Marc Marquez expects to be booed after MotoGP row with Valentino Rossi
Marc Marquez admits he expects to receive a negative reception at times during the 2016 MotoGP season, following his row last year with Valentino Rossi
The Honda and Yamaha riders clashed several times during the season, then again during the penultimate round at Sepang, as Rossi was fighting for the title.
Rossi accused Marquez of trying to help countryman and eventual champion Jorge Lorenzo, actions he believed embarrassed MotoGP.
Race winner Lorenzo and third-place finisher Marquez were booed on the podium after the season opener at Qatar, a far cry from the 'Rossi' chants heard from the grandstand as riders lined up on the grid, and something Marquez is prepared to encounter more.
"It's something that, for example, in soccer I heard and I don't like," Marquez said of the booing.
"So I don't like it in MotoGP, also if it's against me.
"But in the end it's something that, I'm not stupid, I know that it will be usual.
"We must adapt and for me the most important thing, is it doesn't matter the [supporter merchandise] colour of the fans - if it's yellow, black, red - I think everybody enjoyed the race in Qatar."
Lorenzo said he was confused by the reaction, in the first race outside of Spain since Rossi and Marquez's clash last October.
"We didn't do anything wrong during the last months," he said. "We just concentrated on going very fast.
"I won the championship, Marc tried to do [his best] in 2015 and he is starting this season also like me - to try to be professional and to try to be the best on the track.
"We are risking our life in the process.
"So I don't know what we did wrong, just be very fast and beat some riders."
Following Lorenzo and Marquez's comments, the question was opened to Rossi, who shied away from the topic.
"Boo? I don't know," he said. "I don't know."
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