An online petition in response to the incident at the Malaysian MotoGP that saw Valentino Rossi penalised for his riding antics is gathering a huge amount of support, with over half a million people signing so far.

The Change.org petition was set up following the clash between Rossi and Marc Marquez in Sepang, which will now see Rossi starting the championship decider in Valencia from the back of the grid. Race officials made the decision after the race and penalised Rossi for dangerous riding, which they believe led to Marquez crashing after the two riders came together.

The petition calls for officials to reverse the penalty, claiming that “the sport has an agenda that betrays riders and fans” and that they need to “restore the integrity of the sport”.

Although it will likely have little or no effect the scale of support for the petition is none-the-less impressive, and thousands are still adding their name to it.

FIM President, Vito Ippolito, has commented on the masses of speculation and disagreements that have been sparked as a result of both the incident and the reactions to it off-track, saying it has “poisoned the atmosphere of our sport”

“Everyone has the right to express his or her own ideas. But words and actions always have consequences. Every individual has to take responsibility for those consequences.  The riders, first of all, must be aware of this. Each one of them has thousands of fans who follow their exploits on the track and listen to what they say off the track. For that reason, we look to them, not just in this Championship but in all our disciplines, to set the best example of what our sport should and aspires to be,” he continued.

“Riders, teams, manufacturers and sponsors should not only respect the rules but they should accept the decisions of the officials, whatever they may be. Otherwise, they are contributing to anarchy and undermining the future development of our sport."

Rossi still leads the championship from Jorge Lorenzo by 7 points, but is teetering on the brink of loosing the chance to gain his tenth world title as a direct result of the clash between him and Marquez. The final showdown in Valencia next weekend is going make for compulsive viewing. 

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http://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/2015/october/online-rossi-petition-goes-mad/                                                                                                                                                                              

in the interest of fair play, 
could you please provide a link to a petition asking for rossi's racing licence to be revoked because of his disgraceful behaviour, i would like to sign this one.
and before anyone says marquez was just as bad, yes i agree but he didn't force anyone off the track or make them crash.

it's sad and worrying that motorbike racing seems to be becoming more like football in that "winning" and earning the most money is more important that sportsmanship, i have raced motorbikes at amateur level and you must trust the other riders to have a respect for your life and safety and vice versa, once that has gone it becomes death race 2000.                                                                                                                                                                               

I agree.  What he did was really dangerous.                                                                                                                                                                             

OK, so appeal rejected and Rossi starting from the back.

How will the rest of the field treat him?
Will there be some measure of understanding for the build up to, and provocation of, the off?
Might the back of the field let him through (up to a point) so that he has a chance to fight for the title or will they just hand it to Jorge?
Will everyone feel he's bloody lucky to even be in the race?
Discuss ..........                                                                                                                                                                             

I have this dream that the whole grid will just open up and let Rossi through to go have a fair fight for the title!! ...but one thing is for sure Yamaha will be happy!                                                                                                                                                                             

will ducati be telling their factory and satellite riders to move over after rossi's hissy fit with them.......nope.

will honda be telling their factory and satellite riders to move over after rossi's hissy fit with them.......nope.

will suzuki be telling their rider to move over after rossi's bullying tactics of sete..........nope.

i suspect that the message from the manufactures to their riders will be something like.....if you want to ride for us again don't let us see you helping rossi.

                                                                                                                                                                              

Yup, there shouldn't be a rider out there this weekend giving 100% commitment to their own team and sponsors.... Looks like Lorenzo is going well in practice and should be hard to beat even if ya start next to him!.. Looks like I'm gonna have to watch this on Monday on itv4!

Well i think Rossi,s did brilliant although he was never going to be able to win, i also think they should both of been starting from the back of the grid, might of made an even better race                                                                                                                                                                             

If a rider hits a bike from behind, it is never the front riders fault,, what Rossi did is what 99% of what most bike racers would have done,,, the only thing Rossi did wrong, was to look at a rider,, if he had not looked at him, he would have won the championship,,

hi stu, 

i suggest you read your post again when you are sober, it's very amusing thank you very much :)

enjoy the rest of your xmas and a happy new year to you.                                                                                                                                                                             

Review of penalty system - need to look in to this at leisure later:

MotoGP have moved to change the way they award penalty points, in the aftermath of Valentino Rossi’s punishment for the collision between him and Marc Marquez at Sepang.Rossi was awarded three points at Sepang, which joined his one existing point awarded at Misano and set to expire in September. However, under the old regulations, the accumulation of a further single point between Misano and the remaining three points expiring in October would have resulted in a further back-of-the-grid penalty for the Italian.However, under the new rules, the nine-time champion (and any other rider in a similar situation) will now have to gather an additional four points on top of their three before a further punishment is doled out – in this case, a pit lane start.With the system designed to punish riders for individual incidents and not to repeatedly sanction them for the same offence, the new regs are an attempt by race control to  implement the points in the manner they were designed to.http://www.motorcyclenews.com/sport/motogp/2016/january/motogp-change-penalty-point-system-after-rossi-punishment/