Kawi2strokes.com Forum

Sad, but not unexpected. Marco's career was full of unnecessary, unforced crashes, all due to his own mistakes. At Sepang, his luck finally ran out.

from what I understand, Sic had opted for a harder tire compound. Between this and the (known) track conditions, it was a gamble that had tragic consequences.

I feel for his father. The pictures are gutt wrenching.

We have seen many riders able to pick the front back up after a lowside- they hold the bike with their body and give a shove to dig the front back in. Often times, it catches and they can get back on the bike. This appears to be what Marco was doing as the front was digging and that's why his trajectory brought him so quickly back across the racing line. Had Marco simply let go the crash would have been much less severe as he would not have been hit. His spirit to win and tenacity on the bike (fearlessness) was amazing. It did get him into trouble more than once. The sport badly needs personalities such as Marco's.....there are not many riders as committed as he was. It's a huge loss for the sport. So sorry for his family.

Just horrible

Just FYI.

About Simo's tire choice, there was NO good situation for a tire compound there, nor for any other rider in that race. Marco elected to use a hard compound front tire.

Take into consideration the geographical area the race was in, hot, and extremely humid, as opposed to Qatar, the first race of the year. Qatar is hot, as hot as Malaysia, but, absolutely dry, which is why the race there is raced at night, as late as 11:00 PM. In Malaysia, the humidity keeps the track in a perpetual state of slip, the level of which just depends on how humid the conditions are.

Another issue would be the tire wear estimate for the distance versus the track abrasion and humidity. I can see where neither tire choice would be good there, soft would give somewhat greater grip, but more than likely, cause serious problems near the end of the race, the grip literally being abraded away fairly quickly. Hard, same issues, but less grip in the first part of the race, good in the middle of the race, lessening from wear at the end.

Purely analytically, and certainly NOT to diminish Marco's loss to all of us, I am sure both all race teams and the sanctioning body, along with Bridgestone are comparing chassis settings vs tire compound selection/wear vs track conditions for each rider after the race, even though it was only two laps in duration. I haven't yet been told how many, or whom used that same hard compound front.

As I said, just FYI for all to consider, won't change anything in this extremely sad event.

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Comfortably Numb )

I just wanted to add these two posts from SuperBike Planet earlier today on the death and funeral of Simo. It shows the quiet dignity and class of his father, mother, family, extended family, friends, and, all of Italy.

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In yet another display of grace and poise under extreme pressure, Marco Simoncelli's father has exonerated the marshals at Sepang who dropped his son while carrying the gravely injured Simoncelli to a trackside ambulance after his accident Sunday.

"I was thereabouts, but Marco was dead already," Paolo Simoncelli told Italian media. "I was 10 meters away, but Marco was already dead, it changed nothing.

"I helped them. When they got back up and passed the stretcher over to my side of the guard rail, I took the stretcher to place it in the ambulance and held Marco's hand and called him, 'Ciao, Marco,' but he was gone already.

"There was nothing that could be done. Nothing would have changed in that case. As for the rest, maybe more (attention) is needed, but these people try to do their best, so it's useless ... but in our case Marco died on impact.

"They say God summons the best to heaven. I don't know. I wish that's how it is."

Despite Paolo Simoncelli's gracious forgiveness, this is the second consecutive fatal accident in MotoGP in which marshals have dropped the stricken rider while trying to carry him to medical attention. Marshals also stumbled while transporting Shoya Tomizawa in September 2010 at Misano.

It wasn't the finest weekend for marshals at Malaysia. The vest-wearing flag wavers also failed to alert Moto2 riders of wet track conditions from a sudden shower at the start of practice, causing a pileup that injured title contender Marc Marquez and standout Bradley Smith.

These incidents raise questions about the standard of marshaling at World Championship events, especially in countries like Malaysia that lack a longtime, established motorsports infrastructure.

The FIM and Dorna need to address this issue soon. Mistakes happen, but this is becoming a disturbing trend, especially with the care of gravely injured riders.

Only trained medical teams transport seriously injured participants in major American motorsports series, such as NASCAR and INDYCAR, and that's a model that should be considered by the FIM and Dorna. It's not a job for weekend warriors.

And,

An estimated 20-30,000 people attended the funeral of Marco Simoncelli today in Italy. The service was held at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Coriano, Italy, Simoncelli's home town.

The church was filled to capacity, and was broadcast live on Italian television. Tens of thousands of fans, many of them wearing "Ciao Marco" shirts took part in the the service by viewing it on jumbotrons outside the church, and at the Misano racetrack.

The service was watched on television by millions of Italians, many of them watching it in offices and in the shops. One person described the mood of the country when the news broke that Simoncelli had been killed as "The entire country just stopped."

The Bishop of Rimini, Francesco Lambias presiding over the ceremony said, roughly translated, that Simoncelli is now in heaven "making God faster". Simoncelli's Gresini Honda RC212 and the Gilera 250 that the young Italian won the world championship on (that he slept with in his bedroom) flanked the late rider's coffin.

Giacomo Agostini, Loris Capirossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Marco Melandri and Valentino Rossi were among the multitudes who attended the funeral service. One of the many emotional moments came when Simoncelli's mother and Rossi hugged in front of the casket. Dr. Claudio Costa was also there.

As the funeral party left the church to take Simoncelli's casket for burial, Rossi pushed Simoncelli's Honda out the doors of the church.

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I will be back home in Yerington, from Coriano, later tomorrow.

Ciao, Marco

Wow; thanks for that Dave; first class behavior for family, friends, and countrymen.
Very sad for so many.

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There are only two types of motor sport racing:
Nitro and everything else
(Sometimes referred to as fast and slow)

It is early morning here now, and I am on my laptop, flight is almost ready to take me back to New York, San Francisco, Reno, and then, home.

The funeral was spectacular. In the scheme of churches, this one is just plain tiny in comparison to the other cathederals in Europe I have visited. This small church only holds 450 people maximum, but I'd have to say there were over 550 inside, and at least a couple/few thousands more outside. The race track at Misano, not far from here, was reported to have upwards of 20,000 in attendance, other sources said closer to 30,000 watching on Jumbo-Tron screens. Those outside the church watched from closed circuit screens, and those in their homes, on television.

The day before the funeral, Simo's casket was lying in state in the Municipal Theatre at Coriano, and ten thousand people came to pay their respects in the lines passing by it.

The pall bearers were a who's who of world champions from all venues of racing, not just motorcycle road racing.

I fervently hope, and pray to God, that I, and no-one else, ever has to attend another of this kind of event for a rider, driver, friend, team mate, family member, NO-ONE else. This one just took way, way, way too much out of all of us.

Rest in peace...kid.

I saw this and thought I could post it here.

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'72 H2 : Blue-ish.