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Jorge Martinez denies version of events put forward by Gábor Talmácsi

In MotoGP

15 maggio 2009

Jorge Martinez denies version of events put forward by Gábor Talmácsi

Today at 5pm, Jorge Martínez "Aspar" held a press conference at the Circuito de Le Mans -scene of the Grand Prix de France. The reason for the event was to clear up some recent allegations made about the future of the Balatonring Team.

The Spaniard wanted to talk about his and his team's professional relationship with rider Gábor Talmacsi, with whom they had been associated since 2007 in the 125cc category and, from this year, the 250cc class.

He was keen to clearly emphasise that the accusations made by the Hungarian's management yesterday were totally false and unjustified, and that he was tremendously disappointed in the fact that he had been unable to contact the rider directly in order to come to some sort of agreement -avoiding the cancellation of their contract by the Hungarian side of the partnership. He also expressed his sadness at the fact that the situation would adversely affect not only the Balatonring Team, but primarily Gábor Talmacsi.

Jorge Martínez "Aspar": "I would like to make clear that the relationship between myself -both professionally and personally- and Gábor Talmacsi over these past three years has been excellent. I have absolutely no idea of why this decision has been taken at this stage of the championship, after just three races. Gábor is fifth in the standings, one point off fourth, in his first 250cc season. Grupo Milton as our main sponsor and all the other supporters are delighted with the Balatonring Team project, and our feelings are the same. We think that this is a hugely solid project for Hungary, Gábor and the team, so for this reason it is a real pity that the interests of certain individuals -in this case the Manager of Gábor Talmacsi- have taken priority. It is honestly the first time in 28 years that I have witnessed a situation like this. It is frankly incomprehensible that a World Champion can make a decision like this, putting his sporting career in jeopardy over a disagreement over image rights. It hurts me a lot, but I want to make clear that I would love to continue with Gábor Talmacsi as the Balatonring Team's rider. I consider the allegation made by Gábor's lawyer, regarding a supposed lack of material, unjustified. We have an RSA factory bike that Bautista, Simoncelli and the other top riders have, and the championship results speak for themselves. During all the time that we have worked together the relationship has been magnificent, even up until the last race at Jerez. To find ourselves caught up in this situation just a week later is a big surprise for both myself and the team. I really don't understand it at all, and I think that it is clearly not a problem of the economic kind, nor in our working relationship, but rather a personal one on the part of Gábor's manager. The most important thing is not to lose sight of our good relationship, which have taken us to a 125cc title in 2007 and third place last year. I have still been unable to talk to Gábor, and that saddens me most of all, because I consider that this situation has not been created by either him or ourselves."