If ever someone was truly FASTER than SHEEP … it was Marco Simoncelli.  For many of us here at FtS(blog), Marco WAS MotoGP.  He was young and charismatic and stylish and daring and everything you’d ever want in motorbike racer.  He was THE reason people love motorcycle racing.  Marco was killed last weekend while racing the Malaysian Grand Prix.  Despite the dangers of racing a motorbike at speeds most people can’t really comprehend, his death seemed so horribly unbelievable.  It wasn’t unusual for Marco to go down so early in a race.  On several previous occasions this year, Marco went down early, sliding furiously off the track and into the gravel where he’d pick himself up from the cloud of dust and walk dejectedly away from the asphalt and the action of the race.  This time it was different.  Instead of sliding off into the gravel after his tires were pushed just beyond their limit, Marco fought hard to stay in the race … only to regain traction long enough for his bike to shoot straight back into the racing line … where he was killed instantly when he was hit full on at well over 100 mph by a couple of riders racing closely behind.  His father Paolo was at the race and was there when the medical staff stretchered him toward the ambulance; “I helped them … when they passed the stretcher over to my side of the guard rail I took the stretcher to place it in the ambulance and held Marco’s hand and called to him ‘Ciao Marco’, but he was gone already.”

Ciao Marco

Marco Simoncelli (1987-2011)