Motorcycle Crashes Claim Five in Week

Motorcycle Fatal Crashes

It was one of the saddest weeks in motorcycle racing’s history, as four racers perished in on-track accidents, and another man involved in racing died after a street motorcycle accident.

The most recent was the horrific Moto2 crash at Misano on Sunday, Sept. 5, when motorcycle rider Shoya Tomizawa, 19, of Japan, passed away after being involved in a three-bike wreck.

During midweek, Chris Bradshaw, 39, of Tamworth in Birmingham, and Jamie Adam, 28, of Prestwick in Scotland, died while competing in the Manx GP on the notorious Isle of Man TT Mountain Course on Wednesday, Sept. 1.

The first of the deadly motorcycle racing wrecks came at the Red Bull Indy Grand Prix, Round 11 of the MotoGP Championship. This accident claimed the life of one of the industry’s youngest riders, Peter Lenz, 13, of Vancouver, Wash., who perished Sunday, Aug. 29, during the U.S. Grand Prix Racers Union Support Race.

The last death this week in the motorcycle world didn’t come on the track, but will affect the everyone in the TTXGP racing paddock. Matthew Dieckmann, 29, of Santa Rosa, the owner of the Electric Motorcycles Race team, died on Tuesday, Aug. 30, during a street motorcycle accident in his hometown.

These five will be missed throughout motorcycle industry, and the staff at UltimateMotorCycling.com expresses their deepest condolences for friends and family of each rider.

Following are brief descriptions of the crashes:

Moto2 Fatal Crash

Tomizawa was the first ever to perish in a Moto2 race. Two other riders were involved in the accident, Scott Redding and Alex De Angelis.

Redding was lucky to escape serious injury from the same crash as he was treated in the circuit medical centre immediately afterwards, receiving ten stitches in a laceration to his back. De Angelis was able to walk away from the incident. But after the crash, Tomizawa suffered cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma.

The Technomag-CIP rider Shoya Tomizawa rode into the history books as the first ever Moto2 race winner after taking the inaugural 2010 FIM Moto2 Grand Prix race at the Losail International Circuit outside of Doha, Qatar;. for 2010 Moto2, the new 600cc Honda-powered four strokes replaced the traditional two-stroke 250cc Class.

After hearing of this forlorn news on Sunday, many of motorcycle racing’s most iconic figures expressed their sadness, including nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi.

Valentino Rossi says: “I’m so sorry for Shoya because he was a strong rider but above all he was very ‘sympatico.’ He was very funny, always smiling and he always had nice things to say to everyone. He was also very young with a great career ahead of him so we are all very sad.”

Manx GP Fatal Crash

At the Junior Grand Prix Race in the Manx Grand Prix, Bradshaw and Adam passed following the same accident at Alpine Cottage on the second lap. The Junior race was then abandoned following the double fatal crash on the notorious Isle of Man TT Mountain Course.

Bradshaw, a Traffic Police Officer, was flown to Noble’s Hospital, and declared dead there. Bradshaw, who first competed on the Isle of Man in 2004, finished 37th in last year’s Senior MGP race.

Adam, a serving officer in the Royal Navy, was pronounced dead at the scene. Adam, who first competed on the Isle of Man in 2009, finished ninth in the Newcomers race and 27th in the Senior MGP.

After the passing of Bradshaw and Adams, the death toll at the Mountain Course rose to 229 since the street-circuit began hosting both the Isle of Man TT races and the Manx Grand Prix in 1907.

Indy USGPRU Fatal Crash

The youngest rider to die in a motorcycle race this past week was Lenz. The American crashed during the sighting lap before the morning race; Lenz fell and was run over by another young motorcycle racer, Xavier Zayat, 12.

Zayat also fell, but was unharmed. Medical officials at the track attempted chest compressions, and later Lenz was taken to the Methodist Hospital in Indy, where he was pronounced dead after suffering traumatic injuries.

Street Fatal Crash

The industry lost Dieckmann, owner of ElectricRaceBikes.com, after he was involved in a street wreck. Dieckmann was a talented designer, and passionately pursued motorcycle technology that would help shape electric motorcycle racing.

Dieckmann will always be remembered for taking part in the first-ever North American TTXGP, achieving a podium at Infineon Raceway.

Again, the staff at UltimateMotorCycling.com expresses their deepest sympathies for these unfortunate losses.

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