Moto2 Misano
 

RIP Tomizawa - it's been a tough road for racing in the past few weekends. Another racer run over after crashing, and the result is his death. How absolutely horrible... :(

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86410

Japanese rider Shoya Tomizawa has died as a result of injuries sustained in today's Moto2 race at Misano.

The 19-year-old was running fourth when he crashed in front of Alex de Angelis and Scott Redding, and was hit at speed by both riders.

He was taken to hospital in Riccione where he was pronounced dead at 14.20 local time.

"On Sunday 5th September during the Moto2 race at the Misano World Circuit, rider Shoya Tomizawa aged 19 suffered a serious crash and subsequent cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma," said a statement from the organisers.

"Given the seriousness of his condition - especially for the thoracic and abdominal trauma - Tomizawa was immediately treated at the Misano World Circuit medical centre and put under artificial respiration.

"The rider was taken by ambulance to the Riccione hospital accompanied by two doctors - helicopter was not used in order to allow for the proper respiratory support to be administered. Despite various attempts to resuscitate him Shoya sadly succumbed to his injuries at 14.20.

"Everybody involved in MotoGP extends its deepest condolences to Shoya's family and friends at this tragic loss."

Tomizawa had been one of the sensations of the inaugural Moto2 season. He had been a frontrunner in Japanese 125cc and 250cc racing, but only had a handful of wildcard appearances and a season in the 250cc midfield under his belt on the world stage prior to 2010.

He instantly took to Moto2 though, charging to a historic victory for Technomag-CIP in the series' first ever race in Qatar.

Tomizawa proved that result was no one-off by staying with the frontrunners all season, taking pole positions at Jerez and Brno. He was seventh in the championship heading to Misano this weekend.

Of the other riders involved in the fatal accident, de Angelis walked away uninjured, while Redding is receiving treatment at the circuit but is reported to be awake and alert.

Rip :(

god speed

This is fucked up.

Tomizawa may have not had a chance of surviving the crash, due to the severity of his injuries, but the way it was handled, leaves me wondering.

I realize there is a lot of pressure on Race Directors to keep on schedule, especially at this level of racing, but that shit should have been red flagged right there and then. You don't just toss a guy with that kind of damage onto a stretcher, without at least a cursory check on his condition.

This blurb from the LA Times:

Moto2 is the new name for the former 250cc category, one step below the 500cc division of MotoGP. Moto2 also generates tremendous speeds and officials said they decided not to cancel the race due to the fear of other accidents if a red flag was suddenly shown.

What utter bullshit. The red flag was not shown because of TV scheduling in Europe. I've never heard of not flying a red for "safety reasons".

Tomizawa may well have died in any event, I can't say either way, but I expect a hell of a lot more professionalism from race control, and medical staff, than I saw today.

JC

damn, RIP. grandpa this morning and now my favorite rider in 2, not been a good day

Im sorry to hear that man.

And Im sitting here watching the moto2 after they mentioned the accident on the motogp broadcast and it really didnt seem to be handled very well like amj said. With 3 riders going down, 1 finally coming to rest on the track and debris everywhere they really should have red flagged the race. You could tell immediately that tomizawa was not in good shape, he got hit twice after going down and went limp. They really shouldve looked him over better before just throwing him on the stretcher, then worried about the race.

I watched the race live and it was horrifying. Absolutely stunning in the violence. It was apparent that Tomizawa was in serious condition if not killed outright. Poor Scott Redding is going to have to live with memory the rest of his life.

Absolutely awful for everyone. :(

I just watched it, my God.

RIP Shoya...

When was Moto2? All 3 races tape on my DVR, but Moto2 is mysteriously missing this week, of all weeks.

Was it similar to Juan Lazcorz getting run over in WSS at Silverstone? When I saw Lazcorz get run over live I thought he was dead. :panic:

:EDIT: Just saw the video online. Makes my stomache hurt....

sad.

R.I.P.