Godspeed #58.

Utterly Shocked, what a freak freak accident that took the life of up-and-coming MotoGP star Marco Simoncelli. During the second lap of the Malaysian MotoGP at Sepang, fourth place rider Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) lost the front end of his motorcycle through the right-hand turn 11. As he attempted to save the crash, unfortunately, the inertia of the bike took him to the inside of the corner, right in the path of the other riders. He was lying sideways when he was hit from behind by Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi. These riders must have been terrified for there was absolutely nothing they could do to avoid the collision. The race was immediately stopped to allow the medicall staff to focus their efforts on treating the Italian rider in the medical center. Sadly, Simoncelli succumbed to his injuries.

Marco on his way to 2nd place, Phillip Island

The 24-year-old was the 2008 250cc world champion and claimed his best MotoGP result just a week earlier at Phillip Island, with a masterful ride that saw him fight for second place in the closing stages of the race. Having just been passed by Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda) a lap earlier, Simoncelli looked as if he was destined to finish in third place, since it had began to rain hard on some parts of the track resulting in some riders going down. However, what hapenned next was to me a taste of what could have been. Sheer # 58 magic. Dovizioso put in his quickest lap of the race and looked unbeatable. Or so it seemed. Closing in on Turn 4 (low-gear hairpin) on the last lap, Simoncelli outbraked Dovizioso and edged over close enough to get the inside line that would give him the advantage going into the next tight right hander. The move stuck and the rest is, as they say, history. Simoncelli scooted past to finish just over 0.2 seconds ahead of Dovizioso and in doing so took second place at the Australian GP, his best finish. Who would have thought that just a week later a freak accident (reportedly a one-in-a-million chance) would claim his life.

I won't post the video of the accident, instead, a link to the official MotoGP site where you can watch a tribute to this great young rider:
http://www.motogp.com/en/videos/2011/Tribute+to+Marco+Simoncelli

Simoncelli, aka Super Sic, famous for his rock star style hair, was a laid-back and fun loving rider and adorred by his fans. We join the motorsport world in offering our deepest concolences to Simoncelli's family, team and friends.

Sources: MotoGP, crash.net and Jalopnik.