Intentional or not? MotoGP

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     So I just saw that crazy finish to the round 1 MotoGP race and wonder how many people think that was an intentional move at the last turn?

     (Just when ya thought I was gonna say who was involved ;D)

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     As for the rider that got punted off the track, I have nothing but respect for his great ride all race long and his very proffesional reponse during the interviews after the race. He continues to show he is a real class act and representative of his team and motorcycle brand! :)

[smoke]

racing, is racing

Rossi took the inside, when SG leaned in he bumped rossi and then rossi ran wide. SG had no where to go but wide..

Great race..  I agree with u SG is a class act!  You gota agree that rossi has SOME BIG BALLs of STEEL.

[Thingy]

I am sure that he did not mean to punt him off.  But, it was an irresponsible move.  I agree racing is racing and that is how things go.  But, it did not make him look very good.

I also agree that the puntee was a lot more restrained than he could have been.  Good for him.

[motomadness]

Given that their bikes didn't hit (body on bike from what I saw), I think there was room.  Also, I think Rossi saved his crash on his knee, but pushed SG so wide that he (SG) had no choice but to go off the track.

SG obviously thought he could intimidate Rossi by going around the outside on the last turn.  Not likely, remember last year.  

The real question will be how will SG return the favor.

Also, have you read any of the team reports?  It seems as though SG slowed down to see where Rossi was strong.  I think he should have done that early in the race, not at the end.  When he choose to do this at the end of a race, the risk is greater and the recovery time is shorter.

Basically, STOP LETTING ROSSI CATCH UP.

[Lowe119]

Was a move to win intentional? - Yes.

Did he intentionally push him off the track - probably not.

Was it his only option to win? - I think so.

He did what he had to, to win and I don't think it was THAT dangerous

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

racing, is racing

Rossi took the inside, when SG leaned in he bumped rossi and then rossi ran wide. SG had no where to go but wide..

Great race..  I agree with u SG is a class act!  You gota agree that rossi has SOME BIG BALLs of STEEL.

Given that their bikes didn't hit (body on bike from what I saw), I think there was room.  Also, I think Rossi saved his crash on his knee, but pushed SG so wide that he (SG) had no choice but to go off the track.

SG obviously thought he could intimidate Rossi by going around the outside on the last turn.  Not likely, remember last year.

     I replayed that incident a number of times in slow motion from each of the views shown and you can see that SG's knee is ahead of Rossi's bike when SG turned in, so Rossi was not even in his field of view at turn in. SG was fully ahead of Rossi since the exit of the last turn and was running a defensively inside line for the next turn that is obvious when you look at the black rubber line on the race track from the ariel shot (SG was about 5 feet inside of the normal race line). From the ariel view you can see that after SG was already turning Rossi continued driving straight ahead and ran into SG and didn't really start turning too much at all. Also obvious is that he continued driving out to the outside of the turn after contact with SG and still wasn't turning. It wasn't until about 2-3 feet from the edge of the track that Rossi finally did a squared off turn after SG was off the track without showing signs of struggling to make the turn himself. Looking at the replays, at no time was Rossi's knee on the ground during that turn.

     I agree that 'racing is racing' and things happen, but it surely seems that even after using SG as a berm Rossi still didn't begin turning until near the edge of the track, that in my opinion sure made it look intentional to some degree. I've never liked the contacting 'block pass' tactics in moto-x, I think it pretty much shows that your not hacking it and you need some desperation move in order to make up for your lacking. Rossi is incredibly talented, but I think SG was on top of his game today, using that move on SG to compensate (SG was already in an inside defensive position) was pretty shady and not what I think of when I think of a champion.

[Johnny B]

Here's the link to a video clip showing 3-4 angles of the incident that I found on the WERA BBS.

[motomadness]

I stand corrected, I think it was at the end that Rossi's knee touched down (when he was trying to keep it on the track.)  

Did he intend to push SG off the track? I don't think so, but I do think it took a while to get the bike slowed down enough to be able to steer it again.  

One thing's for sure, I'm not going to try a move like that on anyone I race with.

[smoke]

thanks JB for the link..

I thought I was not crazy.... I knew i saw rossi use is foot vise is knee.

[the_weggie_man]

Watched the clip. Sure looked intentional to me. Rossi didn't push him off but he made damn sure he had no where else to go.

[r6_philly]

whach Rossi's onboard to see Sete's shoulder actually hit Rossi's brake lever forward. And rossi ran wider as a result. Had Sete not leaned in on rossi and made contact rossi would have just took up half of the track and sete would have gone around the outside and won the race.

Rossi didn't punt sete. Sete made contact with Rossi and the result is that Rossi couldn't hold a line and sete ran off.