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Movistar Honda team manager Fausto Gresini sent an open letter to the
media on Thursday night in response to a private letter sent by FIM
President Francesco Zerbi to MotoGP riders Valentino Rossi and Sete
Gibernau following last weekend’s clash during the Jerez race.

Mr Zerbi´s letter had invited the riders to reflect upon the incident,
and to remain as positive examples for all MotoGP fans – asking them
to fight fairly and without will of revenge. The FIM President also
wrote that he didn’t see any infringement to the rules, but stressed
that this kind of situation shouldn’t be repeated.

The comments made by Gresini were:
“I fully agree with President Zerbi about the fact that sportsmanship
is the most important thing. There’s no room for bitter feelings
between two great riders, but in the meantime, I’m still perplex.”

“In this letter, Sete and Valentino are treated equally as if Sete had
some responsibility in the facts, and I can’t agree with that. I
believe there is a contradiction when the FIM president writes ‘there
isn’t anything to reproach you for from a legal point of view’, and
then warns that what happened in Jerez must not occur again.”

“It means that we’re still far from a situation where all have equal
rights, in a sport as dangerous as ours,” concluded the Italian
manager.


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-Michael