I've been pondering the continued reaction to last week's incident and I'm finding it unusual that people are still coming out against Rossi. Forgetting partisan fans of one or the other rider, I find it difficult to not find fault with both riders and write it off as a racing incident.
Consider...
What's worse, the intent, or the effect? And, was it the line that Vale took the grievous offense, or the fact that a crash was caused? Did Vale cause the crash, did Marc cause the crash, or was it just a fluke?
If the intent was the issue, you'd have to argue that Vale intended to take Marc out, which I think few people would agree with. You could see he was quite surprised to see Marc on the ground. If the effect was the worst thing, then you'd expect Crutchlow to get sanctioned for taking out Dovi. Nobody is blowing up the airwaves about that.
So, to the question of line choice... There's no actual rule against riding whatever line you choose, so long as you are not weaving around in front of a guy, or pulling abruptly in front of him to block him as he motors by. Riders take all sorts of lines. They take defensive lines coming into corners to prevent a pass. The run up the inside of another rider into a corner, forcing both riders to run wide, in what is called a block pass. They all run wider lines in the rain, as the normal line usually has less grip. Vale didn't run Marc off of the track; there were a couple bike widths available to him to the left. So, why is this transgression so much worse than any of the other "alternate" lines that happen every race weekend. And, if race control agreed that Marc was ****ing with Rossi, why was his dirty riding less of a transgression? Simply because Vale didn't fall off? Let there be no doubt that Marc was ****ing with Vale; what's visible on the TV screen is far less obvious than what Rossi experienced up close and personal. We may have doubts, since it is hard for us to watch 10 things at once, but he will have none. And Marc does not have the character to admit what he was doing.
The official wording was "Deliberately running wide in a corner in order to try and force another rider off line." That happens in every block pass. Why the distinction here? Is it because of the crash? Does "who hit who?" factor into that? I'd certainly suggest that if Vale had run into Marc, that would be bad. But if Marc chose to hit Vale? That's Vale's fault? What if everybody agrees that the result of the contact, the actual precipitating factor in the crash, was a fluke and neither rider thought something like that would happen? If they did it again, would either rider go down? Doubtful.
Read more:
Race Direction explain Rossi's Sepang clash penalty - Motorcycle racing news: Moto GP - Visordown
Marc seemed to make the choice to run into Rossi, rather than stay left, or trail the brakes. Why? No blame to be apportioned there? There are those that say that Vale moved left again, into Marc. I say no, he was back on the gas and looking ahead, when Marc leaned into him. Nonetheless, how many times have you seen riders banging fairings intentionally, often with a lot more force? I can think of dozens of instances, by all of the top riders. No penalties there, either. Why not?
I'm starting to think that what initially appeared to be the case, namely that Rossi had booted Marc off his bike, is what we are dealing with here. It's a perception thing. Most people watched the race once, got the impression that Rossi did something bad, and that was the end of that. Going back over it, you get a different impression, but how many have done that? How much did that factor into the penalty? I'd love to learn who the Race Direction reps were that weekend.
Don't get the idea that I wear a yellow wig. I actually have $10 riding on Jorge, for the title.
JR