Passing of a promising rider, Marcos Simoncelli

[Audi_kraut]

Not sure if anyone else here follows Moto GP, but a tragic accident in Malaysia led to the death of Marcos Simoncelli.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/The+Honda+family+mourns+one+of+its+own

This 24 year old showed a lot of promise in the 125cc and 250cc classes and I followed him closely along with Danny Pedrosa and my fellow Texan Colin Edwards. From what I've seen, the bike was coming out from under him coming out of the turn and he began to low-side. He did a slight tank slapper that sent him back across track and put him down. From there he was hit by Colin and Rossi as they exited the corner.

RIP Marcos.

 

[badwhale]

I saw a clip of this linked on another site tonight. Massive head and neck trauma. Helmet came off too.

Will

 

[khari]

Definitely sucks. I enjoyed Marco's presence in MotoGP.

 

[kann]

I saw this shortly after it happened. I am a big CEII fan from back to his WSB days, though admittedly don't follow MotoGP the way I used to a few short years ago. I had heard of Simo, but honestly didn't know too much about him, except that he seemed to be a less-refined early version of Valentino Rossi. I have seen several clips on this, and it is just... brutal. At least it appears he didn't suffer at all.

Wasn't Daijiri Kaito Colin Edwards' teammate back in '02 or '03 when he was killed in Japan? That guy has just been around too much death in his career. I really feel for CE and Vale. Both are coming to the twilight of their careers. This incident may, unfortunately, speed that up. One clip I saw, and it may have just been the angle or catching him at just the right moment, but when Rossi looked back, he just hung his head and looked completely dejected. I believe Colin broke his collarbone or separated his shoulder in this crash, too, no?

Sad, sad week for motorsport.

 

[Bayamos]

Horrific crash. Very sad..