Reuters - Sun, 05 Sep 15:18:00 2010 Tomizawa dies after Moto2 crash Nineteen-year-old 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. 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, won by Dani Pedrosa. "I found out now, when things like this happen nothing else matters," world champion Valentino Rossi told Mediaset television. "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 looked relatively unhurt. A 13-year-old also died in a minor race before the Indianapolis MotoGP in the sport's last grand prix in August. Motorcycling has always been among motorsport's most dangerous pursuits given riders are often thrown from their bikes and run the risk of hitting objects or being struck by other riders. "You forget sometimes how easily something like this can happen. Sometimes our sport is just too dangerous," MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso said. 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 after. The official news of his death had not filtered through before the start of the MotoGP race so the event went ahead. Rossi, who suffered a broken leg in an accident before the Italian Grand Prix in June, 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 Grand Prix in 2003. Rossi has worked hard with other riders to try to make the sport safer but has said there is a limit to how much they can do. Reuters
Updated: September 19, 2010, 10:47 AM ET Casey Stoner wins Aragon GP from pole ALCANIZ, Spain -- Casey Stoner won Moto GP's Aragon Grand Prix from the pole Sunday ahead of Dani Pedrosa of Honda. The Australian won his first race since last season's Malaysian GP with a time of 42 minutes, 16.530 seconds. Pedrosa finished 5.148 seconds back to continue his pursuit of overall leader Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha, who finished fourth after starting second. Stoner's Ducati teammate Nicky Hayden passed Lorenzo on the final lap to finish third. Andrea Dovizioso of Honda crashed with one lap to race to drop out of title contention, leaving Lorenzo and Pedrosa to vie for the championship with five races to go. Lorenzo leads with 284 points and Pedrosa has 228. Either rider will be the first Spanish champion since 1999. Moto GP paid its respects to Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa, who was killed two weeks ago in San Marino when he fell and was hit by two trailing bikes. All riders across each racing category wore a patch featuring Tomizawa's No. 48, which was retired from Moto2 racing in honor of the Japanese rider. Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
it was sad to hear about Tomizawa's death, I watched the race on tv, at first I didn't realize he had been ran over and hit, by the other riders, it's sad news, but there is risks in any sport. These things can happen sometimes, but it's a shame when they do.
