The 4th edition of DediKato event, which is part of the Motogweek was held at at the Portoverde Piazza at Misano on Thursday evening to pay tribute to Daijiro Kato was a big success.
Kevin Schwantz, Marco Lucchinelli and Randy Mamola along with riders Bradley Smith, Julian Simon, Aleix Espargaró, Mattia Pasini, Toni Elias, Loris Capirossi, Marco Melandri, Marco Simoncelli, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi, Fausto Gresini and Dr.
Costa all showed up to help raise funds for the Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation with donations from riders that included helmets, gloves, boots and other memorabilia, all of which will be on sale on eBay.
The event was also televised live from satellite channel Telenova and while the official press releases say that there was some good humored bantering, they left out that Marco Melandri, who will be leaving MotoGP at the end of the season for World Superbikes, decided to let loose some his frustrations and it ended up in a verbal sparring match between Melandri and Loris Capirossi which seemed more like a trash TV reality show than a worthy event to raise funds.
Melandri on stage, had something for everyone, on Valentino Rossi: “Now that Yamaha and Bridgestone aren’t helping him, even he can’t win” this statement did not go down well the large crowd who had gathered to see the GP stars.
Receiving boos and cat calls and understanding that he had antagonized the public, corrected himself by saying : “I wanted to criticize the system, not Valentino.
” On team mate Marco Simoncelli saying: “ I don’t think he’s gotten such great results” (forgetting that Simoncelli is a rookie) and on Randy de Puniet: “He’s doing what I do” (forgetting that de Puniet before getting injured at the Sachsenring, took the front row three times and was fighting for the podium) and finally the Italian decided to target veteran rider Loris Capirossi:Melandri: How long has it been since you won a race?Capirossi: I almost don’t remember, 2007 in Japan.
Melandri: You see, you want to stay in MotoGP just to be a number.
Capirossi: I’m 15 years older than you are and in 2011 I’ll probably be racing in MotoGP while you have no other choice but to race in another championship.
Melandri: When you sign up with Pramac put on your mask because it’ll be highway robbery! I’d rather race in a championship that is very, very, very inferior than stay in MotoGP just to be a number.
Capirossi: When you decide to something it’s important that believe in what you’re doing, and you do know that if you don’t win in WSBK your career is over?At the end of the season Melandri will be leaving the MotoGP paddock with very few friends.
