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The Rossi vs Marquez Case Still Needs a Lot of Explanations

With the first pre-season test drawing near, the people involved in MotoGP have all the reasons in the world to try and leave distractions aside and focus on the upcoming championship.
However, the 2015 season is not exactly over, if you know what I mean. And the fact that the test will take place at the very same circuit where the last season started to go really awkward is only making things even more interesting.

The fans of Honda and Marquez are maybe fine with how the 2015 season ended and they may be full of certitudes. Others are not okay with how things played out and consider that the lack of transparency from Dorna Sports, which also "contaminated" the series, needs to be addressed.

Two of the latest guys to speak against how Dorna and the FIM "solved" the Sepang incident are not fans of MotoGP, but have a part of it. Motorcycling legends Phil Read and Wayne Gardner recently brought this up during a TV interview at the 2016 Autosport International Show, and their words were not too kind.

Both Read and Gardner are former 500cc Champions, and racing in their days was harder than it is now, starting with the savage, "unrideable" machines, and adding the poor safety of the circuits and all. In fewer words, they know what racing and winning are all about, and they know all the hardships that can, at times, come between rivals.

Still, the two believe that Dorna and the FIM made the wrong call in the Sepang incident, saying that Marquez is the one to blame for his own crash in Malaysia

Gardner is as categoric as it gets when describing his own vision of what happened at Sepang last fall. "Yeah I think it was the wrong call by the race steward to penalise Rossi and put him at the back of the grid. And Phil's right, where the whole situation was aggravated by Marquez trying to hold Rossi up so he could let Lorenzo go away. And then for that to happen, and then Marquez fell off on his own accord. Rossi didn't push him off with his knee, he pushed him off because he was leaning on him, but I think Marquez has grabbed a handful of front brake and gone down the road himself," tells he.

"MotoGP is run by a Spanish group, and I feel it’s getting like the Spanish mafia"

Phil Read is even more dramatic, as he adds that the way Dorna reacted at the end of the 2015 season looks more like how mafia would set things. "MotoGP is run by a Spanish group (Dorna, red.), and I feel it’s getting like the Spanish mafia. They are favouring Spanish riders, and not supporting fairly the foreign riders," Read added.

Some might argue that these two fellows have a special relationship with their former teams or something like that, but their years of glory saw them riding other machines than Yamaha.

Read indeed has been using Yamahas in the smaller and intermediate classes, but his GP glory was achieved with MV Agusta, whereas Gardner is an authentic Honda champion, using HRC machinery for no less than ten seasons in a row. Hard to say these fellows have something to do with manufacturers, right?

The controversy is still not solved, because no physical proof was ever offered

Regardless of how much Dorna is now pretending that everything is once more cool & OK, the end of the 2015 season remains stained. Irrespective of who is your favorite rider, one thing is impossible to deny, and that is the lack of transparency.

Sure, those who cheered when they saw Rossi starting from the last row at Valencia are maybe fine with how the whole thing went, and believe that Dorna's call was more than enough so sort out the matter. I am positive that if the same happened to their fav rider, their discontent would've been sky-high, and their claims for more proof would have also been quite vocal.

Now, I am not a fan of Rossi, and I never felt affected by the decision itself... in case someone showed irrefutable proof supporting Race Direction's call. But, as everybody knows, the proof never arrived, and all that remained was Dorna issuing a "shut up and trust us, we know"-type of statement.

If Dorna, the FIM, Honda or anyone else comes forth and shows credible proof that Rossi kicked Marquez at Sepang, I am positive that even the diehard fans of the Doctor would accept that reality. Unfortunately, until this happens, the lack of certitude and transparency is still shrouding the whole affair.

As I have written before, Honda claimed they had proof supporting their belief that VR46 kicked MM93, but were not willing to show it. Then, Repsol Honda said they were willing to release the data from MM93's bike, but Dorna and the FIM prohibit such a disclosure.

COME ON, who do you think you're fooling? This is not a kindergarten fight, and "there you have it - no, you don't" is the least professional way to "solve" a rather thorny situation, but unfortunately, Dorna appears to enjoy this situation.

Valencia 2015 is never coming back, but at least they should bring forth proof to support the decision that was made and show the world that MotoGP is not governed by closed-group policies that favor Spanish riders.

"Because we said so" is nowhere near what MotoGP enthusiasts are willing to take, especially when the championship title is at stake. If physical proof shows Rossi was at fault, the blame will lie with him. If he was innocent, his fans will keep on hating Dorna and MM93/Honda, but at least Dorna would clear its name and prove they can accept mistakes like real men do.

Leaving things as they are now only causes more frustration and strengthens the basis upon which suspicion will be built when it comes to future decisions. And this is bad for Dorna and bad for the Sport.
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