Tomizawa dies after Moto2 crash
2010-09-06 06:39
Japanese Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa has died after a crash during Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix, the second death in the sport in two events. He was 19.
Doctor Claudio Costa, part of the motorcycling world championship's medical team, told reporters the news.
Riders in the premier MotoGP class were also informed after their race, which was won by Dani Pedrosa.
World champion Valentino Rossi told Mediaset V: ""I found out now, when things like this happen nothing else matters. He was a lovely guy, it was a horrible accident."
Suter's Tomizawa was travelling at full speed when he fell off before a corner and was hit violently by the bikes of Alex De Angelis and Scott Redding, who both also tumbled but seemed relatively unhurt.
A 13-year-old also died in a minor race before the Indianapolis MotoGP in the sport's previous GP in August.
Motorcycling has always been among motorsport's most dangerous pursuits, given that riders are often thrown from their bikes and run the risk of hitting objects or being struck by other riders.
Huge speeds
"You forget, sometimes, how easily something like this can happen," MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso said. "Sometimes our sport is just too dangerous."
Moto2, the new name for the former 250cc category below MotoGP, still generates huge speeds and officials said they decided to continue with the race after the crash because of the fear of other accidents if a red flag was suddenly shown.
They added that Tomizawa was alive when he was taken from the track and rushed to a local hospital on Italy's east coast. He was pronounced dead soon afterwards.
The official news of his death had not filtered through before the start of the MotoGP race so the event went ahead.
Rossi, who broke a leg in an accident before the Italian Grand Prix in June 2010, led riders in a tribute to another dead Japanese colleague, Daijiro Kato, earlier in the week in a ceremony at Misano.
Kato, who lived in the Misano area, died after an accident at the Japanese GP in 2003.
Rossi has worked hard with other riders to try to make the sport safer but is on record as saying there is a limit to how much they could do.