Japanese rider hit by two bikes in Moto2 category MISANO, Italy – Nineteen-year-old Japanese Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa has died after a crash during Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix, the second death in the sport in two events. Doctor Claudio Costa, part of the motorcycling world championship's medical team, told reporters the news. Riders in the premier MotoGP class were also informed after their race, won by Dani Pedrosa. “I found out now, when things like this happen nothing else matters,” world champion Valentino Rossi told Mediaset television. “He was a lovely guy, it was a horrible accident.” Suter's Tomizawa was travelling at full speed when he fell off before a corner and was hit violently by the bikes of Alex De Angelis and Scott Redding, who both also tumbled but looked relatively unhurt. A 13-year-old also died in a minor race before the Indianapolis MotoGP in the sport's last Grand Prix in August. Moto2, the new name for the former 250cc category below MotoGP, still generates huge speeds and officials said they decided to continue with the race after the crash because of the fear of other accidents if a red flag was suddenly shown. They added that Tomizawa was alive when he was taken from the track and rushed to a local hospital on Italy's east coast. He was pronounced dead soon after. The official news of his death had not filtered through before the start of the MotoGP race so the event went ahead. Rossi, who suffered a broken leg in an accident before the Italian Grand Prix in June, led riders in a tribute to another dead Japanese colleague Daijiro Kato earlier in the week in a ceremony at Misano. Kato, who lived in the Misano area, died after an accident at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2003. Rossi has worked hard with other riders to try to make the sport safer but has said there is a limit to how much they can do. Pedrosa wins Spain's Dani Pedrosa led from the start to win the San Marino MotoGP. Honda rider Pedrosa, second in the overall standings, finished ahead of championship leader and compatriot Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha to cut the gap at the top to 63 points with six races remaining this season. Pedrosa kept pulling away from Lorenzo from the start and the outcome of the race was never in doubt. World champion Valentino Rossi came in third on his Yamaha having overtaken Casey Stoner three times during an engaging duel in the middle of the race. Stoner, who will be replaced by Rossi at Ducati next year, slipped further back and finished fifth behind Andrea Dovizioso. Tomizawa was in his first season in the Moto2 category - he had had two disappointing seasons in 250cc - and had begun it in style by winning the curtain raiser in Qatar. He followed it up with second in the second race of the season in Spain but his form had tailed off since then and he was seventh in the overall standings with 82 points. Spanish rider Toni Elias riding a Moriwaki won the Moto2 for his fourth successive victory in the category. The 27-year-old confirmed his place atop the overall standings with his sixth victory of the season beating home compatriot Julian Simon, riding a Suter, and Swiss Thomas Luthi on a Moriwaki was third. Spain's Marc Marquez on a Derbi won the 125cc title for Spain's 21st consecutive victory in the category. The 17-year-old beat home compatriots Nicolas Terol (Aprilia) and Efren Vasquez (Derbi).
