Motorcycling-Rossi waits for court to decide his fate

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A court ruling ahead of Sunday's MotoGP title decider could make or break Valentino Rossi's dream of a 10th world championship at the age of 36. The championship leader is hoping the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, in a decision expected later on Thursday, upholds his appeal against a penalty that would send him to the back of the grid with the odds stacked against him. The Italian great leads Spanish rival and Yamaha team mate Jorge Lorenzo by seven points, with 25 for a win, ahead of a finale that has been overshadowed by controversy since the last round in Malaysia. "I'm still waiting to hear the decision of the CAS but I hope I can do a normal GP to battle and fight for the title on equal terms with Jorge," said Rossi. The row kicked off, literally according to Rossi's accusers, when the Italian tangled with Honda's outgoing double world champion Marc Marquez at Sepang. The young Spaniard has said Rossi kicked him off, an allegation the Italian has denied, suggesting Marquez was trying to sabotage his championship bid and help Lorenzo. Race stewards allowed Rossi to keep the Malaysia result but handed him three penalty points which, added to an earlier one, triggered an automatic demotion for Valencia. The sanction has divided the sport, fuelled national rivalries and led to finger-pointing in both directions. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called Rossi to express his support while Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy took to Twitter to back Marquez. Yamaha have taken up the cudgels against Honda. Spanish media have compared Rossi's actions to those of Italian defender Mauro Tassotti, who elbowed Spain's Luis Enrique in the face in an infamous incident in the quarter-finals of the 1994 soccer World Cup. On the other side, Marquez filed a legal complaint after he and his family were allegedly insulted and physically attacked by Italian television reporters at their home near Barcelona. Hundreds of thousands of people have also signed an online petition calling on MotoGP organisers to drop the Valencia penalty. Such has been the atmosphere that the International Motorcycling Federation (FIM) and promoters DORNA cancelled Thursday's pre-race news conference and summoned riders "to address the situation". "The recent events ... have had a damaging effect on the staging of our competitions and poisoned the atmosphere around the sport," said FIM president Vito Ippolito. "I express the hope that ... in Valencia the riders will fight it out on the track and in a way that fully respects the spirit of fair play." (Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, Editing by Kevin Liffey)