Rider sacked after pulling rival’s brake at 140mph

Italian rider Romano Fenati has apologised after being sacked by his team for pulling a rival’s brake lever while racing at 140 miles per hour.

Fenati was black-flagged after reaching across to Stefano Manzi’s bike and pulling the brake lever in the Moto2 race at San Marino.manzimanagedto stay on his bike, but some have called for Fenati to be banned for life.

Fenati was given a suspension of two grands prix, but has now been sacked by his Marinelli Snipers team, while the owner of his future employer, MV Agusta, says the rider’s contract for 2019 will be torn up.

Fenati issued an apology on the Motogp website, during which he referred to an earlier incident in the race with Manzi, which saw Manzi rebuked by officials for causing Fenati to leave the track.

“I apologise to the world of sport,” Fenati’s statement said. “This morning, with a lucid mind, I wish it had just been a bad dream.

“I made a disgraceful gesture, I was not a man. I shouldn’t have reacted to provocation. The criticisms are correct and I understand the animosity towards me. A horrible image of me and of the sport has come out.”

In 2015, Fenati was penalised for kicking out at Finnish rider Niklas Ajo, whose engine he also turned off at practice starts.

Fenati, 22, added of the San Marino incident: “My intention was certainly not to hurt a rider like me, rather I wanted to make him understand that what he was doing was dangerous and how I could also have done something similar to what he did to me.”

Marinelli Snipers team said in a statement: “The team shall terminate the contract with the rider Romano Fenati, from now on, for his unsporting, dangerous and damaging conduct for the image of all.”

Giovanni Castiglioni, boss of the MV Agusta team which had been due to sign Fenati for 2019, wrote on Instagram: “This has been the worse and saddest thing I ever seen in a bike race.”