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Niccolo Canepa Goes to Trial for Causing a Crash at Mugello in 2013

Althea Racing's Niccolo Canepa will appear in court on September 30 in front of the Judge of Peace in Florence, Italy. He is summoned to testify in a case that involves an incident which took place on September 23, 2013 at Mugello.
Niccolo Canepa reaching towards Davide Cappato's bike 1 photo
Photo: Youtube capture
Back then, Canepa interacted on the track with another rider, Davide Cappato, and allegedly actuated the front brake lever on Cappato's Suzuki GSX-R1000 motorcycle on the section between the Poggio Secco and the Materassi turns.

As a result of his action, Cappato's motorcycle braked very hard and violently flipped forward, bucking the rider over the handlebars. Davide Cappato fractured his collarbone, and was almost magically avoided by the Triumph rider behind him.

The CCTV footage is not conclusive

The whole incident was recorded by one of the surveillance cameras at the track, but the video doesn't seem to offer conclusive information for solving the case. It is unknown whether the crash was recorded by other cameras in the vicinity of the track.

Apparently, Canepa does not deny the incident, but says that he had no intention to cause a crash. The footage clearly shows him extending his left arm and reaching for the other bike riding abreast and there is no question that his gesture and the subsequent crash are connected.

Whether he unintentionally operated the brake lever or not is a very tough nut to crack in the absence of more relevant footage. In case the Gixxer had a brake lever protection bar, it will be rather hard for Canepa to convince anyone that he accidentally squeezed the brake...

Remains to be seen how this disturbing story will end, so stay tuned for more info.

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