Rossi

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Actually it's the fault of the circuit designers for placing such a corner at the end of the lap...

[chunder]

Ha ha, yes, in that case ever bike racing championship should bocott tracks with tight corners at the end of the lap. Assen for one, howmany lasp lap crashes have there been at the chicane there!
One ood one would be Silverstone, may be they would get rid of that emarassment of a chicane then.
Another one is Snetterton! No more Old Trout/Hizzy like incidents. Knockhill! Mallory!
Sepang,
While we are at it we sould also ban slipstreaming so guys can onl overtake when they make a pitstop or retire, Oops o wait a minute tat is F1!
Sorry for teh sarcasm just came from nowhere!! Like Rossi!!

[gfm]

People will be getting a bit tired of this but very good question Canberra Karter. The answer is ‘Yes’.
This in my opinion gives rise to interesting stuff.
Sete certainly needs to play it cleverer next time. The point is that track position is everything on the final lap, the simple expedient of being in front is EVERYTHING – track position for a decent exit is much less important on a last lap, especially the last corner. But as I keep repeating, Rossi had already out-braked himself twice that lap and was definitely going to do it again. Bit of a no-brainer from Sete then. AND like I said, Sete compounded his misjudgment of Rossi’s determination and really did lay it down on the turn in, but far too late (look at the photos again). So he was definitely saying (Body/bike language) to Rossi “Don’t even think about coming up the inside . . “ which would be red rag to a bull for last corner Rossi “can’t stop mate . . oh ****“ in a situation like this.
What I find intriguing is the mistakes on the last lap, given that they’ve been riding/racing at 9.9ths/10ths for much of the race, Rossi or whoever can only go quicker at any point by giving up the ‘right’ line. I’ve seen Schumacher make this mistake too – these superstars belief in themselves is that they can go EVEN QUICKER on the final laps when tyres and brakes are well past their best, is a mistake.
So you need to draw them into it or to allow them the possibility of making that mistake, and pouncing when they do. High speed on-the-limit chess.
Surely you can appreciate this as kart racer Canberra Karter?

[mac]

Originally Posted by gfm

Sete certainly needs to play it cleverer next time. The point is that track position is everything on the final lap, the simple expedient of being in front is EVERYTHING – track position for a decent exit is much less important on a last lap, especially the last corner. But as I keep repeating, Rossi had already out-braked himself twice that lap and was definitely going to do it again. Bit of a no-brainer from Sete then.

I hate doing this, but you're wrong.

Your rationale is based purely on speculation. How do you KNOW that Rossi "was definitely going to" out-brake himself!? You don't totally KNOW anything in Sete's situation.

And say Gibernau pulls over and waves Rossi on by (as you appear to be suggesting he do next time) and Rossi somehow pulls off the move - Sete looks foolish. You would be on here saying Sete succumbed to Rossi again ..... Vale has it all over him.

PLEASE!

It is not Sete's responsibility to gauge how quickly or out of control the guy is behind him when they are approaching a corner. It's Rossi's job to monitor that and on this occasion he got it wrong - Sete CANNOT be held responsible for that. It is laughable to suggest .... "oh, he should have known" ...... BULLDUST! Rossi should have known and not crashed into him.

I am sure that Gibernau thought he had enough of a gap and braked far too late into the corner for Rossi to contemplate a move. Rossi exceeded the limits and pushed it too far.

It is totally ridiculous to claim it as any part Sete's fault.

Say you're sitting in a traffic jam gfm, and a driver looks down at the radio and slams into the rear of your car ........ does it still always take two to tango? Is it as much your fault as his?

PLEASE!

PS. Technically, Rossi only out-braked himself once prior on the last lap - and that was all by himself at the first hairpin. The second time he went in a little over-hot and too shallow, but Sete could see him because they were side by side at the corner entry.

That's all I have to say on the subject.

[Dani Filth]

it's not Sete's fault .. as is a racing incident ..

[gfm]

I’m sorry Mac; you’re choosing to close your mind to what is the crux of a bike racing issue at the very highest level. Your choice which is sad, and I am Sir, not wrong. I happen to enjoy discussing track racing situation issues, conjecturing, guessing, because it lies at the very heart of the world’s best racing. World Championship Racing Mac, not sitting in a traffic queue. Your perspective is a bit off IMHO.
4 reasons why on balance Sete could have guessed, on the final corner Rossi was going to out brake himself. 1 Sete had him wound up to full out 10/10ths commitment. 2 Rossi had already made two mistakes those two laps. 3 at no time under braking as far as I could see, was Rossi’s front wheel clearly behind Sete’s machine (so Sete knew he was there). 4 lot of personnel needle between them, last lap/corner of 1st GP of the year, big money works bikes etc.
It is absolutely Sete’s responsibility to know what he’s playing against in Rossi. He is the man who has a multi-thousand-dollar works Honda ride with the sole objective of beating all others including Rossi. That is all he’s employed to do. And Sete is brilliant enough to know that he had Rossi was still with him, absolutely wrung out, flat out on the final few corners of GP R1 ‘O5 .. and yet he still braked late but on the ‘normal’ race line and with a gap on the inside, before forcefully laying into the path of Rossi’s machine.
I’m not saying it was Sete’s fault – but he lost, and if he’d been cannier, he may have won. If he had stood up, braked late enough to force Rossi to brake later on the tighter line as indeed he did, then turned inside Rossi – where was Rossi going to end up if he hadn’t bounced off Sete? – he’d may have got to the line first and ended up the Spanish hero.
And if it does happen again at the next GP, final corner, he knows how over-committed Rossi will be, and I’m guessing Sete will be just as uncompromising. But he has to work on either not having any room on the inside which isn’t grass or winding Rossi up to the point where he overshoots up the inside again. But keep out of harms way.
It’ll be fantastic fun watching, that’s for sure.

[f1manoz]

Rossi's move was particularly harsh on Sete, as it did little than push him off the track and had a real air of desperation. But, frankly, I have seen far worse acts performed but Sete had every right to be very angry with Rossi as it was not a particularly fair move.

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

Every rider who has been asked for a comment has basically summed it up as a racing incident, that's good enough for me. Edwards made a particularly good point about it happening all the time further down the order, just that the TV audiences never see it.

[fordo]

I don't think it was really was anything other than a racing incident that arose from a lot of adrenalin pumping. They are paid professionals, who get paid to perform and win not give in just because its the last corner of the race. They were skilled enough not to come off earlier in those last 2 laps despite a bit of needle and I have to agree with GFMs comments just above re Sete cutting back inside for the drag to the line after Rossi went wide. Parrallels could be drawn with Webber and Fissi in F1. Could of, should of, but didn't - bang.

[Gia_76]

I'm quite late to reply to this thread but I've just watched the race that I recorded. IMO, Rossi and Gibernau are two very skilled professionals. They finished 1st and 2nd of the last championship so a tough duel is predictable for this season. All I can say is 1st round for Rossi, Gibernau will certainly have better luck next time. Anyways that was thrilling and I did enjoy the show

[Hazza]

And I noticed something, The move that Rossi pulled on sete is almost the same as he pulled on Biaggi at Welkom with about 2 laps to go - Only Biaggi didn't go off the track.