That was horrific to watch, gut-wrenching. You just knew something was terribly, terribly wrong the way he slid to a stop.
I'm pretty sure what happened was he was pushing very hard. He had had the lead, and I watched the replay several times. When you were leading, and then slipped down to 4th, you want to regain position. Under pressure from Redding he ran just slightly wide but lost traction on the rumble strip - looks like the back went first and his bike flew totally out of control. I'm sure surgeons worked like crazy but with Redding and de Angelis running over him at full throttle, the internal bleeding from abdominal and thoracic injuries probably couldn't be controlled. Getting run over the stomach was the one that most likely sealed his fate. If he'd been tighter in his turn by maybe 6 inches he'd still be alive right now.
With child prodigy Peter Lenz passing away in an eerily similar manner last week at Indy, it has really put a pall over MotoGP. I was really touched by what Pedrosa had to say, about feeling a "big empty" (pointing to his heart), and Rossi saying how although it was wonderful to get on the podium, it becomes nothing, or "zero" as he said it, when a tragedy like this happens. With the tribute to Kato earlier this weekend, I am looking at my bike, and with the immense joy it brings me, there's the sudden ominous sense that it could also kill me. We're making power that might be just 10% less than the factory race bikes, and we're on public streets on street tires.
Ride safe guys.
Last edited by kismetcapitan; 09-05-2010 at 02:12 PM.
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2009 BMW F650GS
2009 Triumph 1050 Speed Triple
2010 BMW S1000RR
250mm Pro Street
300mm Pro Street
At the track with both bikes
Garage
Retro Bobber
S1000RR
Track 636
Linear Mode
