Shoya Tomizawa RIP

[cromer611]

wtf is goin on, first peter, now shoya?!
RIP tomizawa, your riding style and aggressiveness always made moto2 fun to watch.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2010/Shoya+Tomizawa+passes+away

[racedk6]

That was one of the worst high speed crashes I have ever seen.

RIP :cry:

[cromer611]

this next round, when you get off the bike after practice or sprint races, look at the people around you and thank or hug them. cuz in a snap of fingers your could be gone. these past two deaths have really made me reolize this.

[sheispoison]

This kind of news is hard to take. It really was one of he worst crashes I've seen. Eric, you couldn't be more right.
RIP Shoya and Peter.

[d_mob]

Agreed all...

I don't want to say it is a safe sport, but the majority of the time we walk away. The amount of gear and the technology in said gear is amazing and typically keeps us safe. However, I am deeply saddened to have to post another one of these in what seems like just a couple of days... RIP Shoya Tomizawa. Yet another young star taken from the sport --

[d_mob]

A nice article quoting Pedrosa (race results in link)...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/86422

"When you are born, life gives you the chance to choose what you want to do. Tomi chose to be a rider and in fact he was doing great. I just want to think ...that he's been happy making his dream come true."

[d_mob]

Last thing I'll post about this, but how disgraceful was it when the medics / corner workers dropped Tomizawa's stretcher?

I saw this on Eurosport 2 (d/l'ed from Racing Underground). One of the corner workers tripped and dropped Tomi's stretcher causing him to be dumped on his head and neck. Seems absolutely unacceptable to me.

In fact, it didn't seem cool that they just dumped both Redding and Tomizawa on stretchers and seemed to be more concerned with getting on with the race than providing skillful medical care.

Shortly after the crash, the announcer relayed information from the pits and said that "neither Redding nor Tomizawa are lifeless". You have to wonder what the outcome would be if proper medical care had been administered on-track.

[cactusjack]

RIP, young racer. And I hope de Angelis and Redding come to peace with this tragic event -- they did nothing wrong, but I can't imagine what it must feel like to be thrust into their position by circumstance.

I just hope we don't have another Senna situation on our hands (keeping a dying racer's body alive just to let the show go on, rather than for medical reasons). That wouldn't have changed the outcome, and the outcome is the tragedy, but it would feel so wrong.

Rest in peace, racer, I hope that the track you find yourself on now is smooth and fast.

[Desmodromico]

Horrible crash and even worse outcome...RIP Shoya. I was glad the other two were not critically injured as well with how hard they went down. Word today of possible criminal investigation into the handling of the crash.

Along with Peter's death these really make you think about how much we all risk and how much trust we all need to have in each other.

[bluedevil]

Awful Awful crash. I am just speechless....

[Bartman]

Horrible crash and even worse outcome...RIP Shoya. I was glad the other two were not critically injured as well with how hard they went down. Word today of possible criminal investigation into the handling of the crash.

Along with Peter's death these really make you think about how much we all risk and how much trust we all need to have in each other.

Please post up a link to the investigation, I want to keep on top of this as it is something that could affect us in the future.

[cactusjack]

Horrible crash and even worse outcome...RIP Shoya. I was glad the other two were not critically injured as well with how hard they went down. Word today of possible criminal investigation into the handling of the crash.

Along with Peter's death these really make you think about how much we all risk and how much trust we all need to have in each other.

Please post up a link to the investigation, I want to keep on top of this as it is something that could affect us in the future.

Couldn't find anything on official Italian pages, but there are two good reasons for this: (1) I don't speak Italian, and (2) this is Italy.

Here is a Google translation of a Repubblica article about the investigation: http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.repubblica.it/sport/moto-gp/2010/09/06/news/l_orribile_sospetto_tomizawa_morto_in_pista-6800586/&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhj565_OPVUeBG_oNct1o4oOwd2ukA

And, as I feared, here it begins. Pundits are already discussing the legislation that requires the circuit to be sealed and the accident investigated whenever a participant dies on the track (the definition of what that means is complex and has been the subject of much litigation, particularly in the Ratzenberger/Senna crashes).

I wouldn't really draw any parallels between what is happening over there and the MRA's policies. At least close parallels. The Italian legal system is very particular about these sorts of things, and is overly sensitive to the issue because of what happened in 1994 at Imola. If you recall, criminal charges were brought against Williams because of allegations that the team modified Senna's steering column at his request prior to the race, and that the crash was a result of the steering linkage failing possibly as a result of these modifications. The case dragged on for years, caused a lot of unnecessary pain and frustration, and was eventually dropped. I say unnecessary because what happened was clearly a racing accident and should have been dealt with exclusively within the racing community. (And it was handled well by that community. The deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna caused a revolution in F1 safety development, and indirectly saved countless drivers in the years to follow, including certainly Kubica, probably Massa, perhaps Webber.)

I don't know much, but to me this was a racing accident, and nothing can be done to bring back the racer. I hope the authorities show respect to him and his family by not dragging any proceedings out unnecessarily. What the marshalls did may require certain corrective action, but I just hope this doesn't become another Williams '94.

[Desmodromico]

I can't find where it was posted earlier but the investigation was related to the response by the medical team as well as the conditions of how he passed and the information released by Dorna, as Jacek mentioned it is a touchy subject in Italy after all the issues following Senna's death.

I was shocked the race was not stopped with so much debris and obvious severe injury to Tomizawa and heavy impact for all three involved though I don't know that the outcome would have changed. I was surprised we didn't stop the endurance race in Pueblo too, the thought of cornerworkers and medical personnel in the line of oncoming racers is not a good thing, like most severe incidents this will be talked about for a long time.

[d_mob]

It is all over the interwebs, just Google Tomizawa and click on "news results" and you'll find plenty of info.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/07092010/58/charges-possible-tomizawa-death.html

http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-racing-news-moto-gp/officials-to-probe-tomizawa-death/13785.html

I refuse to rewatch the video, but the way it was handled was complete $hit. Sure, tending to the injuries on-track may not have changed the outcome, but I can guarantee you that dumping Tomi onto a stretcher (without a proper backboard or neck brace) couldn't have helped the situation.

Watching the corner workers dumping Redding onto the stretcher and then the way they handled Tomi reminded me of a circus clown act. Seriously, that is what I thought of when I watched it. I'm fairly certain that MRA corner workers and ambulance crews would have done a better job. :(

***Edit - I wasn't implying that MRA corner or ambulance crews are bad, just that you would think that at GP level they would have their $hit together.***

[cromer611]

Shortly after the crash, the announcer relayed information from the pits and said that "neither Redding nor Tomizawa are lifeless".
he said "neither of the riders are not lifeless, and at this point ill consider this good news." i had to replay it a couple times to really understand wtf he said.

[Hotrod]

[quote=d_mob]
"neither of the riders are not lifeless"

If that is actually what he said, then he is saying they are both dead. Maybe misspoken, but the double negatives are self canceling leaving lifeless on its own.

The entire thing is just tragic.