Moto3: Fenati admits Italian earthquake played a role in changed mentality

American Grand Prix Moto3 race winner Romano Fenati has admitted that first hand experience during the devastating earthquake that hit his home region of Italy last year played a role changing his mentality, after he walked out of the Team Sky VR46 outfit run by Valentino Rossi half way through the year.

The earthquake, which killed 299 people and badly damaged his grandfather’s house in Amatrice, struck only ten days after his high-profile split with Rossi’s team.

But speaking after Sunday’s race, his first victory since, Fenati admitted that volunteering in the region to help find survivors made him re-evaluate his decisions.

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“In Austria last year there was a big problem. Them the earthquake destroyed all my city, and that was a problem in my life. My life changed after that, because I understood that it was important to live day by day, so that is one big thing.”

And, happy with his new squad, he looked unstoppable during Sunday’s third race of the 2017 season. Never putting a foot wrong in the second half of the race – after admitting that a bad start cost him time before the red flags came out –  he looked in complete control as he first pressured leader Aron Canet into a mistake and then took a dominant victory.

“The clutch made the difference! I released it much better in the restart, and in turn one it became a lot easier. After the second restart It helped me to start from the grid better, and the new tyre in the front helped me to try and push a little bit more in braking. I’m happy, and now there’s Jerez and a difficult race but we’ll see. We improved the braking a lot, because In Qatar I was fast but only when I was on my own, and we tried to improve that even more to make us even stronger in the fight.”

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