Motorsport Matters: Marco Simoncelli - My Tribute

I first wrote this article in 2013 but haven't changed much for the re-write. The happy change is that my fiancée is now my wife. I know there are many, many fans of Marco out there who know more about his life and history than me so if any information is incorrect it is no sign of disrespect from me. Despite it now being five years since his death I still miss Marco on the grid and would love to see him duelling up there with Marc, Valentino and Jorge. I am pleased however (and maybe this is just me) that the pain of losing him has eased over the years and has been replaced by fond memories. He will always be in our hearts. I'm publishing this now as the MotoGP world returns to Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli this weekend and it seems the right time to say piece once more..........

This is my blog to pay my respects to one of my idols, the late, great Marco Simoncelli. We lost Marco at the Malaysian MotoGP race on 23rd October 2011. He never won a race at MotoGP level and yet is mourned by not only the motorcycle racing paddock but a legion of fans worldwide for whom he represented something a little bit different. Marco was notable off track for his wild affro hair and rock star appearance yet was as noticeable on it for his riding style, always taking his bike to the limit (and beyond) and never shying away from a battle with any rider. He was a rider who came to ruffle feathers and chew gum and he’d just run out of gum.

In this blog I’ll recap Marco’s career for those fans that are unfamiliar with his history (the first chapter is his pre-MotoGP years and maybe just for the most dedicated fans). I will then discuss how my wife and I became fans of Marco together and what he meant to us. Then sadly I will have to cover the events of day we lost Marco. Finally I’ll cover the aftermath and some of the tributes over the years before finishing with his career stats.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 – Career History before MotoGP: The Origins of Marco

CHAPTER 2- Marco Arrives In MotoGP and Ruffles Feathers

CHAPTER 3 – Our Love for Marco

CHAPTER 4 – 23.10.11

CHAPTER 5 – Aftermath & Tributes

CHAPTER 6 – Statistics

CHAPTER 1 – Career History before MotoGP: The Origins of Marco

Marco Simoncelli was born 20th January 1987 and grew up in the town of Coriano in Rimini on the east coast of Italy. The town has a population of around 10,000 and is just 10km from the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli which hosts the San Marino MotoGP and was named after him in 2012. The principality of San Marino itself is about 20km from the circuit as it has no circuit of its own (the Imola circuit which used to host F1 races is actually 100km from San Marino). When Marco was born I was nearly 15 years old and when there was TV coverage I would watch the 500cc World Championship where Eddie Lawson was the reigning World Champion having beaten Wayne Rainey and Randy Mamola to the title. In those days the American riders ruled the roost. From 1983 to 1993 every World Champion was from the USA. For any older fans reading this Carlos Lavado was the reigning 250cc Champion and August Auinger held the 125cc crown.

When Marco was 10 years old a certain Valentino Rossi won his first World Championship on an Aprilia in the 125cc class. Marco’s formative years in motorcycle racing were in Minimoto while watching Rossi progress through the 125cc and 250cc classes with a title in each. When Simoncelli made his own debut in the 125cc category in 2002 Rossi had just won his first premier class title (his only one on 500cc machinery). Marco idolised Valentino and over the better part of the next decade the two would become great friends.

Marco made his debut on an Aprilia run by Matteoni Racing at the Czech GP at Brno at round 10 of the 2002 championship. Out of 35 riders he qualified 24th and finished 27th. It was a fairly unspectacular start to what was a very promising career. Other riders involved in that race that are (or have been) involved in MotoGP are Dani Pedrosa (finished 2nd), Hector Barbera (4th), Alex De Angelis (8th), Mika Kallio (10th), Jorge Lorenzo (20th) and Andrea Dovizioso (21st). Simoncelli raced in five more races that season and scored his first world championship points at Estoril in Portugal where he finished 13th for 3 points after qualifying 32nd of 33 bikes. Amazingly only 14 riders finished the race due to the horrible wet conditions and he was one of them. That was his only decent finish of the year as he was 21st in Brazil before retiring in Malaysia, Australia and Valencia. His highest grid position was 18th in Australia but he showed as a 15 year-old he has the raw talent as Aprilia retained him for the next season. Lucio Cecchinello won the 125cc title that year.

2003 was another learning year for him as he settled into life as a full time motorcycle racer. He finished 21st in the championship after scoring points at 6 of the 16 rounds with the highlight being a magnificent 4th place at the final race in Valencia. The winner of that race was former MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner with Germany’s Steve Jenkner 2nd and Barbera 3rd. Marco may have missed out on the podium by 2.1 seconds but it was his highest finish to date after qualifying 3rd and set him up brilliantly for 2004. From 2003 onwards he used the number 58 on his bike which is now synonymous with his legacy. The 125cc crown went to Pedrosa in 2003.

Marco switched to the Worldwide Race Team in 2004 and after qualifying 7th and retiring early at the first race in South Africa he had a major breakthrough at the next round in Spain at Jerez. He qualified on pole position and won the race, beating two of the three riders who had denied him his first podium the year before in Jenkner and Barbera and sharing the podium with them. Stoner finished 5th after leading with three laps to go when he fell in the wet conditions. The race showed his undoubted talent but he never repeated it over the course of the season, finishing 6th on four occasions but never any higher. He also took pole position at Brno where he had made his debut two years before. He finished 11th in the championship with 79 points. The title was won by Dovizioso.

The 2005 season saw Simoncelli stay with the same team on the Aprilia and this would be his last year in 125cc before stepping up to the 250cc class. The opening race this season took place at Jerez and Marco dominated once more, taking the pole and the win in front of Kallio and fellow Italian Fabrizio Lai. He would win no further races that season or in 125’s again but did have five more podiums in 2005 helping him to 5th in the championship with 177 points. The title was won my current Moto2 rider Thomas Luthi of Switzerland.

In 2006 Marco stepped up to the 250cc championship and joined Gilera who were back in the series after a lengthy absence. He had a consistently good but unspectacular debut season. He finished 12 of the 16 races and all between 6th place and 11th place. He finished 10th in the championship on 92 points. Alvaro Bautista became 250cc champion that year which was also notable as the year that Nicky Hayden won the MotoGP crown after Rossi threw away his chance with a fall in the last round at Valencia.

2007 was almost a carbon copy of 2006. He finished 12 of the 17 races and again his highest finish was 6th and his lowest 11th. There were 17 rounds as San Marino was added to the calendar and the teams were back at Misano for the first time since 1993. It was Marco’s first chance to race on his home circuit (which would later be name after him) on the world stage but after qualifying 9th he retired after just 3 laps. The season was dominated by Lorenzo who took the title in front of Dovizioso and De Angelis but Simoncelli finished 10th again with 97 points this time.

Marco Simoncelli won his only World Championship in 2008 in the 250cc class and was the first (and now only) rider to do so on board a Gilera. He had a bad start to the season with retirements in the first two races in Qatar and Spain before dominating over the remaining 14 races. Out of those fourteen races he was on pole at seven of them, won 6 of them and was 2nd or 3rd in 6 more. Marco won the title with 281 points and his nearest challenger was Bautista on 244. Life is not without its irony and it was at Sepang in Malaysia that he clinched the title, the circuit which would claim his life just three years later.

The 2009 season was his last on 250cc machinery and he followed up his title winning year with 3rd place in this championship behind Hiroshi Aoyama and Bautista. Going into the last round in Valencia he did have a mathematical chance of the title but that is all. On his last race aboard the Gilera he crashed on lap 20 but with Aoyama finishing 7th he would not have won the title even if he had won the race. He did win six races that season though and at Philip Island, Australia he won his last ever race in front of Barbera and Raffaele De Rosa. At the end of the year he stepped up to the MotoGP class and never won a race before his untimely death.

CHAPTER 2- Marco Arrives In MotoGP and Ruffles Feathers

For 2010 Marco was signed by former 125cc World Champion Fausto Gresini to race for his San Carlo Honda team. He would partner the experienced fellow Italian Marco Melandri who had been in MotoGP since 2003 and had finished 2nd in the 2005 season to Rossi. During his time in MotoGP Melandri raced for Yamaha, Honda, Ducati and Kawasaki before returning in 2015 for a disastrous season with Aprilia.

For any normal rookie it would be a daunting prospect to race alongside someone of such high calibre. By the end of the season Simoncelli would finish 8th to Melandri’s 10th and amassing 125 points, 22 more than his teammate. This probably helped Melandri decide that a swift move to World Superbikes was in order which is where he stayed for four years.

At the opening race in Qatar he qualified 15th on the 17 runners in what was a very thin field before the introduction of the Open Class which eventually led to the larger field we have now. He finished 11th of the 13 finishers in front of fellow rookie Barbera and teammate Melandri. After some average races in Jerez, Le Mans and Mugello he had his best race yet at Donington when he qualified 9th (in the top 10 for the first time) and finished 7th. He improved even further three races later with 7th place at Sachsenring in Germany.

When the teams reached his home track for round 12 and the San Marino Grand Prix he qualified 9th (roughly where he had been all season and one place in front of Melandri) but finished as the last rider running in 14th. After that though he went on a great run for the rest of the season. In the remaining six races he finished inside the top eight in all of them and achieved a highest yet position of 4th at the penultimate round at Estoril in Portugal. He had qualified on the third row in 8th spot and was in a battle towards the end with Dovizioso, Hayden, Randy de Puniet and Colin Edwards for 3rd place. In the end he lost out to countryman Dovizioso by 0.059 seconds on the run to the line with Hayden 0.8 seconds further back.

That result seemed to give Marco some new confidence and the season finale at Valencia he qualified on the front row for the first time in 3rd place. He would finish 6th, again close behind Dovizioso, in a race won by Lorenzo who had already secured the championship. Simoncelli was not the highest scoring rookie as that honour went to Ben Spies on the Tech3 Yamaha but the American was after all the reigning World Superbike champion. Against his direct rookie peers who had come up from 250cc with him (Barbera, Bautista, Aleix Espargaro and Aoyama) he was the class act.

Sadly 2011 would be Marco’s last but he was getting better and better as the season went on. Now joined by Aoyama to replace the departed Melandri he was now clearly the team leader. At round one in Qatar he qualified 4th (only the ‘aliens’ Stoner, Pedrosa and Lorenzo were in front of him) and finished 5th just over a second behind Dovizioso. This was the year that the works Repsol Honda team fielded three bikes to accommodate Stoner as they already had Pedrosa and Dovizioso under contract. At the next race at Jerez he qualified 5th but fell in the wet when amazingly leading on lap 11.

At the next round at Estoril he achieved his highest qualifying position to date with 2nd behind Lorenzo but did not capitalise on that when he fell on the first lap. There was no doubting Simoncelli’s pace but questions were starting to be asked about his mental fortitude.

After qualifying 2nd again at Le Mans and finishing 5th he achieved his first MotoGP pole position at Barcelona where he eventually finished 6th. Just going back to the French round though, this was where he had a famous coming together with Pedrosa at the S bend at the end of the back straight. The pair made contact and the Spaniard suffered a broken collarbone. Rather than review the evidence after the event race direction chose to hand Simoncelli a ride through penalty during the race which he duly served. It was a hasty decision in my eyes and one that clearly cost him a higher finish. It seemed to me at the time that the establishment did not like this fiery young Italian mixing it up with the factory riders.

He was now a front row regular with 2nd at Silverstone and pole at Assen. He retired in the British round and sadly Assen would be the last time Marco was #1 on a grid. I know I keep using the words ‘sadly’ and ‘last’ a lot during this blog but it won’t be for much longer. His Dutch race ended with more controversy as he had another coming together with a leading rider, this time falling when over-using cold tyres and taking out Lorenzo in the process. After the race Lorenzo was very critical of Simoncelli and rather prophetically said “I think the problem is he’s not very conscious about the risks there are in the category, with this bike and these tyres” alluding to the way that the Italian was pushing too fast too soon on cold tyres. Both riders remounted with Lorenzo salvaging 6th and Simoncelli finishing 9th. The next three races at Mugello, Sachsenring and Laguna Seca brought just one front row start and a 5th, a 6th and a retirement respectively.

At the Czech round in Brno Simoncelli qualified 5th but grabbed his first ever MotoGP podium finishing behind Dovizioso and race winner Stoner. Marco had shown he could run at the front with the big guns and looked destined for not only a race win in future but a factory ride and title challenge in the coming years.

At the next race at Indianapolis he recorded his worst finish of the season in 12th but made up for it in the next three races with consecutive fourth place finishes at Misano, Aragon and Motegi. At each of those three the races the podium was filled by Lorenzo, Stoner and Pedrosa. Simoncelli was now establishing himself as the ‘next best’ rider beating Rossi, Dovizioso, Spies and Bautista each time.

The last race that Marco Simoncelli finished took place on the 16th October 2014 at Philip Island, Australia. He qualified second behind Casey Stoner who was a local legend and had won the last four consecutive races there on a Ducati. Stoner won the race which took him to the title that year as Lorenzo had lost part of his finger in a warm up accident and was unable to race. Simoncelli finished runner up, beating Dovizioso by 0.244 seconds. His highest ever achievement in MotoGP was also his last.

CHAPTER 3 – Our Love for Marco

Marco Simoncelli held a special symbolic significance for my wife and I and to this day we still carry his memory with us. I met Michelle in the October of 2010 and our first anniversary of being together was 25th October 2011, two days after we lost Marco. When we met I was the devoted MotoGP petrol head but she had never watched bike racing before. Over our first year together we introduced each other to our own interests as couples do and she became more and more interested in the MotoGP. It always helps to have someone to follow if you’re getting into a sport and my wife chose Marco for pretty much the same reasons that I’d followed him before; Sideshow Bob hair, rock star looks, maverick attitude and ‘balls out’ racing. Over the course of 2011 he became ‘our rider’. We had adopted various things as symbols of our relationship and Marco was one of them.

Our last car carried not only the ‘58’ sticker which is mandatory for all Super Sic fans but also a sticker with his name and 20.1.87-23.10.11. We need to decorate our current car the same way. Our hallway has two photographs of Marco on the wall. He will always be with us.

On 23rd October 2011 we had recorded the BBC coverage of the race in the morning as we had to go somewhere and watched the recording when we returned later in the morning. It was unusual for us not to watch the race live especially as I’m the kind of devotee that’s up at 3am for the Moto3 races. If that happens though we always like to watch races with the ‘as live’ experience so avoid news and social media in order to reduce the risk of spoilers. Perhaps this is one occasion I wish we’d looked first.

CHAPTER 4 – 23.10.11

Marco had qualified 5th the day before behind Pedrosa, Stoner, Dovizioso and Edwards so started from the middle of the second row alongside Hayden. After the first lap he was in fourth place with Bautista, Edwards and Rossi close behind. In the early stages of the second lap he exchanged places with Bautista a couple of times and was in front of the Spaniard as they went through the fast Turn 11 right hand corner. With his bike cranked over onto the right side as he pushed the bike to its limit the front tyre lost grip and in 999,999 out of 1,000,000 similar scenarios when the front goes like that both rider and bike would slide off and out of the race “exit stage left”. But in this one in a million chance as biker and rider slid to the left the front tyre suddenly found grip again and the bike pitched violently back to the right in front of Edwards and Rossi who had no chance to take evasive action. Edwards caught Simoncelli and the bike full on with the impact taking Marco’s helmet clean off. Both bikes then continued right and collided with Rossi taking him off the track.

A great deal of that description I’ve had to read to remind myself. To this day I have been unable to bring myself to watch the accident again, even as research for this article. My lasting memory is seeing Marco’s helmet bouncing across the grass and for one horrifying moment I actually feared it was not empty. The rest is a bit of a blur.

It was at that point that I stopped the recording of the race as the reality of the situation hit me and I was not sure if I wanted to see any more. I turned to Michelle and said “I think we just lost Marco”. I’d seen an accident in my youth (research tells me it was Assen 1983) where Italian rider and 1982 500cc World Champion Franco Uncini had crashed and was hit by another motorcycle. The impact had ripped Uncini’s helmet clean off too but he had lived to tell the tale. Although the accident put him into a coma he recovered and raced for two more years before retiring. Immediately after seeing Marco’s accident I was reminded of Uncini and my intuition knew this was worse. Before we watched any more we decided we needed to know so I logged onto my laptop and the BBC news page confirmed our worst fears. There is no shame in saying how we held each other and wept.

I think we ran the rest of the recording to see what happened next but in the three years that have passed since I can’t fully remember. My other lasting image I do remember is the on-board footage of Rossi returning to the pits after the accident. He knew. You could tell there was a rider who had not only just lost one of his best friends but been involved in his death.

Rossi was unscathed but Edwards broke his collarbone and managed to limp away while Marco lay prone, face down, on the track awaiting medical assistance that would be unable to do enough to help. For Rossi and Edwards there would be mental scars too. The race was immediately red flagged.

CHAPTER 5 – Aftermath & Tributes

Simoncelli was taken by ambulance to the circuit medical centre where an hour later he was pronounced dead. They had performed CPR for 45 minutes but he had suffered catastrophic head, neck and chest injuries.

I honestly believed that would be Rossi’s last race and it a great testament to the man that he has continued and carries the spirit of Marco with him at all times. Edwards also remained in MotoGP and retired at the end of 2014. Both were completely blameless yet both will always feel or wish they could have done something different and maybe Marco would still be here.

I honestly believe if things had turned out differently that he would be on Pedrosa’s bike by now and maybe that’s cruel to Dani but it’s my opinion.

Marco’s body was flown back to Italy and was placed in an open coffin at a theatre in Coriano. His funeral took place at Santa Maria Assunta parish church on 27th October 2011 (my fiancée’s birthday).

Many riders in the MotoGP paddock paid tribute to Marco saying what a great character he was to race with and although he was a little wild at times he was a great rider who would be sorely missed. Even Pedrosa, who had been injured when in collision with Simoncelli earlier in the season at Le Mans, only had positive things to say. They did say how when you raced with Marco you knew you had to defend your position well as he would do everything and more to pass you and how he was sometimes past the limit.

Here’s what the riders said to the BBC before the next race two weeks later in Valencia:

Andrea Dovizioso: “He was a really big rival from when we started to race in pocket bikes at 8 years old. For many years I made my career with him. When he decide to overtake you, he in any case overtake you, this is a problem because if I brake late and he can’t stop, boom, we can make a crash. He wasn’t a really big friend to me so I didn’t expect this situation, it was really hard, I went to the family, Tuesday, I went to the house, his house, I never thought to be in the house of Marco, to say to give the support, I don’t know how much support I can give to his family but that family is really strong. It’s hard to arrive in Valencia without him”

Ben Spies: “He had a lot of good years ahead of him. I don’t that everybody saw that. He had a lot of talent. Over-zealous sometimes but it just showed his character and one that’s going to be missed”

Alvaro Bautista: “We battled a lot in 250(cc) overall, fighting for the world championship, and yeah sometimes he was a little bit out of the limit on the track”

Valentino Rossi: “Most of the time he ride with the heart than with the head, you know, and for this reason sometimes had a problem with the other riders, especially because you never want(ed) to fight with Simoncelli because as always is very difficult and he was very big”

Jorge Lorenzo: “To be honest I feel sorry for him because of what happened because maybe if we could speak more close(ly) as a person and not as riders maybe we can manage more the situation. Marco was really hard to beat on the body to body. For me I think a real, real man.”

Hiroshi Aoyama: “I was in Italy and you know I don’t know so much about Italy and I don’t speak Italian so he looked after me and he was very kind.”

Casey Stoner: “I’m quite privileged to have been on the podium with him both times this year and he will be missed a lot throughout this paddock”

Loris Capirossi: “The most important (thing) is to never forget him and I think especially for me he is going to remain in my heart always”

At the following race in Valencia the riders from all three classes did a lap of honour for Marco. The parade was led by my first motorcycle hero Kevin Schwantz riding Marco’s bike. He was a very good friend of Marco. For me and I’m sure any other Marco fan there is no rider more fitting for such an honour than Schwantz (apart from Rossi maybe). That was followed by a noise tribute to Marco of fireworks and revving motorcycle engines as requested by his father. Watching this link again was very emotional. VIDEO

The race itself was the last race for Loris Capirossi before he retired. He raced his Ducati with the number 58 rather than his own trademark 65 as a tribute.

The circuit that hosts the San Marino MotoGP each year is now Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. In his home town of Coriano there is a sports area named after him and a tram route is now number 58. There is a monument in the town called “Every Sunday” where at nightfall a flame lights for 58 seconds. In 2012 riders from across the paddock rode around the newly named Misano circuit on bicycles.

Marco was the 21st inductee into the MotoGP Hall of Fame on 3rd February 2014.

CHAPTER 6 – Statistics

125cc

50 races – 2 wins – 7 podiums – 3 poles – 290 points

250cc

64 races – 12 wins -24 podiums – 10 poles – 701 points

MotoGP

34 races – 0 wins – 2 podiums – 2 poles – 264 points

Overall

148 races – 14 wins – 33 podiums – 15 poles – 1255 points

2008 250cc WORLD CHAMPION

THANKS

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. Even if you only read bits and skimmed others I appreciate you taking the time. RIP Marco. We will never forget.

The most intense flames never burn as long.