attitude is very questionable, to say the least. In PI he was clearly "managing" his pace (see practice vs race lap times), he had no overheating issues during practice and if this had happened in the race for some reason the lap time chart would have looked very different, not like an on/off grip switch. Now he lets JL slipstream him in QP? What's going on? Why did his team rush to cover his rear tyre after the race in PI? What were they hiding? Very unfair play.

Rossi's suspicions are more than well founded and I'm disappointed by David's opinion, he should have looked further into this before writing that piece. Rossi may not be a saint but he certainly doesn't have a record of talking crap and deserved at least the benefit of the doubt. He's not worried about anybody getting "in his head", he just doesn't want to have someone deliberately trying to slow him down on the track.

I don't think MM93 did any practice runs on Philip Island long enough to overheat the tires, assuming that that only happened on lap 22 and that the rest of his slow laps were uncharacteristic (and weirdly timed) mistakes.
But I think MM93 was the only rider (of the top) to go slower on race than on FP4.
Maybe he was just trying to have himself a legendary battle more than helping JL99.

I can only imagine David Emmet examined all the available info and data before taking a position. Effectively, you're saying you're disappointed he didn't echo yours. Rossi is a massive sh1t stirrer. Always has been. He's also 36. The various theories being bandied about are all plausible. I suspect it would take access to either MM's or VR's inner circle to be able to start ruling some of them out. It's David Emmet's blog and so he's entitled to tell it the way he sees it. Given the length of his round-ups, one thing I would have thought he could not be accused of is not looking into things.

There is no mechanical or tyre issue that can result in MM's lap time patterns in PI. Someone posted a proper time chart of the top 4 guys and it is obvious he was trying to control his distance from Lorenzo while backing up VR and AI. It's not really a matter of opinion if you look at the data properly, it's obvious. I expected David to do this, rather than count tales about people getting in VR's head. It has NOTHING to do with that.

Well, no. Actually the lap times suggest nothing other than that there was a fierce battle going on between four bikes on almost equal pace. Marquez tried to get away, couldn't, dropped back and produced a stunning final lap.

There really is nothing else to it. It is really starting to annoy me now how Rossi has managed to taint one of the best races of the last 10 years with this completely fabricated story.

maybe rossi should ask for the race to be divided into two: one between lorenzo and him, and the other among the remaining riders. or, he could just man up and deal with not being able to make a pass stick as shown at PI last weekend.

I spent a long time looking at lap charts, sector times, rewatching key parts of the race. You see Marquez running wide a couple of times, especially into Turn 1 (I noted that in the race notes I type as I watch every race), he lost time there a couple of times. When you see how close the racing was - Marc Marquez made 16 passes during this race, remember - it is entirely reasonable to attribute fluctuating lap times to battles on track. Laps never happen in a vacuum.

The only time his lap times really dropped is when he was leading the race, which is exactly the time when he said his tires dropped off. I also looked at previous examples, I found one quote from Bradley Smith at Brno when he said he did the same thing with a rear, and I seem to recall him saying something similar at a more recent race about the front tire, but couldn't find it.

I based my opinion on what I saw. If you don't like my opinion, there are lots of others on the internet. If you think I do a bad job, or don't put enough thought or effort into these articles, then there are plenty of other websites about motorcycle racing on the internet.

We don't all have to agree and surely the comment section is the place for debate.

See for yourselves:

http://c1.staticflickr.com/1/586/22215671878_f7d7910e4d_b.jpg

Now go to the official website and look at Marquez' FP times and complete absence of any tyre issues. The first time he starts backing up VR and AI is as soon as JL is leading. He helps JL create some gap then suddenly takes off after him, but shortly after overtaking him he sees VR and AI have caught up with JL and backs them up again for a few laps until launching his final attack in the last lap. Sadly, in hindsight, the whole race was a sham.

Your relentlessly blinkered comments are the perfect example of why Rossi's seemingly bonkers accusations against someone who is not his actual title rival at this moment in time were absolutely brilliant. No matter what happened or will happen, no matter what thorough research and data analysis such as from David will say, i.e. the complete lack of evidence, Rossi has once again managed to taint all of it in a manner that will make him come out on top in the minds of people like you. Either he is the "victim of unfair racing" if he doesn't win the title, with everyone else just out to get one over him, or he heroically prevails in the face of injustice against him and is once again the greatest of all time.

There's no way anyone else can just win against him fair and square, is there?

I'm being scientific. We have data and a clear theory that is consistent with it, backed by people who know a bit more than anybody posting here, including Ianonne himself or commentators like Ben Spies.

If you think this is all a coincidence and the random result of fair racing and/or the overheating "story", and everything else are "conspiracies", fine, but then the likelihood of having this data in that case is about <0.001%, the scientific equivalent to talk bollocks.

but the unilateralism you seem to be throwing as accusation seems to be plaguing you as well. In life, between black and white there is a huge gray area which is usually greater than black and white put together. In our case, the weird fluctuation of Marquez's times (which seemed to rise only when in front of Rossi -did we ever witness "tyre overheat" when behind Rossi? - no, despite Rossi putting-in some pretty impressive laps, some of which faster than Lorenzo's best lap) in the race together with the tow to Lorenzo today may be pointing to something but of course, still not in an irrefutable way - probably we'll never know.

Yet, despite all this "grayness" you seem to be sure that Rossi "tainted all of it".

As a final remark I'll say that normally I wouldn't intervene, but I really hate it when people play the "objective" card when in fact they are wholeheartedly at the opposite side and are ready to interpret events and facts in a way that only supports their own preconceptions.

Motorcycle racing doesn't happen in a vacuum. Lap times only mean something if there are no other riders involved. When you have four riders battling, strange things happen. 52 passes in total, remember.

Worth looking at the lap times from races like Sachsenring 2006, which had similar levels of battling. Same kind of variation in lap times.

The Turn 1 is one of the things that keeps me from making my mind, he ran wide several times when ahead of Rossi but not fighting the position. Perhaps I'm overestimating Marq but that seems strange. I also find it very suspicious that those mistakes all came while ahead of Rossi and while catching up to Lorenzo.

The other question that trouble me is: Why was his pace so much slower than on FP4 (around 0.5 sec), everyone else was faster than FP4.

In any case, given that very knowledgeable people can't agree on what happened, I don't think it's possible to know, and I find the more plausible explanation for VR46 behavior to be that he really thinks Marq was slowing him down.

I have no doubt that Rossi truly believes that Marquez was trying to hold him up. It's just that I can't see the case he has made as compelling. It doesn't mean he is wrong, but I think he is seeing things from a particular perspective, which makes him come to a specific conclusion.

The more interesting question is not why did Rossi think Marquez was doing this, but when did he first start to suspect that Marquez wanted Lorenzo to win the championship instead of him? Things like this don't just arrive in an instant, they build in the background for a long time.

Surely we all see things from a particular perspective. I don't know Marquez' motivation to do this, but I don't think Rossi needs more background to it than the PI race itself. Whether their battles in Argentina and Assen triggered Marquez' current attitude or an ambition to beat Rossi's records we don't know, that's the debatable part of Rossi's statements. I don't know what to think. Time will tell. But for now, all I want to see is a fair battle between VR and JL.

lorenzo will be on track just like rossi. the rest of the grid will be there also. that's as fair as it gets. rossi has just about always had success in a dogfight. perhaps, he has lost some of his racecraft and is a bit frustrated. it's up to him to make a pass stick, not marquez giving him free reign over the racetrack. it's called racing. get over it.

First of all this is my first comment and having just found this site i have to say the write ups and analysis are second to none! Especially like the friday round up, really helps build a picture and background going through the race weekend...

Anyway, that point about rossi losing the on track battle in PI, i wouldn't say he was losing his racecraft, but he certainly isn't used to losing a battle like he did at aragon or PI, and with those points being so cruicial, and this maybe being his best shot at a tenth world title, perhaps he's just getting slightly paranoid?

We can only imagine the pressure he's under and being so close but just missing out to the other riders would be frustrating beyond belief!

The data that keeps being refered to doesnt really prove anything, as David said other riders interfering can produce that kind of lap chart, but to somebody already having thoughts that marquez would like to see lorezo win the title it could be enough to convince them that he would go out of his way to hold him up.

Either way he just needs to focus on beating lorenzo here so he has a nice points lead going into valencia, and looking at his friday pace hes got every chance ( as much as i hate to say it being a lorenzo fan )

Come on sunday!!

Marquez has 2 GP championships already. If Rossi wins, that's 1 more he will need to take to beat the old Hen's 8. If Lorenzo wins he will "only" have 3. Marquez is aiming to have well more than 3.

I mean, whether this is 100% true or not, I see the validity of the claim. Rossi's explanation to the Italian media was much more level-headed and thoughtful than it seemed in English.

I thought your dissection of it all was very good and thorough, David. And I think that his motivation might literally have just been "It seems this way to me, therefore I need to get it off my chest."

Also, one thing that sticks out to me giving some validity: it's often said by both his mechanics and other riders that Valentino can tell you exactly what happened, where and why; not only on his bike, but the bike(s) he's following.

"Also, one thing that sticks out to me giving some validity: it's often said by both his mechanics and other riders that Valentino can tell you exactly what happened, where and why; not only on his bike, but the bike(s) he's following."

Worked incredibly well for him while riding that Ducati right? Rossi is a man like all men that are highly skilled in an area they can infer information from what they see. But like all men they can also wrongly infer the cause.

Yes, much more interesting than the PI accusation was the things he was getting off his chest. I don't know what it says about MM93 but shows how far back VR46 has been taking notes. There were also statements in practices & early races this year by Marc that had me wonder. After Assen when his title chase was improbable & later when impossible he kept mentioning results in relation to Rossi such as coming in ahead of him instead of his nearest championship rival. If he was not battling with Vale for the title it is possible he may have his own personal objective to beat Vale from there on out. Just a theory. Something personal Vale as his target may pick up on if not part of the title points race itself.

I think Rossi was off on his conclusion of Marc trying to help Jorge at PI. He & Iannone who where right in it thought something was up. So did the very educated opinion of Ben Spies as an observer. He very well have had much more in reserve while he raced at VR & AI's pace. It could have been exactly as Marc described though. He could save his tires for a late push, keeping Jorge in reach while VR & AI in check. That might give te appearance to those fighting with him that he was holding them & letting JL go. When JL started to get a gap & the laps were getting low he had to dispatch the others & try to close JL down. To me that's the most plausible explanation. Rossi's theory & others since then assume motive with little reward in PI & control over unknowns Marc likely doesn't have. Vale & Iannone may be brilliant racers but Sherlock Holmes they aren't.

Interesting stuff, really enjoyed reading all of the opinions. I don't agree with having a pop and David for his opinion however. I myself don't buy into Marc's claim that he was running into tyre trouble. On the lap that I really noticed it during the race Marc and Vale were reeling Jorge in by 3-5 tenths per lap consistently for a few laps (with Vale around a tenth or two quicker than Marc at the time although we don't know if Marc was pushing to his max, Vale probably was) then Marc dropped his pace lapping nearly 1 second slower from one lap to the next without any real mistakes. I feel pretty convinced that Marc was backing Vale up. What I don't know are his motives. At the time when watching the race I thought that he was backing Rossi into Iannone so that they would start battling, he knew Rossi would get swamped on the straight and I thought that it was to drop Vale to give him a straight fight between himself and Jorge. I probably still believe this was the case and to be honest whilst it's frustrating for Vale whilst in a championship fight I think it was quite clever and I don't really have a problem with it. Perhaps there is more to it than that, I suspect we will never know, I wouldn't rule it out, that is for sure. I also think that a rider or Vale's experience and talent can easily tell the difference between a rider backing off a bit to save tyres or a rider struggling with tyres to someone who is deliberately slowing to hold them up or back them up. Even in the relatively low level racing I have done you can just tell the difference. So I have little doubt that Marc was backing Vale up, maybe Marc was simply looking after his own race which just happened to be detrimental to Vale's which is fair enough or maybe he was actively seeking to detriment Rossi's race which probably isn't fair enough, either way if I was Valentino in this crucial stage of the championship I would be p*ssed off.
The second point of discussion which is Valentino's motives for making his anger so public, I don't really understand why people are so confused. To me it seems obvious that he is bringing this to light to try to make Marc think twice about doing it again, whether that will work or not is a different matter but I think this part is as simple as that

I don't necessarily agree with "Someone's" conspiracy theory. But at this level of sport, whether it's deflated footballs, or video taping opponent's practices, or cork in bats, anything is possible. But I'm replying to your comment to tell "Someone" he should agree with David or not post to the blog. That's BS. I like this website, I like David's writing, but he posts a public blog, he charges for advertising, he accepts money for merchandise and for site support. "Someone" has the right to disagree without being asked to leave. If you're going to post a public blog, you shoudn't have thin skin.

I regard the comments section of the website in the same way a newspaper regards its letters page. As a place where readers can share their opinions under the watchful eye of the editors. Newspapers do not publish every letter sent to them, but make a selection of the best and most intelligent responses. I am exceptionally fortunate, in that the general level of comments is so high. Often, better than the articles under which they appear. I do not have to remove many comments, but I do when necessary. It is a public blog, but I run it, and I decide what appears on it.

As to asking people to leave, that is absolutely not what I am doing. If people believe I am doing a bad job, then they should not waste their time reading my website, and making money for me in the process. I do not read websites that I think are doing a bad job.

So everyone is welcome to read this, whatever they think of my work. But it does seem like a waste of their time.

...that helped Lorenzo into 4th spot somewhat swung my opinion towards the middle regarding the possibility of a real conspiracy. I mean -if I remember well- this hasn't happened all season long, and it happens now... what the hell. Of course, it might still be completely random but... I'm 50-50 now and it will probably be one the things we will never be sure about.

That said, tactics or no tactics, conspiracies or no conspiracies, I hope for a clean race from a physical point of view. And somehow I fear that Marquez, in view of Rossi's accusations may appear tomorrow in a knight's platemail armor suit instead of his leathers.

Jorge was clearly held back in the box by his crew. They were watching the monitors and told him to go. While Marquez could have slowed and let him by (though he's rarely fussed about riders getting a tow), if he did that Rossi gets his way. If he did that it would mean Rossi got to him.

It's not like he slowed to let a rider pass, saw it was his buddy, and then chose to give him a tow instead. *cough*Andrea*cough* ;)

It doesn't matters if Marquez was slowing down on purpose to block Rossi, or giving Lorenzo a tow in qualifying. When you are the fastest on the grid, you have leverage.

Over the year Rossi has pissed off quite a few Spaniards, so he should be prepared for backlash from Spanish riders under Spanish sponsorship, especially at this critical moment.

All he need to do, and he is in a good position to do so, is to get ahead of Lorenzo in the first couple laps and hold it there. Given the current accusations, I doubt Marquez can do anything, barring blatant sabotages such as purposely running into his rear tire, or punting him off track.

This is getting a little old for me now. Not only has the accusations or actions (depending on who is telling the truth about PI) put a stain on what was one of the best races I've seen. Now, every single thing that happens is scrutinized and assumed conspiracy. A bit of added drama is great but if this keeps up its just going to ruin what was going to be a great champonship

The sooner we let go of the off track commenting the sooner we can grab on to the racing. We don't need to be subject to it anymore than Lorenzo is. Is it stuck in your head? Perhaps that is enough to understand. I will mindfully pass on consideration of the shrink view although it is there. Next...

MM'S save!

Dani and half a second under the record! And despite some disregard of his performance a few races ago he has experienced his alien nature battling fiercely and crisply, and may do so again.

Rossi out Q'd Lorenzo. In the dry. At Sepang.

Both A.Espargaro and Crutchlow are looking strong.

Temperatures and weather. And now air quality. Sepang is always interesting. Except perhaps for the umbrella and podium female garnishments in a primarily Muslim country. I am increasingly interested in the women in the championship...on bikes in Moto3.

Rossi and sector 3 look to be getting on well.
Honda and sector 4 are a natural fit.
Turns 9 and 14 offer great battling interest.

This is a good track to monitor the Yamaha - Honda - and now Ducati - engineering war. The character of the various bikes are well showcased. In addition to the now well known Yamaha vs Honda cornering lines keep an eye on the manner in which Iannone gets the now well sorted 2015 bike into the various Tilke corners, then gets the useable power down to drive out. And does not eat up tires and drop off pace. Then retain this consideration when we move into post-season testing to notice how much the Ducati power advantage falls away with the fuel and # of engines/state of tune evens up. Can someone please post more peak RPM data at off season tests? Thanks!!

Iannone. One word comment. IANNONE. Ok, two words...IANNONE and DUCATI.

Three manufacturers at the pointy end. Rossi and Lorenzo have reached a triumphant and captivating crescendo. Not one, not two, but THREE other riders are accompanying them. Lorenzo needed his bike to be pushed from the Q winners' circle to make way for you know who.

Next? Green light.

And Argentina MM was never the same. befor he laught with VR made fun made pictures and VR was always smiling even when he lost. BUT.....2015..... Argentina but for sure Assen that made MM somehow crack and he was never the same anymore. He carry alot of hate against VR and MM believed so hard HE should have won the race but didnt recieve the same feeling from anybuddy else and it was hard to swallow.

The bridgestone front tire is a tire that u just dont destroy. we have seen this sinds 2013 and befor nobuddy could brake as hard on any tire as MM on the bridgestones but suddenly MM had to nurse the tire??

I had this feeling MM was playing in the race but i thought this cant be true as im a armchair racer but after VR and AI and the laptimes from FP and the race only a fool would believe MM bare in mind what happen to mm and VR and what mm said after the race in Assen ..I know what to do now.. makes it all more easy. and even today in QP we could again whitness it. MM would never ever tow a Yamaha, what he used to do was tow a ducati as he said him self to put them between him and the Yam boys. i bet MM is lying more then pinoccio

AL-2 (not verified)
7 years 11 months ago
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I find it interesting that many people used to criticize MM93 for poor race-craft, poor race strategy and no Plan B (to use the JB phrase). Just a few months ago he supposedly couldn’t even manage his own race. Now, some of these same people are endowing MM93 with the near magical ability to foresee how an entire race will develop and the ability to control fate of 3 other riders.

Just shows that people see what they want to see.

correlation doesn't imply causality. MMs effect was what it was, but no one can KNOW his motivation. preoccupation with someones motives is a sure sign of slipping mental stability. Rossi looks like a wreck, by his own admission, not sleeping. If Lorenzo wants to game this race right, he parks on Rossi's rear and makes a late race move. Rossi is spent. If he takes 3 points out of Rossi here, leaving 8, that is managable.

The Philip island race for me was very clear I could not understand why Marquez was backing off so much. When did we see Marquez ever back off because of his tyres overheating in the past?? He normally risk it all and either crash or end up winning it. FP4 showed us more of Marquez intention he refused to go ahead of Rossi to avoid giving him a tow and in quali tows willingly Lorenzo for his best lap. But what was an even bigger tell was when Marquez went out on his 2nd run and Lorenzo was being so anxious to follow him expecting another tow but could not as his bike was not ready yet. He was so desperate that he was shoving his mechanic out of the way but the poor guy was having none of it as the bike was not ready. Also what was bizarre in free practice was how short was Rossi's run. Nobody spoke about it and it was almost Stoner like the shortness of his runs. Has he changed his approach after losing to much time chasing the wrong set-up in PI?? He clearly has not showed all his potential specially race pace wise. I know everybody is expecting Honda specially Dani to run away with it but i won't be surprise Vale is just as fast come race day with warm up still to come up for him to improve his bike and setting further. Marquez bike doesn't look so good. Clearly out of balance and struggling to get the thing to stop. I foresee a DNF for Marquez but i just hope he doesn't take out any of Lorenzo or Rossi specially not Rossi

When I saw the race I could not belive how many times they lost Lorenzo for then suddenly to catch him again. As a ( Hobby ) racer myself I know that 1 second difference in Laptimes is an eternity.
Rossi and Ianonne knew they were played with.
They didnt need any laptimes.

The only thing missing is why.

Maybye it was just MMs way to show them who was the Man. But why blame the tire ? If anybody would have front tire problem then Rossi ( or Ianonne ) should be the ones. Ianonne because of the massive speed of the Ducati and Rossi having to make up ground on the brakes.

To bad we will never know...

I'll bet that all of this controversy is boosting the sales of both Rossi and Marquez fan stuff.. which is, I believe, all handled by Rossi's sales organisation?

There's a 3rd party who was involved in the tussle at PI. Does anybody know how many times Rossi had to overtake Iannone during the race? Is it even remotely possible that AI was holding up VR even just a little bit because they were all fighting for the same bit of track (unintentionally of course because he was just running his own race ;-)) ? Actually I don't care what the answer is because it's irrelevant.

Marquez won fair and square in the best race of a decade ...... Suck it up and let it go. All parties contributed to a great spectacle. Thank you all for the excitement. Now can we move on?

Taint or stain or sour a race for you, unless you believe his comments? Taint or sour your opinion of Rossi, yeah, but the race?

His comments are merely just his explanation for said race. If you don't believe them then the race was exactly the same as before he said it. If you believe them, then the whole race takes a different space.

Either way, wreck on...

JL knows he has nothing to lose so he will ride like a hell and probably can win both races.
VR knows it and will try to finish second on both races.
But he also knows that MM is hell fast and VR doesn´t need someone to finish ahead of him.
So he is trying to tell MM "Get out of my way!".
Some kind of mind games because that´s probably the last chance for VR to grab a title.
It´s not directly to JL because it won´t be good for Yamaha garage and next year when they will be together. And it´s not actually needed. He doesn´t care where JL finishes he only needs to be just behind him. And basically MM is the only one who can "steal" the title from him and "give" it to JL.
Simple as that.

David Emmit has always been a good writer ever since I have been following his site which has been a long time now to even remember when. His rebuttal on how he came up with his opinion for Marquez's race at PI was creditable but the last few sentences just left me shaking my head. I believe he has already proven himself as a good and creditable writer for the sport and most enthusiasts of the sport respect his opinions and write ups. For David to stoop down to that level and have to respond in that way kind in the comment section where Rossi himself even mentioned the differences between the true fans and shit heads David certainly didn't have to go there. Everything he said was great, all up until those last few sentences. One guy with a bad critique of your opinions David is just a raindrop from the sky.