ROSSI CALLS FOR MORE RIDER RESPECT AND LESS AGGRESSION

Valentino Rossi calls for more rider respect and less aggression – Photo: LAT

After nearly being struck by the flying bikes of Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli, Valentino Rossi has called for less aggression and more respect from his MotoGP rivals.

By DAN McCARTHY

The crash which has made the news around the world followed shortly after a similarly frightening accident in Moto2.

Early in the Austrian Grand Prix a near disastrous collision occurred when Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli collided at Turn 2 on the run up the hill to the Turn 3 hairpin.

While both riders came to a stop their bikes didn’t and narrowly missed both Rossi and his Yamaha teammate Mavrick Vinales who were negotiating Turn 3.

One of the most terrifying #MotoGP crashes we’ve EVER seen!!! 😱

Watch the Turn 3 accident from all angles! 💥#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/L2GLToviFi

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 17, 2020

Rossi has asked for more respect from his rivals and less aggression under brakes from his MotoGP colleagues which he feels was the main contribution to the crash.

“You need to have respect for your rivals, especially at a track where you‘re always going at 300km/h,” Rossi said to the media after the race.

“What I said is that also from the small classes, you have a lot of riders who close the door when braking.

“Zarco is very wide and braking in the face of Franco, maybe to not let Franco overtake in braking. But it was too close, and when we are at 300km/h we have a lot of slipstream and Franco had no chance to brake.

“We risk a lot, especially me and Maverick. This could have been a potential disaster.

“All four riders, but especially me and Maverick, we were very lucky. We have to pray to somebody tonight because the situation was very dangerous, it was so scary, [it] was terrifying.

If the aggression is toned down Rossi believes the sport will be safer for everyone and that the two incidents yesterday highlighted that it is still a dangerous sport.

“I think it is good to be aggressive, for sure, because everybody tries to do the maximum, but for me we don‘t have to exaggerate [that], because we need to remember that this sport is very dangerous,” Rossi explained.

His Spanish teammate Vinales feels the corner itself is extremely dangerous and that the incident has the potential to occur once more with disastrous consequences.

The former Moto3 champion is pleading for something to be changed another crash happens at the same turn.

“These things can happen in races, there’s always that risk,” Vinales said after the race.

This corner, Turn 3, we say every time that it’s really dangerous. They need to do something because it’s really easy to crash there!

“This morning (Sunday) I nearly crashed in the warm-up. I locked the front and went a bit towards the walls, and that was scary.”

Vinales recalled the incident saying that he didn’t see anything until the last second, he is just happy that everyone involved was uninjured.

“During the incident, I didn’t see anything, honestly, I just heard the scratching sound of crashed bikes and then I felt the impact of Johann’s bike hitting the wall,” he said.

“Then, when I looked, I saw one bike coming towards me and I covered my head and the bike jumped up.

“Today we were very lucky, this is the most important. We’re good.”

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