Casey Stoner complained about Valentino Rossi's aggressive riding at Laguna Seca today, but admitted the crash that cost him a chance of victory was his own fault.
The reigning champion, who was on a three-race winning streak coming into the US Grand Prix, was fighting wheel-to-wheel with Rossi for the majority of the race.
The pair passed and re-passed each other several times before Stoner slid wide while following Rossi under braking for the last corner with eight laps to go, and dropped the bike as he ran wide on the exit.
He got back on in plenty of time to finish second, but felt that Rossi's overtaking moves throughout the first half of the race were 'too much'.
"For me, some of the overtaking manouvres were not correct," he told Italia1 television. "I'm a little disappointed because if I do something like this then for sure I get a penalty.
"I've had some very hard racing in my career, some very aggressive racing, but not dirty. For me, today was a little bit too much."
But Stoner admitted that the mistake that led to his fall was his own doing.
"When I ran off the track it was my fault," he added. "I made a mistake when I was trying to come back on. I don't know what happened, I didn't touch the front brake. The sand was very thick and I just made a small mistake.
"It's a shame because the race was good, the bike felt quite good and the conditions were getting warmer, although the rear was sliding around quite a lot."
