The officials decided to ban Fenati after the incident at the San Marino Grand Prix race this Sunday, the Mirror reported. The Italian racer clashed with another racer, Stefano Manzi, competing with each other over several laps. However, in an attempt to get ahead of his opponent, Fenati reached for Manzi’s motorcycle with his left arm and squeezed the brakes, sending the bike wobbling. Manzi managed to keep his bike stable but had to quit a few laps later.
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Fenati was disqualified as soon as MotoGP officials saw the tape. After a discussion, they decided to ban the Kalex driver for the next two races. That means Fenati will miss the next Grand Prix in Aragon, Spain on September, 23, as well as the Thailand Grand Pix in October.
The decision was criticized by other moto racers, who saw it as too lenient for the reckless and irresponsible driving. “This is unbelievable. Are you kidding me?” former MotoGP rider Colin Edwards told BT Sport, “That’s where you tell him, 'go pack your bag and we’ll see you next year'. That’s ridiculous.”
Former World Superbike champion Neil Hodgson said that a possible crash would have been “massive” in a dangerous sport like this. “This is a man who has got form for doing stupid things on track. Every now and again you get one bad apple. Fenati’s done it before, see ya,” he added.
This is not the first time Fenati’s hunger for the lead has put his rivals in danger. In 2015 he was handed a penalty after kicking Niklas Ajo off of the track during a warm-up for a Moto3 race. During the same race, he pulled the cord on Ajo’s bike shutting all of his systems down after a fierce exchange of words. Fenati was penalized three points, meaning he had to start the next race from the back of the grid.
