MotoGP's Simoncelli Dies In Malaysian Race

((HT: Youtube))

Italian rider Marco Simoncelli died Sunday after crashing and being hit by two other riders at the Malaysian MotoGP motorcycle race. He was 24.

"He was already unconscious when the medical team arrived," MotoGP medical director Michele Macchiagodena said. "We attempted to resuscitate him but failed. He died 45 minutes later."

Simoncelli died at the same Malaysian circuit where he won the 250cc world title in 2008. He lost control in Turn 11 four minutes into the race, but his bike regained partial grip and swerved across the track and into the path of American Colin Edwards and Italian Valentino Rossi.

Here's the accident...


His death was first fatality in MotoGP since Japan's Daijiro Katoh died from injuries sustained at the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix. The number of deaths in MotoGP since it was founded in 1949 is now at 47, MotoGP said.

The race, the second to last of the season, was canceled.