Horrendous crash has cost a rider his life, feel for Edwards and Rossi as there was nothing they could do to avoid him

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2011/m...bs+to+injuries

Horrible indeed for everyone concerned. May he rest in peace.

How horrible.

the only consolation here is that he was in great spirits thinking he could win today after 2nd in Australia and he was clearly knocked out immediately.

Awful accident. Sickening.

Dreadful news. Such a loss to the sport. Questions need to be asked about how the hell his helmet managed to come off.

RIP Marco.

The footage is awful. Poor guy. And the poor blokes who couldn't do anything about hitting him too, must be horrible for them. Looks like he was hit so hard and right on his helmet was ripped right off. Horrible to see his lifeless looking body sliding along the track

What a terrible few days for Motorsport what with the Indy Car driver's death as well.

I watched that live, really horrible.

Yeh, those close by will have to live with it too

There has been a lot about his untimely and sad death and his life and joy of racing all over the Italian TV today.
Riders have been turning up in his howmtown to pay their respects. His girlfriend's immediate shock reaction was shown on TV as well as his dad. His mum was at home in Italy.

Hard to believe that my dad was here just a few weeks ago and sitting on one of Simoncelli's old bikes.

Very sad, we were watching it on tv as well. It's so unusual for a rider to die these days (apart from the TT) and it's just amazing how most of the time they just get up and walk away even from a high-side.

Sad for Edwards and Rossi but unfortunately sometimes there's not a lot you can do to avoid it.

Awful news ! What an awesome rider and riding in the GP's at such a young age, tells us all how good he was. Yes I agree on the helmet coming off. How the hell did that happen ?! R.I.P. Marco Simoncelli.

Looking at the pictures and other comments on the web it looks like after low siding the bike regained grip and started to go up right but he was still sliding off into the path of the other guys, there is one pic that shows this quite well, someone suggested he may have passed out but these things happen all so quickly who knows. Apparently the strap snapped but even so helmets are so hard to get off it's amazing it did come off but they reckon it was the impact.

It's probably one of those one-off accidents and made worse by being hit by the other guys. No doubt they will investigate and slow down the footage to see exactly what happened but sounds like he had a great future ahead of him so it's a sad loss.

I don't know if it's much of a mystery as to why the helmet came off. From the footage it seems his head was ridden over by 400 kgs of bike and rider at 150km/h. I don't think any strap is meant to withstand that sort of impact.

Yeh, safety standards can only go so far and then it's in the lap of the gods ... nasty footage that I don't want to see again.

I was only half watching it on a small tv and haven't seen the footage again only a few pictures but that would explain it. Sounds like unfortunately there was probably nothing anyone could do to avoid it or help him.

I should think it's about as safe as you can get it now without them going out on the track looking like Michelin men, protection has come a long way now and I understand that some leathers now have airbags. Coming off is the nature of the game, physics at some point dictates that the bike will go over, I used to hold my breath when seeing Jamie Whitham take a corner sometimes! Still, these guys know the nature of the sport and the risks and fortunately this type of accident is rare.

I have to say for any motorcyclist please wear the proper gear, my hubby may not have an arm now if it wasn't thanks to his (at the time very expensive) Dainese leathers and gloves with armour! I cringe when I see people riding bikes in t-shirts and shorts....eeek....

Rip Marco.

I just loved the personality of this guy, his expressions his humour, to see him die at 24 so so sad