Tuesday, September 11, 2018

A Cautionary Tale

Yours Truly used to be impressed with Roman Fenati, last year's runner-up in Moto3.

The first thing Yours Truly noticed was his apparently huge helmet. Being predominantly white without any noticeable patterns unlike other helmets, it has created the illusion of a gigantic head.

The other thing Yours Truly noticed was his race craft in Moto3. Yours Truly has lost count on how many occasions Fenati would be engaged in a huge battle with a bunch of other riders, and somehow eventually emerge near the top.

Fenati was supposed to have a bright future, and was on the Moto3 team of Valentino Rossi, of all people, as late as early 2016 when he won in the USA and finished second in France. However, not long afterwards he was kicked off the team for what later revealed to be frequent and heated argument with Rossi's right-hand man, Uccio Salucci.

He came back with a new team in 2017 and finished a distant second to Joan Mir, one of the hottest prospects in MotoGP right now, and thus earned a promotion to Moto2 this season. However, while Mir continued to flourish in Moto2, Fenati struggled and a seventh in France was his best result.

Yours Truly always kept a close eye on him and thought what he needed was time. But then, came last Sunday race in Rimini where he inexplicably grabbed the brake lever of fellow competitor Stefano Manzi while they were both travelling at a speed of over 200 km/h. Apparently it was an act of retribution for being forced off the track by Manzi during a botched over-taking move earlier on.

It was an act of utmost stupidity and recklessness, and an act that could have seriously injured if not killed Manzi.

Fenati was promptly disqualified from the race and given a two-race ban. Subsequently, he was rightfully fired by his team and his contract signed with a new team, which ironically would have paired him up with Manzi next season, had also been voided.

It was not the first time Fenati had messed with other riders' bikes. He was involved in a spat with Nikolas Ajo in 2015 where he kicked out Ajo and pressed the kill switch on his bike while the latter was preparing for a practice start.



Yours Truly does believe that this is the end of Fenati’s once-promising top-level racing career. While Fenati could still possibly secure a ride somehow somewhere, the issue is no top team is willing to risk its reputation by hiring someone who may implode in any minute.

Yours Truly feels sorry for him, but at the same time, Yours Truly can't really feel sorry for him.

It was nothing but his own undoing.

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