Track Rage May Cost Romano Fenati His Career In Motorcycling

Moto2 Rider Romano Fenati has long been known for having a fiery temper in the racing paddock. The 22-year-old Marinelli Snipers team rider from Ascoli made the unforgivable decision to grab Stefano Manzi’s front brake lever during the 2018 San Marino GP this sunday in Misano. Dorna, MotoGP’s sanctioning body, dealt the Italian rider a two race suspension penalty on Sunday after Fenati was black flagged from the race “irresponsible riding”.

Of course, Dorna’s punishment would only be the flecks of excrement about to hit the proverbial fan for Fenati. The resulting fallout of Fenati’s actions would become much more severe than the rider had considered during his moment of indiscretion.

The Marinelli Sniper team for which Romano had been racing announced they would be terminating its contract with Fenati effective immediately, issuing the following statement:

“Here we are. Now we can communicate that the Marinelli Snipers Team shall terminate the contract with the rider Romano Fenati, from now on, for his unsporting, dangerous and damaging conduct for the image of all. With extreme regret, we have to note that his irresponsible act endangered the life of another rider and can’t be apologized for in any way. The rider, from this moment, will not participate in any more races with the Marinelli Snipers team. The team, Marinelli Cucine, Rivacold and all the other sponsors and the people that always supported him, apologized to all the World Championship fans.”

Rumors regarding Romano Fenati’s future were confirmed early Monday morning when an announcement was made by MV Agusta, whom Fenati was slated to race for in the 2019 season, stating the agreement between MV Agusta Reparto Corse Forward Racing Team and Romano Fenati has been terminated.

Giovanni Castiglioni, President of MV Agusta, said: “In all my years of watching sport, I have never seen behavior as dangerous as this. A rider who can act like this can never represent the values of our company for our brand. For this reason, we do not want him to be the rider with which MV Agusta makes its return to the World Championship.”

Giovanni Cuzari, Team Owner: “After the disgraceful episode between Romano Fenati and Stefano Manzi, it is impossible for the team to maintain its planned collaboration with the rider from Ascoli for the 2019 season. Fenati’s behavior is incompatible with the sporting values of the Forward Racing Team and of MV Agusta. For this reason, though we bitterly regret it, we are forced to cancel our project with Fenati. Our sport is already extremely dangerous, and any act which increases the risks involved for the riders is intolerable. We cannot accept behavior of this type from one of our future riders.”

This isn’t the first time Romano Fenati’s temper has caused him issues. In 2015 in Moto3, Fenati kicked Niklas Ajo while riding and then turned Ajo’s engine off when they were stopped for a practice start. Fast forward to 2016, the Italian saw himself dropped from the SKY Moto3 team in the middle of the season with the team citing “repeated behavior not in line with the disciplinary rules of the team” as the reason.

It’s a shame to see such a talented rider behave so poorly. Our very own T. Siahaan summed it up concisely, “His talent is the inverse of his temper.”

As usual, Cal Crutchlow had something entertaining to say. The Brit’s sentiment has been echoed throughout the world on social media.

Cal should’ve got a standing ovation. pic.twitter.com/JSgnWH2l5T

— Ky (@FiftyBuckss) September 9, 2018