|
 Lorenzo, Rossi's team mate, had been the only man who could deny the
Italian a 10th career title and he did so by winning the
season-ending race from pole position to take his third championship
in the top category.
Rossi had started last, a penalty resulting from the previous round
in Malaysia where he allegedly kicked out at Marquez on track with
the outgoing champion crashing, but finished fourth.
The Italian would have been champion if Marquez and Honda team mate
Dani Pedrosa had managed to beat Lorenzo but they finished second
and third -- with Rossi decrying an "embarrassing" afternoon for the
sport.
"This is not the atmosphere we wanted to experience at the end of an
unforgettable championship," said Honda Racing Corporation
vice-president Shuhei Nakamoto in a statement.
"We understand that its been a very difficult day for Valentino ...
However, on the other side we cannot accept the strong accusations
he has directed against our rider and Honda in the past weeks and in
today's post race press conference."
Rossi had previously made accusations against Marquez in Australia
of assisting Lorenzo, with the season finale overshadowed by
controversy that officials had warned was poisoning the atmosphere.
Nakamoto said there was no evidence to support the claims.
"Today Valentino has alleged that Marc never attempted to pass
Jorge, who has clearly had a very good pace all weekend which he
demonstrated by taking a strong pole position in qualifying," he
added.
[to top of second column] |
"Marc was struggling to stay behind him during the race and both him
and Dani have done a great job to not lose too much distance to
Jorge.
Nakamoto said Marquez had planned to attack Lorenzo on the last lap
but a late move by Pedrosa thwarted that.
"We are sorry that Valentino doesn't believe this is the case, but
we are certain both Marc and Dani were pushing 100 percent to
achieve the best result for the Repsol Honda Team and all our
partners as always," he said.
"We cannot accept that these accusations continue to surface time
after time, as this is the perception of one person -- which we
respect -- but it is not the reality.
"Valentino is a great champion and clearly an intelligent individual
so we truly hope that in time, once the dust settles, he can
reevaluate what has happened and accept this was another great race
from a wonderful season," he added.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Greg Stutchbury)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
