Valentino Rossi blasts ‘crazy’ Alvaro Bautista

Valentino Rossi has urged MotoGP bosses to speak to Alvaro Bautista after the Italian was almost caught up in a first lap incident with the Gresini Honda rider for the second race in succession in Barcelona yesterday.

Rossi and Bautista collided on the opening lap of the nine-times world champion’s home race in Mugello earlier this month and both crashed heavily.

Both protested their innocence in Italy but Rossi was incensed in Catalunya yesterday after he was almost caught up in yet another incident with former 125GP world champion Bautista.

Braking  for the left-hander at the end of the back straight, Bautista lunged under Rossi’s factory Yamaha YZR-M1 in an ambitious attack to seize fifth position.

The Spaniard lost control and as his RC213V slid towards the gravel trap it narrowly avoided slamming into Rossi, who had taken evasive action to avoid being caught up in more early drama.

Rossi went onto finish fourth but he could not hide his anger and frustration with Bautista’s tactics and when asked by MCN to explain how close he had come to being wiped out, he said: “For me the behaviour of Bautista is not very clever.

“In Mugello he made a mistake and he f*** my home race where it was possible for me to have big pain. But one mistake can happen.

“He cut the line and I was already there so he didn’t see me and unfortunately it can happen. But doing the same in the next race another time with me is very stupid I think.

“He tried an impossible braking and fortunately I release the brake and go wide. If not we crash together also today. And it was a useless overtake because I was a lot faster than him.

“For me when Bautista sees me, Lorenzo and the other top guys he becomes a little bit crazy. Last year with (Jorge) Lorenzo in Assen, in Valencia in 2011 with me and in Mugello with me.

“It is like he has to demonstrate that he is better than us. What happened today can happen but two races in a row and another time with me is not very clever.”

The 34-year-old later urged Race Direction to speak to Bautista, who has not finished higher than sixth in 2013.

He added: “Race Direction must do something with Bautista after these two episodes but especially this one because it’s not smart to do something.”

For more reaction to Sunday’s Catalunya MotoGP race, see eight pages of coverage in the June 19 issue of Motor Cycle News.