Romano Fenati has been banned from the upcoming Aragon and Thailand Grand Prix, after he pressed Stefano Manzi's brake lever out of anger during the Misano Moto2 race.
Forward Racing's Manzi made contact at the Carro hairpin with the Marinelli Sniper's rider in the latter stages of Sunday's Moto2 race while the pair were fighting for the lower points places, with both forced wide at the corner.
In retaliation, Fenati drew alongside Manzi on the run through Turn 7 moments later and grabbed the Forward rider's front brake.
Manzi stayed upright, but crashed three corners later at Tramonto, while Fenati was disqualified from the race.
Following a post-race investigation, Race Direction has awarded Fenati a two-race suspension, which will see him sit out the following races in Aragon and Thailand.
The team or Fenati is yet to comment on the matter. Manzi was handed a six-place grid drop for Aragon for causing the collision with Fenati.
Speaking in the post-MotoGP press conference on Sunday, LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow says Fenati “deserves to be kicked straight out” of the championship for the incident, and defended Manzi's contact as a racing incident.
“As you can imagine, I think he should never race a motorcycle again, and he should have walked back to his garage and his team should have kicked him straight out the back,” Crutchlow fumed.
“You can't do this to another motorcycle race, we are risking our lives enough, and when you grab someone's brake… sure there might have been contact before, there is contact all the time.”
“I don't think – from the replay – what Manzi did, he tried to pass him. Fenati ran wide and he tried to go underneath him and they made some contact.
“This is racing, but to grab the brake lever on the straight, he deserves to be kicked straight out."
Fenati is in the midst of his debut season in Moto2 and the second year of his racing comeback, after he was ousted from Valentino Rossi's team and riders academy for misconduct midway through the 2016 Moto3 campaign.
It was announced during the Silverstone weekend Fenati will join Forward next year, though it is unclear how this incident will affect his deal.
