Very good article indeed.
I'm both a Rossi and Marquez fan.
To me, this was Rossi playing mind games and unfortunately for him - getting beat at his own games.
I personally don't care if there's an unwritten rule about letting the championship contenders fight it out. That may be true if you're a mid-pack racer, but if you're Marquez and you know you can battle your RIVAL, you will. This only more true when that rival decides to go on the offensive and talk a bunch of smack about you because he doesn't like that you're making his life difficult.
To me, it's simple. If Rossi doesn't like being held up (if that's actually happening) by Marquez, or anyone else for that matter, then he needs to pass him and have the speed to get away from them. If he doesn't have the pace to get away, he has no one else to blame but himself. This entitled notion -- and it's not just Rossi with it -- that somehow, because he's fighting for the championship, that people shouldn't make it difficult for him? I'm sorry, that's BS. This is racing, in racing you need to beat every single one of your opponents to win. If those opponents are faster than you, or are your rivals and are trying to defeat you, that's when you need to rise up and beat them.
Rossi couldn't at Sepang, and he knew it. So he lost his cool and shit the bed. He ruined what could have been one of the best races in the past decade for the fans to watch. He intentionally stopped racing, so he could teach Marquez a lesson about etiquette, when quite frankly, no one but Rossi and his fan-boy's care about "etiquette." It's racing.
Personally, I think Rossi should have been disqualified from the race and received 0 points. It was a sad day and I lost a little bit of respect for Rossi when it happened.
As far as Lorenzo, he's calling it like it is. When Rossi calls it like it is, everyone cheers. When Lorenzo says that Rossi was out of line, people are mad at him and acting as if he wants to be given the championship. I don't like Lorenzo, not one bit, but he is not wrong by calling out Rossi, and he has earned the championship this year. With more wins, plenty of podiums, and no penalty points to show for it.
We need also not forget that Rossi, over the past 2 races, has also confronted Dani Pedros and Andrea Iannone about racing him as hard as they were. He was upset that they were getting in the way of his championship by requiring him to push so hard, and possibly crash.
I'm sorry, but to me, it's apparent. Rossi knows this may be his best last chance at another title, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to win. Only this time, perhaps for the first time in his career, he miscalculated with his mind games when he called out Marquez.
All the armchair quarterbacks who think that Marquez intentionally trying to beat Rossi, not only for his own personal gain but to make Rossi lose the championship, are acting ridiculous. I race, not for a living but for fun; But even then, if I am not able to win my class championship, if my rival is in a close battle with someone else that is not my direct rival, I have always made it my goal to beat that person. Hence, the rivalry.
It was a sad day for MotoGP racing for all involved; Rossi, Dorna, Mike Webb, Marquez and the fans who apparently have forgotten what makes racing so amazing to watch. The Racing!
