Simply awful. We were tuned in. Catherine cried and my guts turned.
Simoncelli had been dicing with Bautista back in about 6th, they were great to watch so early in lap 2 as Casey raced away again. Marco low-sided as he got on the gas through right-hand corner 10 (I think). He managed to get some front grip back but this took him across the track into the paths to Edwards and Rossi, who had nowhere to go. It looked like Edward's bike hit him first in the back while he was still with the laid down Honda, and then Rossi's bike almost took out the back of Edwards but instead scraped past to take Simoncelli's helmet off.
Channel 10's commentators were not wanting the visual replay but Malaysian telecasters showed it again. After that the crash footage was cut short in replays to avoid the worst of it. Unfortunately ABC national news showed the lot again, much to our disgust.
Very sad. Last week at Philip Island Marco had done a good interview and this weekend a nice little piece before the race explaining some stuff on the bike and his wonderful character has shone through. He was shaping up to take Rossi's place as the new character (even though he'd had those few bad incidents earlier in the season). He will be missed.
:(
