We told you this week’s MotoGP race was going to be an intense one, and it definitely didn’t leave us wanting. During the race, Marquez and Rossi were battling for third place and things began to get heated when the two collided and Marquez went down.
In the video, you can see as Rossi looks left at Marquez twice before Marquez goes down. It even looks like Rossi kicks at Marquez, but if you watch the video in slow motion I think Marquez head butts Rossi’s knee and Rossi was pushing his head off.
The whole thing happened as early as lap three in the race, after the two had already swapped places nine times that lap. Marquez looked fast, and had passed Rossi both underneath and outside, but for some reason he just wasn’t pulling away. Some people say he was just toying with Rossi, possibly because of comments Rossi made claiming that Marquez was a Lorenzo fan.
The internet seemed to go nuts after the race, and I saw multiple Facebook and forum threads that got incredibly heated. Some are saying Marc got what he deserved, others that Rossi should be banned from racing, and others that this is racing and nothing wrong happened at all.
I’m still trying to process my thoughts and find different camera angles before deciding where I land on the whole thing. I want Rossi to win this year and it’s a bummer that his performance this season feels tainted now.
Race Direction gave Rossi three penalty points for the altercation, but left his third place finish intact. This leaves him only seven points ahead of Lorenzo for the championship, which will come down to the last race in Valencia in two weeks. However, those three penalty points (in addition to one other he was given for riding slowly on the racing line during qualifying in Misano) mean he’ll be starting from the back of the pack.
Editor’s Update: Here’s Vale’s response.
Whaddya think, ‘splitters? Was this foul or fair play? If foul, who was in the wrong?
Photo: Getty Images