Moto GP

[Samantha]

Just watched the race, didn't know about the crash - felt shocked and when he was laying on the track with helmet off, knew not good - very very sad - a huge loss to the sport, bigger loss to his family and friends.

[rockmeister]

Very sad and tragic for all concerned. Reminds everyone of how bloody tough and dangerous these sports are.

[Craig]

Don't recall when I last felt this miserable. Felt numb all day having seen it live and can't get the sadness of it out of my head. So Christ know's what it's like to lose someone you know in this manner.

[Batty]

RIP Marco, one of the best, a true racer's racer if ever there was one. A future champion taken before his time.

[oldfogey]

Tragic news, and I'm also sorry for the two who unaviodably hit him .

[earlofsodbury]

This has been my first season watching this series and I'm just shocked and stunned that one of its biggest and most-promising characters has been lost like this.
I can't begin to imagine what his friends and family must be going through...

[Brown Bottle]

I absolutely love bike racing but it sickens me when people die. I know they are doing something they love but it doesn't stop me feeling guilty. As I've got older the feeling has got worse and I rarely watch wet races now because I think it's reckless asking people to race in such conditions. I just sit there worrying that someone is going to seriously injure themselves.

Cheers BB

[Matt J]

Poor Rossi must be inconsolable, there's a horrible picture that seems to imply it was his bike that did the fatal damage. Bad enough to lose a close friend but to be directly involved is incomprehensible.

As sodders, it's such a shock to see someone with so much promise cut short like this, he was such a breath of fresh air with his riding style and aggression/flair that it was worth watching the MotoGP for him alone even though he wasn't always battling at the front.

[Duvet]

Well shit happens it just seems to happen a lot less these days so the impact is greater if you get my kind of thinking. Its a dangerous sport and they're all big boys who i suspect would do this on track days for nothing . The fact they get paid to do something they love is a bonus. We are fascinated by people operating on the edge of life . I swore i'd never watch another F1 race afer Senna but i did and still do

[Ozexpat]

"My first thoughts - and this is absolutely my own gut feeling - are that Rossi could now retire.
I know he will be mortified by Marco's death. They were close friends and had been for a long, long time.
He was involved in the accident and it will be very hard for him to cope with it."
Steve Parrish on Simoncelli

Thoughts anyone ?

[earlofsodbury]

Nothing will reduce the sadness of this event, but it is, as Danny says, important to always remember that the guys doing this do it for love of the sport - our entertainment is a relatively minor consideration, so no-one should feel guilty, only pity and sympathy, which I'm sure we all do.

Simoncelli's sad loss was the first fatality since 2003, but contrast that with the everyday driving we all do, which worldwide kills 1.2 million people every year. Racing is orders of magnitude more dangerous, yet we too risk our lives every time we get in our cars ('specially with my driving! ). It's a question of keeping this in perspective - losing a racer is awful, but it's the inherent danger of the competition that helps make it exciting, otherwise we may as well stick with Scalextric...

[Ozexpat]

Well shit happens it just seems to happen a lot less these days so the impact is greater if you get my kind of thinking. Its a dangerous sport and they're all big boys who i suspect would do this on track days for nothing . The fact they get paid to do something they love is a bonus. We are fascinated by people operating on the edge of life . I swore i'd never watch another F1 race afer Senna but i did and still do

While "shit happens" is a bit harsh, I agree that these guys are doing what they love. They go into the sport knowing the risks. Safety in Bikes can only go so far, unlike F1. You cannot surround a rider in carbon fibre for one.

I was in shock when Senna was killed (I actually had friends send me condolence cards). I am fanatical about the sport and Senna was my hero (I met him several times in Adelaide over the years and he was always willing to indulge my Q&A sessions).

The shock is often amplified if the death is of a great or potentially great racer. How many people remember Roland Ratzenberger ?
No death should go unrecognised but if it happens to a successful individual then obviously more people will sit up and take notice. We have lost many greats over the years but thankfully not as frequently as we used to.

[Samantha]

I still find it hard to believe he is dead TBH. Crashes are so routine in bike racing that I am sure no-one who has been racing for any length of time has not had at least a few broken bones.
But almost always, they remarkably pick themselves up and run to their bike hopeful of getting back on and carrying on. Seeing someone laying motionless was a shock.
As for Rossi - I cannot even begin to imagine how he feels. It must be the hardest thing. On the one hand, he knows there was nothing he could do. On the other, he hit his friend and possibly, that impact killed him. No matter how out of your hands, it would be hard not to always be asking "What if" ..... even the very fact he was such an inspiration to Marco to get to MotoGP in the first place. You would drive yourself insane if you thought about the what ifs too much. Nothing changes the fact it has happened.
He should be remembered as an entertaining, passionate and talented rider who had the potential to be a future world champion - but then respect that and continue.

Oh ... and I cannot believe that as I drove to work, the Sports News on the radio had several minutes devoted to a football match where someone lost badly, yet no mention of MotoGP.

[Ozexpat]

Oh ... and I cannot believe that as I drove to work, the Sports News on the radio had several minutes devoted to a football match where someone lost badly, yet no mention of MotoGP.

Sadly, as with so many stories here, it's because he wasn't British. Nobody without an interest motorsport had heard of Dan Wheldon until last week. Sad but true. If one of the British riders had died, the papers and TV would have full of it.

[earlofsodbury]

"My first thoughts - and this is absolutely my own gut feeling - are that Rossi could now retire.
I know he will be mortified by Marco's death. They were close friends and had been for a long, long time.
He was involved in the accident and it will be very hard for him to cope with it."
Steve Parrish on Simoncelli

Thoughts anyone ?

Rossi's going to be so gutted I do wonder if he'll want to get back on a bike now? At the same time, it's hardly how he's going to want to bow-out of such an auspicious career. Do you know if he was planning on staying with Ducati? Guess competitiveness of 2012's prospective ride may have an influence on his decision. He's bound to be blaming himself to some extent at least, but every half-sane pundit I've read is saying there was nothing anyone could do to avoid what took place.

[Matt J]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if he called it a day with the bikes and made the move to 4 wheels like he's been threatening for years.

[Samantha]

Hopefully this is correct and Rossi won't be retiring quite yet.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motogp/15432782.stm

[paulf-2007]

first let me apologize for not reading every post here so someone may have already said this, but these guys are falling most weekends, in practise and the races. Its a miracle it doesn't happen more often, how many times have I whinced when a rider has gone down and been missed by a whisker.

[tones]

it's the inherent danger of the competition that helps make it exciting, otherwise we may as well stick with Scalextric...

Just got back from holiday with no Internet access. I was saddened by this, as Simoncelli was an exciting racer ("swashbuckling" is the word that comes immediately to mind). He'd led races, he'd achieved his first podium position and I was looking forward to his first win. Alas, no more.

What His Disgrace says above is quite right; while nobody but a ghoul wants to see someone injured or killed, there's something in our psychological makeup that, knowing that we will all eventually die and rebelling against it, responds to the sight of someone taking things right to the edge of mortality and getting away with it. This is also true of skydiving, rock climbing, etc. of course, but for those (e.g. myself) who are far too chicken to do such things, the racers stand in for us. These sports are made as safe as possible, but, as Mark Webber pointed out in an excellent BBC column, there are occasions when, in spite of the fantastic skills, fitness and safety precautions, you are just a passenger and your fate is in the hands of, er, fate. This was true of Dan Wheldon (whom Webber knew personally and liked) and Simoncelli. One racing death will always be one too many, but we can be thankful that we have come a long, long way from The Bad Old Days, when several GP drivers a year were killed. And it's worth reflecting that Mike Hawthorn, the UK's first World Champion, survived all the dangers of that era (including the horrific 1955 Le Mans), only to die on the public roads shortly after retirement.

[Pac67]

Its a very sad week all round for motorsport what with one of the British drivers killed in the States and now Simoncelli. I can't remember when I last felt this gutted about the sudden and tragic death of such a rising young star. Read an interview by Colin Edwards, who is putting on a brave face but was obviously traumatised by the event. His shoulder was separated in the accident and he has suspected broken bones in his foot. The final few moments unsurprisingly are haunting him, and what Rossi must be going through too. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rossi pull out next season and call it a day. Its strange the strength of feeling that this has created worldwide and must be down to how popular the sport has become and how unconsciously closely we associate with the riders. I can't remember this strength of feeling since Joey Dunlop's fatal accident, but since then there have been many deaths at the IoM which have gone by largely un-noticed (save Dave Jefferies) but I guess that tragedy isn't expected on the world stage of Moto GP or F1 whereas its not unexpected for the IoM racing.