00:00He screamed at the other rider as they tore around the winding track at over a hundred
00:04kilometers per hour, even trying to kick him off his bike. And when that wasn't enough,
00:08as they came to a stop, he hit the kill switch on the rider's bike, leaving him stranded on
00:13the track. It was a bit of a shame, because despite how much of an a-hole Romano Finati was,
00:18he was a great rider. In fact, he had the potential to be one of the greatest riders
00:23in the world. When he made his debut in Moto3 in 2012, he came second on his very first race,
00:29and he won his second race, making him the youngest rider to ever lead the world championship after
00:34only two races. However, the beginning years of his career were a bit of a roller coaster.
00:40Finati was signed by the legendary Valentino Rossi's VR46 Riders Academy, but he unfortunately
00:46squandered that opportunity with incidents like this and rumors of terrible behavior behind the
00:51scenes too. But by 2017, it was beginning to look like Finati was actually turning things around.
00:57After joining with the Marinelli Snipers, he had a great 2017 season, winning multiple races and
01:03finishing as the runner-up in the Moto3 World Championship. And in 2018, he got signed to
01:08represent Ford Racing the following year in the Moto2 class, just one step away from the
01:13prestigious MotoGP class, with the fastest riders in the world. It looked like he had finally matured,
01:19putting his past behind him and getting on track to fulfill his world champion potential.
01:24But unfortunately, that all changed at the 2018 San Marino Grand Prix. See, Romano Finati's anger and
01:31lack of self-control hadn't just magically been fixed, he just hadn't been triggered for a while.
01:36So, during the Grand Prix race, when Stefano Manzi pushed himself too far while trying to overtake
01:42on the inside and ended up colliding with Finati, forcing him off the track, Finati was furious. As a
01:48result of the incident, they both lost multiple positions. They both rejoined the race immediately,
01:54but a few laps later, Finati was still seething with anger. And so, as he approached Manzi,
01:59going 217 kilometers per hour on the fastest part of the track, he decided that at this moment,
02:05he would exact his revenge. He furiously reached over to Manzi's bike, he put his hand on the front
02:11handbrake and he pulled it. In this moment, which would later be reported to Italian prosecutors
02:16as a potential attempted murder, Romano Finati had clearly let his anger get the better of him.
02:22Manzi's front wheel locked up and his bike wobbled, but thankfully, he was able to drive away unharmed.
02:28It was one of the most dangerous and idiotic acts in motor racing history,
02:32and he couldn't have done it to a worse person. See, Stefano Manzi wasn't just any other rider,
02:37he was also set to be Finati's teammate the following year at Ford Racing. Finati received
02:42a two-race ban, he was sacked from his team, and his 2019 contract with Ford Racing was immediately
02:48terminated. He did keep racing for a few more years, bouncing between teams in Moto2 and Moto3,
02:54but he never really reached his full potential and has since retired from racing.
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