Intentional or not? MotoGP

[TZ_Boy]

  I think Rossi finally got it turned when he was able to.  His onboard show's heavy front brake use late and yes the contact momentary released the brake causing him to run even wider.

  But why is his foot down?  He new contact was coming and was going to try and keep it up.  Some people refuse to lose no matter what it takes, probably the same reason Hayden crashed.

[251am]

They both intended to win. At least there was nothing as intentionally violent as far as NASCRAP is concerned nowadays. ;D

[MikeB]

Rossi has a habit of putting his left foot out just before left turns. He did it the entire race.

IMHO, it was a shoving match. Sete struck first when he turned in tighter to close the door. Rossi struck back by running wide. We will never know what was intentional.

Personally, I don't buy the "I slowed down for Rossi" line. Rossi stalks the leader for most of the race and makes his move in the last few laps. He did it consistently for the last two seasons. It's a great strategy.

[Lowe119]

Rossi has a habit of putting his left foot out just before left turns. He did it the entire race.

I second that. Rossi had his foot off the whole race.

I also agree with

watch 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.

[Gixxerblade]

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.

Hence trail braking tightens your line by shortening your whellbase. So when SG hit Vale's brake hand I can see it happening. I don't think anyone is that much of an a$$hole.

[the_weggie_man]

People see different things. I clearly think Rossi was wrong in this one. Sete had the lead going in and yes closed the door, that's his right since he's in front. Rossi came in hot and hit him.

Whether he meant to punt him off or not we'll never know but Rossi was certainly out of line on this one.

By the way, I'm not a Sete fan or a Rossi detractor, it's just the way I see it.

[Super_KC124]

News flash! Sete hit Rossi! Rossi stuffed himself inside way too late though. Watch the above view video.

[the_weggie_man]

You said it right. Rossi stuffed it in way too late. The contact wouldn't have happened had Rossi not done that.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     I personally like both Rossi and Sete, actually I find myself rooting for Rossi more out of the fact that he is on the lesser machine against the Honda Army who's sole purpose is to beat him exclusively.

     My opinion is based off the common knowledge that it's the passers resposibility to safely overtake the rider getting passed, even when battling. I still believe it was an excessively risky desperation move on Rossi's part attempting to overtake on the inside of Sete who was already holding a tight line for that turn. I certainly hope this sport doesn't come to this type of thing being commonplace, especially when most of our tracks here in the U.S. don't have excessive amounts of run-off area like that required by MotoGP. If it does, I'm afraid Gordy (Wegman Fund) is sadly going to need to supply his services to more riders. :-/

[ecumike]

People see different things. I clearly think Rossi was wrong in this one. Sete had the lead going in and yes closed the door, that's his right since he's in front. Rossi came in hot and hit him.

Whether he meant to punt him off or not we'll never know but Rossi was certainly out of line on this one.

I'm in 100% agreement with this one.

Sete was ahead of Rossi the whole way. Rossi never got in front of Sete before he made contact. He had no business there, too a gamble, came in too hot and hit Sete.  Rossi KNEW Sete was turning in.. it was the apex of the damn turn.

[Racingxtc7]

    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.

Finely, someone who actually watched the vid! Look at the onboard clip SG was still in the lend when they hit and therefore had the right away, GP bikes don't ahve mirrors and riders don't have eyes in teh back of thier heads which is why there are rules that state that the rider in fornt has the right away. Rossi ran right up as SG was turning in when Rossi ran SG off the track. If I were there I would have turned in back to Rossi. There was no respect in the victory! Round One goes to SG!!!

[Lowe119]

Finely, someone who actually watched the vid!

I may be speaking for just myself, but I watched it over and over - from all the angles provided - and I'm sure most people on here did too  :P ;D

I actually think Sete could've continued by not going for the exact apex and still cut Rossi off - and won. The world may never know.