MotoGP 2015 Talk (Spoilers)

[schwiz]

So.... does anyone else here follow MotoGP? As we head into the last race of the year at Valencia, there has been so much drama that has unfolded over the last few weeks.

Last week at the pre-race press conference in Sepang, Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez has some choice words for each other, as Valentino called out Marc for attempting to slow him up from dicing with Jorge Lorenzo at the front. Valentino leads the championship by 12 points to Jorge before the start of the Sepang race.

During the race, MM and VR got into a heated battle during the first 7 laps of the race. VR held up MM in a corner by deliberately going off-line, and MM crashed. Lorenzo ended up finishing 2nd, and Valentino 3rd. Valentino leads the championship with 7 points going into the last round.

VR was penalized by the altercation with MM by having to start the next race in Valencia at the back of the grid. There have been hundreds of articles, people tweeting, and petitions being signed that favor VR, and justify his actions.

MM and Repsol Honda have threatened to leave the sport.

Yamaha has rumored to be letting Jorge Lorenzo go at the end of this season due to his comments and reactions (negatively) against VR.

With Valencia coming up in a week and a half, there is so much controversy about the championship. Many think that the back of the pack riders will let VR fly by at the start, giving him a chance to dice with JL and MM. But I feel its going to be very hard for VR to win the championship if he starts at the back of the grid.

What do you think will happen?

 

[Zado]

They only think that will happen for sure in the near future is: people will remember this MotoGP year more because of this "scandal" than anything else.

And Lorenzo has probably lost popularity instead of increasing it by winning, same for Marquez.

 

[setsuna7]

Marquez is just a whinny little bitch that Honda has to whore at DORNA. Why isn't MM punished for his dangerous tactics against VR at Sepang not the other way around?
Wanna know why? 'Cause Honda monopolized Moto2 with supplying all the engines, and with that reason alone, DORNA are afraid to lose that kind of money/sponsor. Same reason why MM jumped straight to a Factory Bike instead an open category team. This season will be remembered as politically decided season. Hopefully Rossi will leave MOtoGP for SBK. Then DORNA will know what they lost.

 

[Bodes]

I haven't kept with MotoGP for a few rounds now, but I really have not liked how all the personalities have been taken out of the sport, and even VR is tame and all business.

This season has been all whinging from all parties. I find the moto2 and moto3 races better due to the more competition on show.

Not since Simoncelli (R.I.P.) has the sport really shown any entertainment.

 

[Zado]

Marquez is just a whinny little bitch that Honda has to whore at DORNA. Why isn't MM punished for his dangerous tactics against VR at Sepang not the other way around?
Wanna know why? 'Cause Honda monopolized Moto2 with supplying all the engines, and with that reason alone, DORNA are afraid to lose that kind of money/sponsor. Same reason why MM jumped straight to a Factory Bike instead an open category team. This season will be remembered as politically decided season. Hopefully Rossi will leave MOtoGP for SBK. Then DORNA will know what they lost.

This sounds quite accurate

 

[setsuna7]

I haven't kept with MotoGP for a few rounds now, but I really have not liked how all the personalities have been taken out of the sport, and even VR is tame and all business.

This season has been all whinging from all parties. I find the moto2 and moto3 races better due to the more competition on show.

Not since Simoncelli (R.I.P.) has the sport really shown any entertainment.

The thing is, VR is old, going against young hotheads like MM should've provide us with the entertainment value alone, but when rich CEOs whom only cares about making money, likes to think that whatever they decide(s)(d) is the best for the sport, but in actuality is ....ing up MotoGp as a consequence. I believe MM himself might have been "poisoned" by these CEOs/Corporate bastards into believing what they are doing is for the greater good of the sport.

Having met these riders(on a yearly basis) hanging out and serving and drinking alcohol them, they have MASSIVE respect for each other. When Marco died, they(The entire MotoGP crew/teams) cancelled their reservations for that night. I am frustrated that all these happened all of a sudden. MM idolizes VR,
so for him to disrespects VR like that is unbelievable!!

 

[schwiz]

Good points here on the corporate and political BS that is ever so apparent.

After watching the race yesterday, it's pretty apparent that HRC told MM that he better not let Valentino anywhere near Lorenzo. He played follow the leader the WHOLE race. He was consistently 1-2 10ths of a second behind Lorenzo but did not show him a wheel or even attempt to pass. It wasn't until Pedrosa caught up to JL and MM, that MM was like "oh hell no" and actually pushed to stay behind. JL. Such BS. Rossi passed 21 riders to take 4th and Marquez couldn't even pass 1. I have lost all respect for HRC.

 

[Axewield31]

I have to disagree with a lot of what is being said here. While it may not be the most sporting thing to do, he was definitely within his rights to hold up Rossi at Phillip Island and Sepang in order for Lorenzo to win. He would obviously want a Spanish world champion. The Italians have adopted similar tactics in the past.
It wasn't within the rules for Rossi to blow up and knock Marquez off at Sepang, so he was the one in the wrong there.

I still think, even if Marquez didn't screw with the racing and effect results, Lorenzo still would have won the championship. Imo, he was the bet rider in the field this year and I still think Rossi probably would have come 4th at Valencia, even if he hadn't have had the back of the grid penalty.

If anyone has lost my respect this year, it would be Rossi. The way he has reacted to the whole situation has been terrible, going off to the media, losing his head and whatnot. I think he would have much better off if he had stayed a bit quiet over the whole Marquez ordeal and let people start to see that themselves. It was pretty obvious to see the poor sportsmanship of Marquez even without Rossi losing his cool.

And in regards to Marquez only getting a ride with HRC because he is Spanish, I'm not sure that's quite right. It definitely played into it for sure. It's a Spanish dominated sport with them having the biggest political influence, but the guy is obviously massively talented and deserves to be riding the top bike. He absolutely dominated in Moto2, winning more than one race from the back of the grid and to adjust to the GP bike as immediately as he did to be competitive immediately and win his rookie season is pretty out of this world. I think it's hard to deny that he deserves to be where he's at now.

I know it kind of sounds like I'm being a massive Marquez fanboy here, but I do have a lot of respect for him. I think he's one of the most naturally gifted riders probably at least since Rossi entered the sport and while I definitely don't think the way he effected results was right and have lost a lot of respect towards him because of that, I think that if it was the other way around and it was Rossi who was playing with results, the reaction to it would be massively different.
Marquez is pretty easy not to like being Spanish in a Spanish sport and being as good as he is without seemingly much less work than those around him, but he plays the game well and I think his personality is good to see in contrast with the politically correct and clinical world of MotoGp.