By Stephen English
With Marc Marquez having been sent to the back of the Valencia grid for colliding with Simone Corsi in Friday afternoon's Moto2 practice, the young Spaniard's riding style has once again been put under the microscope.
While Race Direction clearly feels Marquez has crossed the line on this occasion, and want to avoid such incidents in the future, he had some support from his future premier-class rivals.
While nine time champion
Valentino Rossi laid the blame for the accident squarely at Marquez's feet, the Italian also admitted that he enjoys watching the exciting 19 year old race:
“I like Marquez very much,” said the Italian. “His style, skills and aggression is good to follow. He's a talented guy but sometimes he is a bit too aggressive. In
MotoGP the speed is a lot more high and it is more dangerous so I think that naturally he will be a bit more quiet.”
Andrea Dovizioso had not seen the accident and so didn't want to comment about it specifically, although he did say that there are similarities between Marquez and Marco Simoncelli:
“Marquez is a little bit too aggressive but I think we are in the same situation as Simoncelli,” said the Tech 3 rider. “He doesn't want to crash but his ability to feel the limit is a bit different than the other riders.
“So for him it is normal [to ride like this] but he doesn't mean to be aggressive but it doesn't matter. If you are dangerous you will have to change your style. But I don't want to speak about today because I didn't see the crash.”
Dovizioso's Tech 3 Yamaha team-mate, Cal Crutchlow, also commented on the Moto2 champion's riding style. The combative Crutchlow had an interesting take on Marquez:
“I believe that people have it in for him because he's the best,” said Crutchlow. “His bike is worse than Espargaro's. There is no other Suter up there and no-one can do what he does on that bike.