Espargaro fuming after Redding clash
Pol Espargaro was left fuming after being struck by Scott Redding on the opening lap of Sunday's COTA MotoGP.
The incident occurred when Redding lost the front of his Honda under braking for the tight Turn 11, sending him into Espargaro. Redding briefly rejoined while Espargaro was out on the spot.
"You are always disappointed when you don't finish the race. But even more when it is not your fault," said the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider. "At the end, I can't understand why it happened. I mean, I never did something like that. In the first lap, why do you want to win the race, you have 20 laps remaining!
Redding falls and takes down Pol Espargaro while trying to pass on lap 1 of #cota #MotoGP pic.twitter.com/J2tvD5m12R-- Crash.net MotoGP (@crash_motogp) April 12, 2015"If you are so good, if you are so talented, you can come back. Look at Valentino in Qatar, he was behind really far, and he won the race. The thing is, I can't understand why it happened, and I can't understand how he [Redding] can make so many mistakes in one lap.
"He was really close to crashing with Lorenzo. In the first corner, when he opened the throttle, he was really close to going flying. Turn 5, he ran wide, and after in Turn 8, my brother [Aleix Espargaro] was behind me. [Aleix] braked really late, and Scott braked even later in a really, really tight corner. It was really, really clear that he was going to crash."
Adding to Espargaro's anger was that he hadn't yet received an apology from his former Moto2 title rival.
"This is also another thing, if you make a mistake and you ruin one weekend of another rider, come on, say sorry. That is the minimum. But no. He doesn't care. For me, even with an apology, we lose one weekend where we were working good and the result could be really good."
Redding - who felt may have fallen after clipping Jorge Lorenzo - later apologised to Espargaro after the Spaniard raised the incident on Twitter, but Espargaro was still seething.
Thanks for it @reddingpower ! And Thanks also for yours apologies... WTF i'm still waiting!!!! Sure... https://t.co/jqs9SmAn02-- Pol Espargar? (@PolEspargaro) April 12, 2015@PolEspargaro sorry man ... Lorenzo close the door to hard.-- Scott Redding #45 (@Reddingpower) April 12, 2015@Reddingpower and you say sorry by twitter!! Good job man! Was just the first lap!-- Pol Espargar? (@PolEspargaro) April 12, 2015@PolEspargaro if you dont want the apology dont take it ... Sure you did the same before ..-- Scott Redding #45 (@Reddingpower) April 13, 2015@Reddingpower don't worry, sad to recive the apologies after 4hours and by twitter because I put on it! And srry but I never did it before-- Pol Espargar? (@PolEspargaro) April 13, 2015@PolEspargaro so drinks on me tonight then ? Have a safe trip-- Scott Redding #45 (@Reddingpower) April 13, 2015
