Moto GP .......... unbelievable!

[Phil Pascoe]

BBC 1 at about 8.41am.

he should never be allowed to race again. :shock:

 

[Eric The Viking]

Quite agree - staggering. There is a video on the BBC sport web site.

 

[novocaine]

I have absolutely no idea what he thought he was doing. he's on live TV in one of the biggest biking sports arenas in the world, how does he think he'd get away with it?
he'll you pull that **** in a scratch and you're going to get booted. if he doesn't get chucked out I reckon no team will hire him again now, he's already been booted once.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I don't understand why anyone would try to wipe out someone that close to them - there'd be a very good chance they'd take you with them. :? But then, that brings thought into the equation, I suppose.

 

[AES]

Yeah I saw that "live" (actually, the local camera director didn't catch it live, it was only shown - during the race - as an action replay when they showed a line on the bottom of the screen saying that he's been black flagged). "What for?" I wondered, and then they showed the action replay.

I can only assume that although he was coming along the main grandstand straight (must be more cameras there than anywhere else on the track surely?) that he thought (if he thought at all!) that the cameras wouldn't catch it. I do hope he's banned from racing forever. As you say, he's also been dropped from one team before this "episode".

I presume you need some sort of licence to be allowed to race at all? Hopefully that'll be taken away and never re-issued

But what also surprised me was how well his "target" managed to stay aboard his own bike while someone else was grabbing at the handlebars at well over 200 Kmph.

I've watched motorcycle racing for some years but have never seen anything like it before. A REAL idiot.

 

[transatlantic]

It's the same with footballers faking injuries. How do they think they're going to get away with it when it's all caught on camera.

If I had my way, it would be a permanent ban. In this case, it's far more serious though due to the nature of the sport.

 

[Noel]

Saw that. No idea what possessed Fenati to do such a thing, totally nuts:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/45467121

FIM has to sanction him.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Thanks for the link.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

FIM has to sanction him? Maybe he should be in court for attempted murder?

 

[t8hants]

I see he has now lost his contract with Marinelli, so no ride. I doubt if anyone else will want him, looses his cool under stress.

 

[Tasky]

Saw that. No idea what possessed Fenati to do such a thing, totally nuts

Probably thought he was being funny.

I used to ride with a wide assortment of different bikers, including some that wear certain Patches on their backs. You'd get a variety of pranks, the most common of which was sitting at the traffic lights and someone would flick your kill switch just as you were about to pull off.
Someone has also tapped my brake just like this while we were hooning down the motorway.

 

[ScaredyCat]

Not exctly a new problem in motogp is it.



.

 

[AES]

Well yes, I think it is exactly a new problem ScaredyCat! As said above, I've watched it on telly for years (I think since the mid 1980s) and I have never seen such an action before. Not saying it's "never" happened, but as said it certainly IS a new problem AFAIK.

Do you know any more? Can you quote any other instances, or names, or dates, etc?

 

[ScaredyCat]

Rossi / Marquez 2015

Niccolo Canepa/Davide Cappato 2013



.

 

[AES]

I remember the Rossi/Marquez collision. M was definitely pressing too hard, and if I remember correctly he got a time penalty for clooiding with Rossi during an overtake/cut in early (like he got a penalty for going backwards on the grid when he arrived late before the start - sometime this year, USA(?) I forget).

Sorry I don't even know the other 2 names, but AKAIK, though "Wildman" Marc Marquez (and Zarco - not to mention Crutchlow, although perhaps less so) could all be described as "highly competitive", if not down right aggressive) and have all pulled questionable stunts on occasion, I can't think of anyone who has deliberately grabbed someone else bars at high speed (Fenati was apparently going at about 270 Kmph).

So I don't think your Marquez example counts (no bar grabbing) and as said, sorry I don't know about the other 2 (did one of then grab someone else's bars?). So have you got one example (of bar grabbing)?

 

[ScaredyCat]

Niccolo Canepa/Davide Cappato 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h3LvcY2CJs

Canepa being the guilty party.

Fenati has also done it before.

.

 

[AES]

Thanks for the clip. I don't remember that at all (I do sometimes miss races on the TV).

Yeah I knew Fenati had done it before, so (NOT trying to "score points" or anything) so while I do accept that bar grabbing/interfering has been done before, it's still not exactly an "every day" problem as your post suggested.

Hopefully, as Crutchlow already said (after coming 3rd in his GP race yesterday (not bad behind a works Ducati and a works Honda!), their sport is too bloody dangerous to have blokes going round grabbing each others' bars at well over a ton (mph), so hopefully the sport will stay a sport (rather than a wrestling match)! BTW, I only got a snatch of it on a German TV news channel tonight but apparently there's a move afoot to stop him racing for any team (or as a privateer) for the rest of this season. IMO, it ought to be a total ban - for ever.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

If I did it to someone when I was out on the road, I'd be in court. Why aren't they? :?

 

[novocaine]

Canepa was at a "track day" not during a race and was much slower speed after they'd had a chat about some such dick move, he was taken to court for it and rightly so. because it wasn't a race the FIM couldn't revoke his race license, not sure I agree with that though.

whilst his actions in 2013 aren't acceptable, they are under a very different circumstance to this incident.

rossi/marquez, both will say the same thing, "that's racing", occasionally you bump fairings. Rossi is no angel where that's concerned, he did very similar to gibernau way back in 2005, he did similar to biaggi too. then he got old. non of this is relevant though as no bar grabbing of bars was involved.

 

[AES]

"Canepa was at a "track day" not during a race .... ". OK Novocaine, I didn't know that, perhaps that's why I didn't recall it until ScaredyCat posted the link (I hadn't seen it before).

Agree that there's quite often been a bit of "bumping & grinding" (of fairings, etc - who was it who hit someone's rear tyre this year BTW? I forget) but as said, although there are quite a few examples of "aggressive" riding, some genuinely accidental I think, some less so (and I agree Rossi is by no means "innocent" there), the point I was making to ScaredyCat was that grabbing someone else's bars is by no means a "daily" occurrence!

Because it was a race on a track so that is I guess legally private ground, not a public road, I don't know if it's even legally possible to take Fenati to court (apart from anything else, under which country jurisdiction would/could that be done)? But in my own mind I certainly would not object to him being taken to some court. And he definitely ought to be banned from racing for life (my own opinion again). A real "hot head" (like he seems to be) has no place on any track IMO.