Lorenzo: 'I'm ashamed of my father'

THE already strained relationship between Jorge Lorenzo and his father has gone a step further, after learning of his elder's criticism of Marco Simoncelli.

With the mourning of Simoncelli's death still fresh, Chicho Lorenzo turned to the Spanish press stating that he believed Simoncelli showed signs of being a dangerous rider and no one told him he was wrong, and saying: "Simoncelli wasn’t mentally prepared to race. To race at these levels you also have to train mentally. And he crashed in a similar manner several times before.”

Lorenzo himself is likely to be going through a rough time over the death of his great rival, as he was one of the Italian's harshest critics during the period of attacking Marco's aggressive racing style - complaining that he was reckless and dangerous.

Showing dignity at the funeral, Lorenzo put the past behind him to leave a final farewell in the memorial book, leaving the message: "I will miss you forever, I’m sorry that we had words."

Shocked at the statement from his father the 2010 MotoGP champion turned to Twitter: "I’d like to thank the fans for the reception they gave me which makes me even more ashamed of my father’s comments which are out of line. I hope nobody thinks that I agree with what he says, because this could unfortunately have happened to any of us.“