Our writer travels to Italy to interview Valentino Rossi, following Rossi’s devastating loss of the MotoGP World Championship. Rossi, #46, was leading the championship standings going into the final race of the season. Rossi had received an unexpected penalty in the penultimate race in Australia for reported contact with last years champion #93 Marc Marquez. Because of the penalty points, Rossi was required to start from the back of the grid, instead of in the first two rows as expected.
In the race, Now-champion (and past champion) Jorge Lorenzo #99, scored a win from pole position, and took enough points to win the 2015 title.
Figuring in the battle for points and the championship were no-hope Honda riders Marquez #93 and Dani Pedrosa #26. Both Honda men and Lorenzo are Spanish, as it the overall sanctioning body DORNA. Rules are controlled by the FIM, an international body.
We met in the café in the square of Urbino Italy, the town where Valentino was born.
SG: Valentino, you have had an up and down season……
VR: Yes, very much. At the beginning of the season, I did not have so much hope for a 10th GP championship, but at the season moved forward, Jorge had some problems on track, Marc was having even less luck, and Dani was out for some races because of surgery.
SG: And your old friends at Ducati ?
VR: Yes, the team of the two Andrea’s. I was more worried about Dovizioso, but Crazy Joe (Ianonne) turned out to be bringing the better results. Either one seemed to be possible for the title, which would be good for our friends at Ducati. Not so good for me.
SG We are sitting at a café in the central courtyard of the City of Urbino. You have many memories of Urbino ?
VR: Well, not so many from the old days when I was young, but now yes, I return because it is a beautiful and historic city, and I have many friends here.
SG: I noticed when you walked up the little hill, that you looked at the tiny Gelato store…..
VR: Yes, they have the best gelato in the whole of Italy. I like to stop there every time I come downtown.
SG: Maybe we can go down there after we finish our coffee…..Have you visited the collection of religious work in the Ducal palace over there (Gesturing) ?
VR: Yes several times………(questioningly)
SG: Do some of those paintings speak to you more strongly today, after the season is over ?
VR:………Oh, I see what you are asking ! Every wall has paintings of the Jesus being crucified. HUNDREDS of those paintings ! So, yes, I feel a little like the Jesus !
Sg: Can you explain ?
VR: Well, now we get into it ! I feel like DORNA has crucified me, and the FIM have thrown me under the bus !
SG: How so:
VR: I think from what I know, that DORNA – a Spanish company – wanted Marc – who is Spanish- to win the championship, because he is the new young star, who will draw many more people to the track, and to watch on television.
SG: Well, there is the attraction of seeing the young and fierce depose the older and more crafty……
VR: Well yes, that is the old story. But it does not explain how, after it came that Danni – who is also Spanish – was out, that it could in the end that they would support Jorge – who is also Spanish – against me.
SG: Are you implying that DORNA, the organization, would somehow use their power to make Jorge the winner, and not you ?
VR: That is exactly what they did. When they gave me the three penalty points in Australia, they knew that would put me at the back of the grid in Valencia. That would mean that it would be almost impossible for me to go from the back of the grid to overtake Jorge – which would be the only way I could be sure to win the championship. I passed 21 people in the first 10 laps. Two more and I would have the title……
SG: But what if Marc and Dani had been first and second on the Hondas, would you have won ?
VR: Yes, but that is why Jorge was to lead the race, and Marc and Dani were 2nd and 3rd.
SG: Yes, but Jorge had no control over that…..
VR: Yes, but Honda had that power to make Marc and Dani come between, and give Jorge the title.
SG: Well certainly Honda could have the power to give the “team orders,” but that would be wrong for many reasons….
VR: I have been racing for 20 years, most of my 36 years. My father Graziano raced before me. If you can forget for a minute about the factory teams, the rest of us are like a little Gypsy tribe that goes here and there to race. We make many good friendships, and maybe make families together. These friendships are between friends, and not with “management.” We are loyal to each other.
I have raced for many teams, including recently Honda, Ducati and Yamaha. At every team, I have made very good friends, and they remain friends, it does no matter who I work for, or they work for; we are friends.
My friends at Ducati and I talk; my friends at Honda talk to me.
SG: Wait, does that mean you know what the Honda men have for new equipment and things like that ?
VR No, of course not, that would not be right. I never ask about the other teams “racing secrets.”” That would be wrong.
BUT, if someone on another team is trying to hurt me, or is going to do me wrong, I hear about that.
And that’s what happened here.
Somebody talked to me.
SG: So…… you are saying that there was a DORNA plan to see that Jorge won the title, maybe with the help of Honda ?
VR: Let me put it this way: If Jorge could win the race, I would have to finish right behind him to take the title. If the two Hondas were between us, it did not matter how well anybody rode, Jorge would take the title…..
Look at this: In Philip Island, Marc was a good enough rider for he and I to have the battle, to pass and re-pass each other 9 times in one lap…..Marc knows how to fight; Jorge not so much. Even Dani is so much better in the fight these last two years.
So: Jorge goes out in front, as everybody thinks he will do. Marc is right behind him. Marc says that he is there to win the race, but he NEVER makes a move, he never even shows Jorge a wheel.
Not a good way to win a race.
Sure you can say that he did not want to crash Jorge who is racing for the title, but that did not stop him from doing that to me in Australia……
And, where is Dani ? Dani is slow in 3rd, but the tires cool and come back to him, and the fuel is burned off. NOW he can run faster than Jorge and Marc, and late in the race, he goes forward to actually pass Marc, and go after Jorge !
Later, after the race, Dani says he cannot read his pit board for many laps. I know that Dani has taken vision tests, and like all of us, he has very very good eyes. How can you believe that he could not see his pit board. Could he chose to not see the board ?
SG: Why would he do that ?
VR: In America, you have American football and baseball. Those teams have very sophisticated signals, and they use them all the time. Imagine there is somebody who video-tapes the pit board signals at Valencia, along with what is happening in the pits behind the track. After the races, we can see these videos, and figure out the signals, just like your American teams……
SG: So you have seen the Honda signals from Valencia ?
VR: When the Honda men go to the wall to put out the pit board, there are always several of them. Everybody signals to the rider. Can you see how easy it would be to signal Dani to get away from the front ?
In the moto three race, where the title was decided at Valencia, the eventual title winner was being hounded by his team mate. The pit signaled the teammate to back off. That was on the public TV, and I can show it to you. Look for the pit man pointing to his head as if to say “THINK about what you are doing.”
So, we have the pit signaling Dani to slow down, and Dani “does not see it – the signal”
Eventually, the thinking sinks in to Dani that if he maybe passes Marc and crashes Jorge, that Valentino wins the title……..
There is your complete answer: DORNA, for business reasons wants a “Not Valentino” champion. We know that Dani and Marc are out of the fight, and only Jorge has a chance to win.
DORNA moves Valentino to the back of the grid. Let Jorge go the front and stay there, with Marc to guard him. Dani is to be 2nd or 3rd, and keep Rossi in 4th. Also very easy.
Could I have won from starting in the first 2 rows ?
I have done it before, against the same men.
Could I have done it this time ?
We and the fans will never know……..
