MotoGP 2018 Discussion Thread **SPOILERS**

[trevor]

No, he should have been black flagged. Should definitely start next race from back row.
Racing's not a video game, stupid **** like Marquez pulled can get people killed.

So you think the bump start penalty was justified?

[Kiwi Canuck]

Wow that was stressful watching that race today. I'll need to re-watch it once my nerves settle down.

I do like how Marquez gives his best and leaves it all out there on the track, he can not be accused of playing it safe.

With his aggressive riding style and his success he has made MotoGP very interesting to watch over the last 5-6 years, I have followed his career since Moto2 and have become a fan of his for sure.

I have always watched the lower classes for up and coming riders like MM and I think the next one to watch is Joan Mir as he is a very special talent.

Marquez is pretty good about taking responsibility when he screws up, it was a very ambitious (stupid) move on Marquez's part to try the pass there on Rossi and not sure why he wasn't just a bit more patient, but after rewatching it 4-5 times I'm surprised Rossi didn't sit up and run on the exit road or ride across the grass to prevent him crashing out, even though Marquez caused the accident I think Rossi may have been able to save it if he wanted to, but he didn't want to give an inch as well so he crashed.

Rossi is playing games with the media, or he's delusional, Marquez has not ruined the sport as he claims, in fact I think he has given MotoGP another life unlike WSB and F1 which unfortunately has become rather boring.

Rossi has pulled similar moves against other riders, (Stoner & Sete Gibernau come to mind) throughout his career and thought nothing of it, when he can get away with it, he is not above riding dirty, so a bit surprised at his comments.

Even though he has been punished for his moves I think the officials maybe swayed by Rossi/Yamaha to hand out more penalties, which may include him going to the back of the grid for the next race, which is part of what's wrong with F1, let the guys race, enough with the BS and all the penalties.

[trevor]

Wow that was stressful watching that race today. I'll need to re-watch it once my nerves settle down.

I do like how Marquez gives his best and leaves it all out there on the track, he can not be accused of playing it safe.

With his aggressive riding style and his success he has made MotoGP very interesting to watch over the last 5-6 years, I have followed his career since Moto2 and have become a fan of his for sure.

I have always watched the lower classes for up and coming riders like MM and I think the next one to watch is Joan Mir as he is a very special talent.

Marquez is pretty good about taking responsibility when he screws up, it was a very ambitious (stupid) move on Marquez's part to try the pass there on Rossi and not sure why he wasn't just a bit more patient, but after rewatching it 4-5 times I'm surprised Rossi didn't sit up and run on the exit road or ride across the grass to prevent him crashing out, even though Marquez caused the accident I think Rossi may have been able to save it if he wanted to, but he didn't want to give an inch as well so he crashed.

Rossi is playing games with the media, or he's delusional, Marquez has not ruined the sport as he claims, in fact I think he has given MotoGP another life unlike WSB and F1 which unfortunately has become rather boring.

Rossi has pulled similar moves against other riders, (Stoner & Sete Gibernau come to mind) throughout his career and thought nothing of it, when he can get away with it, he is not above riding dirty, so a bit surprised at his comments.

Even though he has been punished for his moves I think the officials maybe swayed by Rossi/Yamaha to hand out more penalties, which may include him going to the back of the grid for the next race, which is part of what's wrong with F1, let the guys race, enough with the BS and all the penalties.

I agree totally David...

[trevor]

[RichDesmond]

Kiwi Canuck and Trevor, I'm guessing you guys have never raced??

[trevor]

Kiwi Canuck and Trevor, I'm guessing you guys have never raced??

Hahahahahaha....not me....but I think Kiwi may have more experince than you....waaaayyyy more!! lol

[Kiwi Canuck]

Kiwi Canuck and Trevor, I'm guessing you guys have never raced??

Why would you guess that?

BTW I have raced Motorcycles and Go karts, and my motorcycle racing was at the top level.

[trevor]

Kiwi Canuck and Trevor, I'm guessing you guys have never raced??

Never ask a question you don't know the answer to....

[Agemax]

3 penalties in 1 race, including dangerous riding, breaking the rules, disobeying a marshal. #93 deserves a race ban in my opinion. His arrogance outweighs his talent.

[Kiwi Canuck]

3 penalties in 1 race, including dangerous riding, breaking the rules, disobeying a marshal. #93 deserves a race ban in my opinion. His arrogance outweighs his talent.

I watched Marquez's interview after the race and in particular, his explanation regarding his interaction with the marshals after his bump start.

His explanation was they didn't clearly order him to pit lane and he believed one of them gave him the thumbs up to proceed on the grid, so I went back and watched the start several times to see what the marshal indicated MM to do after he had restarted his bike.

The video provided on MotoGP.com doesn't show the whole interaction as it switches cameras and then the marshal is blocked from view, I was unable to determine what the marshals indicated but and I didn't see any marshal give him the thumbs up signal so I guess he only had one thing on his mind and that was to get back on his starting box ASAP regardless of what else was going on.

Stalling on the MotoGP grid doesn't happen that often but I'm surprised MM didn't know the rules and he rode his bike the wrong way on the track, so the ride through was certainly warranted.

I believe he should have got the black flag after he bashed into Rossi and caused the crash and maybe that would have been enough to send the message, but now he will probably receive more sanctions which may include a race ban or to start from the back of the grid for the next race, which I'm sure the marshals will be reluctant to do after what happened in Argentina. They did that to him in Moto2 back in 2012 IIRC.

I hope they just let the riders race and not introduce more rules to the point where lawyers and rule makers run the show as they do in many other sports.

BTW I just watched "After the Flag" on MotoGP.com and thought they summed it up pretty well.

David.

[Agemax]

Apart from all the barging, his antics on the start line should have resulted in an instant black flag anyway. He is a top class racer, he KNOWS the rules. Stalling on the start line means you start from pit lane, riding a bike the wrong way down the track is instant black flag, ignoring a marshall (ok, debatable but fact in my eyes) is black flag. He knows all these rule, no debate. His arrogant attitude was "f**k it, i'm gonna do it, hope i get away with it, or face the consequences later".
Then in his red mist phase, after doing his ride through, dropping one place for his 2nd misdameanor, he just rode like a complete moron, in attempt to try and be a hero and get some valuable points.
I hope they throw the book at him, although somehow, i think he will get away with it too lightly.

[RichDesmond]

Why would you guess that?

BTW I have raced Motorcycles and Go karts, and my motorcycle racing was at the top level.

Ok. This was the part that surprises me, coming from a racer:

"...but after rewatching it 4-5 times I'm surprised Rossi didn't sit up and run on the exit road or ride across the grass to prevent him crashing out, even though Marquez caused the accident I think Rossi may have been able to save it if he wanted to, but he didn't want to give an inch as well so he crashed."

Having raced on slicks on a drying track, I don't see how Rossi could have done anything different. As soon as you're knocked off line you're instantly on a wetter, slicker surface, and more crucially, on a surface that you don't know the grip level of. All you can do is hang on and try to scrub speed and hope you don't run out of track. If you hit wet grass on slicks, Boom, you're down if you have any lean angle at all. See Pedrosa's crash for an example of how badly wrong it can go when you're off the racing line in those conditions.

Rossi's certainly done his share of hard racing over the years, and made some mistakes in the process, but I think the Stoner and (especially) the Gibernau incidents were very different then the sort of riding Marquez did in this race.

Don't get me wrong, I think Marquez is a great racer, arguably the best ever, and I love watching him. Just think he was way over the top yesterday.

[cowboyup3371]

I am not a racer and could see that Marquez was the better rider but in my mind, motorcycle racing is one of the last sports left with some integrity in it. Yes, bumping is racing but the lines that Marquez chose on both of his extremely questionable passes were dangerous not only to himself but the other riders. There's no reason he couldn't have made that pass later coming out of the turn in my mind based on how much faster he was running.

[hillsy]

Rossi is playing games with the media, or he's delusional, Marquez has not ruined the sport as he claims, in fact I think he has given MotoGP another life unlike WSB and F1 which unfortunately has become rather boring.

I was kinda surprised when he said he "feared" Marc - but thinking back to when Jorge slammed Simoncelli in an interview as being dangerous.....then not too long after he wasn't with us anymore. It's pretty easy to forget this is a dangerous sport sometimes....

Rossi has pulled similar moves against other riders, (Stoner & Sete Gibernau come to mind) throughout his career and thought nothing of it, when he can get away with it, he is not above riding dirty, so a bit surprised at his comments.

Rossi did say Marc was doing this all weekend - which is a bit different. Also, as stated by others, Marc's lunge on Rossi was worse than anything Rossi has done in the past. And thinking back to Argentina in 2015 - if Marc was a meter closer when he tried that move on Rossi they would have both been in hospital...

Even though he has been punished for his moves I think the officials maybe swayed by Rossi/Yamaha to hand out more penalties, which may include him going to the back of the grid for the next race, which is part of what's wrong with F1, let the guys race, enough with the BS and all the penalties.

If he is relegated to the back of the grid for the next race it will be in line with what has been metered out in the past. I'd have no problem with that and I'd imagine neither would Marc if he really thought about it.

[Nessism]

Apart from all the barging, his antics on the start line should have resulted in an instant black flag anyway. He is a top class racer, he KNOWS the rules. Stalling on the start line means you start from pit lane, riding a bike the wrong way down the track is instant black flag, ignoring a marshall (ok, debatable but fact in my eyes) is black flag. He knows all these rule, no debate. His arrogant attitude was "f**k it, i'm gonna do it, hope i get away with it, or face the consequences later".
Then in his red mist phase, after doing his ride through, dropping one place for his 2nd misdameanor, he just rode like a complete moron, in attempt to try and be a hero and get some valuable points.
I hope they throw the book at him, although somehow, i think he will get away with it too lightly.

I agree. Marquez rode without regard for others in addition to that starting grid incident. What's his problem? He probably could have won the race starting from the pit anyway.