Lorenzo: Some of Rossi's moves 'a bit much'
 

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"Maybe in the future Rossi's rivals will get a little bit mad and act like him."
Jorge Lorenzo wasn't happy with some of the strong moves made by his team-mate Valentino Rossi, during their thrilling battle for third in the closing stages of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

Whilst many in the Yamaha pits might have preferred Rossi to give Lorenzo a little extra space, given he is firmly on course for the 2010 championship, the pair instead battled as if they were title rivals.

Although they had swapped places earlier in the race, the real action between them kicked off on the penultimate lap - when Lorenzo passed Rossi on entry to the first underpass, only for Rossi to slice back ahead of him on the exit.

Lorenzo then successfully lunged for the inside at a following left hander, but Rossi immediately barged back up the inside on the next right - the pair bumping fairings in the process.

Rossi guarded the entry to the underpass corner more carefully on the last lap, but Lorenzo still found a way around him soon after.

Once again, Rossi instantly responded, parking his M1 on the apex of a slow left corner in what proved to be the decisive pass.

"This was a big battle between Valentino and I, two warriors with the killer instinct," said Lorenzo.

"I have to say that at some points I do not think he was completely fair, we were both on the limit but some of his moves were maybe a bit too much and he touched me and pushed me wide when I don't think it was right.

"We are team-mates, I am fighting for the Riders' Championship but we are both fighting for the Teams' and Manufacturers' Championship as well and we have to remember this."

In an interview with MotoGP.com, Lorenzo gave stronger comments.

"The show is great for the business of motorcycle racing," Lorenzo said. "But when you are a rider and on a MotoGP bike reaching 300km/h on the straight and 180-200km/h on the corners, and you are feel the other rider touch you. It is not a good feeling. You know you are putting your life at risk.

Jorge Lorenzo wasn't happy with some of the strong moves made by his team-mate Valentino Rossi, during their thrilling battle for third in the closing stages of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.

Whilst many in the Yamaha pits might have preferred Rossi to give Lorenzo a little extra space, given he is firmly on course for the 2010 championship, the pair instead battled as if they were title rivals.

Although they had swapped places earlier in the race, the real action between them kicked off on the penultimate lap - when Lorenzo passed Rossi on entry to the first underpass, only for Rossi to slice back ahead of him on the exit.

Lorenzo then successfully lunged for the inside at a following left hander, but Rossi immediately barged back up the inside on the next right - the pair bumping fairings in the process.

Rossi guarded the entry to the underpass corner more carefully on the last lap, but Lorenzo still found a way around him soon after.

Once again, Rossi instantly responded, parking his M1 on the apex of a slow left corner in what proved to be the decisive pass.

"This was a big battle between Valentino and I, two warriors with the killer instinct," said Lorenzo.

"I have to say that at some points I do not think he was completely fair, we were both on the limit but some of his moves were maybe a bit too much and he touched me and pushed me wide when I don't think it was right.

"We are team-mates, I am fighting for the Riders' Championship but we are both fighting for the Teams' and Manufacturers' Championship as well and we have to remember this."

In an interview with MotoGP.com, Lorenzo gave stronger comments.

"The show is great for the business of motorcycle racing," Lorenzo said. "But when you are a rider and on a MotoGP bike reaching 300km/h on the straight and 180-200km/h on the corners, and you are feel the other rider touch you. It is not a good feeling. You know you are putting your life at risk.

Just watched the race. Good to see Rossi back in fighting form and up to his usual tricks getting inside people's heads.

^+1, Lorenzo has his fair share of questionable passes especially at starts. These new guys can dish it out but complain instead of taking it.

Maybe he should take on knitting or ballet dancing. What a pansie.

And anyways you don't pass people "for the business", you pass the guy in front because he's in front. Where you clearly belong.

it is a race and nothing rossi did that I saw was out of line at all. If Lorenzo is so concerned about his championship/status he should have stayed back, not mixed it up and took his 4th place points.

maybe Lorenzo should try F1...

I agree with you, Rossi is Rossi and when he is on (99% of the time) his going to pass you no matter what it takes...Lorenzo should be thinking Championship not a battle with Rossi.

Yamaha: Rossi was 'too aggressive'
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"We made our position clear. You don't do this; especially considering the situation in the championship."
Yamaha management have told Valentino Rossi that he was too aggressive in his defence of third position against team-mate and title leader Jorge Lorenzo in the closing stages of Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi.

Lorenzo was faster than Rossi at the end of the race and the pair swapped places six times over the last two laps - and made contact several times - before Rossi held on to the final rostrum position.

“I think that Valentino's actions in the race were not correct towards Lorenzo," GPone.com reports Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director of Lin Jarvis as saying.

“After the race, Jorge came to us and asked our opinion of Rossi's behaviour during the race. There were four of us. Besides me, there was Furusawa and another two people from Yamaha.

"We, together, were in agreement with the fact that a battle like that between team-mates makes no sense. We expect our riders to race with a higher margin of safety and they were too close today.

"After that, Furusawa went to talk to Valentino, and he asked him to adopt a different approach when racing other Yamaha riders.

"We made our position clear. The race was too tight and too difficult. You don't do this; especially considering the situation in the championship.

“There is no implication of wrongdoing [by Rossi], otherwise Race Direction would have intervened. But a rider can be very aggressive, or too aggressive. Valentino was too aggressive.

“From a sporting perspective races might be more boring and less spectacular [without these kinds of battles]. But we don't want riders ending up in the gravel. We expect the riders to respect one another."

Lorenzo, who is staying at Yamaha for the next two season, can win the title at Sepang on Sunday.

Seven time champion Rossi, out of the 2010 title fight after breaking his leg earlier in the year, is moving to Ducati next season.

Gee, what a surprise that they would speak out for Lorenzo rather than the future Ducati rider who just spanked him, bad shoulder and all

I hope Rossi is healthy and really lays the smack down on Lorenzo with Ducati next season.