A Moto2 rider has been banned for two races after carelessly grabbing and squeezing the brake lever of a rival while riding at up to 130 mph (209 km/h).
During yesterday’s race at Misano, Italy, Romano Fenati was involved in a thrilling on-track battle with rival Stefano Manzi. Fenati’s blood started to boil after he was forced off track by a failed overtake from Manzi and decided to take revenge.
When riding alongside Manzi down the track’s straight, Fenati reached out and quickly squeezed his rival’s brake lever, momentarily locking Manzi’s front tire and forcing him to let off the gas to regain control of the bike.
After seeing footage of the incident, race control immediately black flagged Fenati for irresponsible riding. The Italian rider was then handed a two-race ban after returning to the pits.
Understandably, those within the sport are fuming at Fenati’s actions and MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow believes he should receive a lifetime ban.
“I think he should never race a motorcycle again,” Crutchlow told Motorsport. “When he walked back to the garage, the team should have just kicked him straight out the back.
“To grab the brake lever on the straight, he deserves to be kicked straight out.
“You can’t ride along the straight and grab someone’s brake lever. If he would’ve held it for one split second longer, Manzi would’ve crashed in the straight.”
In a bizarre twist, Fenati has a contract to race with Manzi’s Forward Racing team for the 2019 Moto2 season and could actually partner Manzi next year.
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