VOL. 55 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 25, 2018 P51
BIAGGI BACK?
F
ormer 250 and World Superbike
Champion Max Biaggi's name
headed the rumor mill in the smaller
classes, with the multiple 500/Mo-
toGP race winner tagged to take over
as figurehead-manager of the Sud-
metal Schedl team, where former 125
racer Peter Oettl currently fields his
son, Philipp.
With Oettl Junior headed for Moto2
next year in the Tech3 squad, current
Honda rider and race winner Aron
Canet is tipped to join the squad,
under Biaggi's patronage.
Another rumor has current Bester
Capital KTM rider Marcos Ramirez
switch to Honda, to take over Enea
Bastianini's seat at the Leopard team.
Bastianini is also moving up to Moto2.
Meanwhile, ructions in the Gresini
team are threatening to leave Brno
Moto3 winner Fabio Di Giannanto-
nio out in the cold. The Italian has a
contract to stay with the squad in the
smallest class next year, but is anxious
to move up to Moto2. With Sam Lowes
joining that team next year, there is no
place for him there.
Michael Scott
FENATI FALLOUT
CONTINUES
IN SPAIN
R
acing bad-boy Romano Fenati has
had his two-race ban from Race
Direction extended to six races by the
FIM, keeping him out for the rest of
this season.
Without a team or a bike, however,
the ruling will make little difference to
the 22-year-old Italian, who told Italian
media after the Misano GP that he intends to retire
and resume his studies for a career outside racing.
Meanwhile, riders rallied round the miscreant,
decrying the roasting he has had in both the main-
stream and social media, where some went so far
as to issue virtual death threats.
Fenati earned the opprobrium for an extraordinary attack
on Moto2 rival Stefano Manzi at the previous Moto2 round of
Misano. Seeking revenge for having been pushed wide by his
crash-prone countryman, the 10-time Moto3 race winner pulled
alongside on the pit straight, reached across and squeezed
Manzi's brake lever. Manzi wobbled, but did not fall off.
It was in full view of the TV feed, and the next day photo-
graphs appeared worldwide, along with wholesale condemna-
tion. Rossi expressed his disgust that the incident had been
the subject of much more coverage than Dovizioso's home-
race win on the all-Italian Ducati.
Crutchlow repeated his original assertion that a lifetime ban
would be an appropriate punishment, saying, "I'm no angel, but
for me this was the limit."
But both Marquez and Dovizioso deplored the harsh judg-
ment meted out by social media. "The media spoke too much
about stupid things, not about racing; and the social [media]
in most cases reacted a very bad answer. I hate people who
speak because they are able to, and the they don't understand
the situation," said Dovizioso.
Fenati has been replaced at the Marinelli Snipers team by
20-year-old Andorra rider Xavi Cardelus, now in his eighth GP
after seven wild-card appearances this year on a Team Stylo-
bike Kalex. He finished 28th and last at Aragon.
Michael Scott
Max Biaggi
will be
back in a
management
role next
year.
Regardless of
the penalty,
Romano Fenati
says he is
finished as GP
racer.
