#moto3

The controversial Romano Fenati is set to return to Grand Prix racing in 2019, reportedly with his former team, Snipers, but with a demotion to the Moto3 class.

Moto2 Rider Romano Fenati has long been known for having a fiery temper in the racing paddock. The 22-year-old Marinelli Snipers team rider from Ascoli made the unforgivable decision to grab Stefano Manzi’s front brake lever during the 2018 San Marino GP this sunday in Misano. Dorna, MotoGP’s sanctioning body, dealt the Italian rider a two race suspension penalty on Sunday after Fenati was black flagged from the race “irresponsible riding”.

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times: nine times out of 10 Moto3 racing provides the most excitement of the three world championship classes (however, our own Bruce Allen does a great job breaking down the MotoGP race). The riders are full of youth and enthusiasm, they race close, and sometimes they practice their motocross skills in the middle of a race!

A fixture in the Grand Prix paddock for more than 40 years, Francesco Pileri helped many of the sport’s legends get their start. Riders who have worked with Pileri include the likes of Angel Nieto, Fausto Gresini, Paolo Casoli, Loris Capirossi, and Alex Barros, just to name a few.

Repsol Honda’s suddenly cerebral Marc Marquez took a big step toward seizing the 2016 MotoGP title with a formidable win on the Spanish plain. By thumping the factory Yamaha Bruise Brothers, he increased his margin from 43 to 52 points with four rounds left. A mistake on Lap 3 took him from first to fifth, but he remained patient, kept his powder dry, and went through, all stealthy-like, on Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Vinales, Jorge Lorenzo and, finally, Valentino Rossi on the way to his first win on Spanish soil since 2014.

For the first time since 1949 when MotoGP invented itself, eight different riders have won a premier class race in a single season.  Repsol Honda #2 Dani Pedrosa, mired in the worst slump of his career, winless in 2016, busted out today on the shores of the sun-drenched Adriatic with a convincing win over Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.  For series leader Marc Marquez, another exercise in damage limitation worked well enough to keep his margin at 43 points with five rounds to go.

No disrespect to Dani Pedrosa, but I was really hoping Marc Marquez was going to win the Czech round of the MotoGP championship this past weekend. It would have been his 11th win in a row, a record-breaking achievement, surpassing none other than Giacomo Agostini. More to the point, it would have strengthened my argument about the 2014 MotoGP season so far: the racing has been kinda boring. It’s not Marc’s fault; the kid is amazingly talented and will surely receive Hall of Fame status when he eventually hangs up his leathers. Sure, the resurgent Rossi has been inspiring to watch, and other riders (Pedrosa, Lorenzo, Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaro) have shown flashes of brilliance, but c’mon, at the end of the day, we all know Marquez is going to wrap this thing up.

Today’s Weekend Awesome video offers highlights from the 2013 Moto3 World Championship, a thrilling three-way title battle that came down to the final race of the season.