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Romano Fenati’s red mist moment in Moto2 at San Marino was captured on camera.
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The fiery Italian had a run in with Stefano Manzi in the Moto2 race.
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Fenati was DQ’d in the race but expect a heavy penalty soon.
If Moto3 is usually always exciting, let us be honest, Moto2 is snooze inducing (to put it kindly). The Moto2 contest at the San Marino GP was going to be no different, what with Francessco Bagnaia running away with his home grand prix. Well, that was until the red mist descended on racing bad boy Romano Fenati.
Fenati had been running down in 15th, when Stefano Manzi snuck his bike inside the formers into a right hander. When Fenati turned toward the apex, both riders came together and ran wide into the sand trap but managed to stay upright.
It was visible at that moment that Fenati was furious and he gesticulated wildly at Manzi.
As the camera focused adoringly (read: boringly) on the race leader, it suddenly cut away to Fenati’s team preparing the pitboard signaling that the rider had been DQ’d (disqualified). Soon, the we saw the slow-motion footage of Fenati riding up beside Manzi, then reaching out with his left hand to squeeze the latter’s front brake lever.
Romano Fenati had great talent and was one of the first riders picked by Valentino Rossi himself to ride in his SKY Racing Team by VR46 in the Moto3 Championship back in 2014. He was sometimes brilliant while totally nowhere in the remainder. Yet, the team knew he had raw talent and retained his services.
In 2016, he was suddenly dropped beginning the Austrian GP and his contract for the remainder of the year and 2017 was terminated. The team would later cite “behavioral issues in conflict with team policies.”
But Marinelli Honda decided to take gamble and signed Fenati for the 2017 Moto3 season. The team was rewarded with three victories and five second places as Fenati finished second overall.
He moved up to Moto2 this and suffered tremendously as he languished near the tail end. However, MV Agusta has signed him up for their foray into Moto2 in 2019.
In our opinion, such action is unquestionably dangerous and inexcusable, besides being just one of a few cases. Dorna and the FIM has not published any actions on Fenati at the moment but expect a heavy penalty.
