MotoGP – The farewell of thousands of fans to Marco Simoncelli –

The farewell of thousands of fans to Marco Simoncelli

MotoGP - The farewell of thousands of fans to Marco Simoncelli -

Yesterday was the funeral of Marco Simoncelli, broke last Sunday at the age of 24 during the MotoGP race in Sepang. His relatives, his opponents and thousands of fans accompanied him on his final outing. Ciao Marco !

Several thousand people attended yesterday the funeral of Marco Simoncelli, who died in the tragic accident on the Sepang International Circuit or "SIC", as his great rival Alvaro Bautista recently pointed out in a column for …

"His coffin, carried by childhood friends, from the ardent chapel installed in the municipal theater to the Sainte-Marie church, was applauded by the crowd, who let fly balloons struck with a big 58, his number in competition", reports AFP.

"Super Sic will have watched his funeral today and will no doubt have exclaimed: "Good god, that makes a lot of people! Do all these people really wanna say goodbye to me ?" ", imagined without difficulty – but with difficulty … – his Honda Gresini team.

Among the 450 people who had access to the church were many pilots including his great friend Valentino Rossi, his teammate Hiroshi Aoyama, Giacomo Agostini, Alex Criville, Simone Corsi, Yuki Takahashi, Raffaele de Rosa, Chaz Davies, Mattia Pasini, Manuel Poggiali, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso, Randy de Puniet, Loris Capirossi, Toni Elias and Alex de Angelis.

Also present were Vito Ippolito, President of the FIM, and Carmelo Ezpeleta, General Manager of Dorna Sports, who testified: "what we experienced this afternoon in Coriano was very moving. A lot of people, fans as well as people from the paddock, came here and it is the sign that a great driver and someone exceptional, has left us. This outpouring of affection proves he will leave a mark forever".

"I was impressed by the courage of Marco’s family, especially on the side of his father, Paolo, who was able to transmit strength and energy to others.", adds the big Spanish boss,"it was amazing to see the whole MotoGP family gathered here for Marco Simoncelli. Despite this tragic loss, all of these tributes show that everyone had great affection for him. We will never forget Marco".

As expected, the fans – "too many to count", according to Team Gresini! – were able to follow the ceremony via two giant screens, one located within the small town of Coriano and the other, a few kilometers away, on the Misano circuit that some fans – car driver Andrea De Adamich in the lead – already wish to rename the name of the 2008 GP 250 champion.

"I came across this photo of Phillip Island which I think is worth sharing!" "I found this drawing on the web …. Cool! Thanks to its author!" (Images taken from Marco Simoncelli’s Facebook page).

Another initiative, which has a better chance of success, is led by the Italian Motorcycling Federation: the latter has asked the FIM (Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme) to remove n ° 58 from the MotoGP grid, as is already the case for the 74 from Kato, or the 48 from Tomizawa in Moto2 (only Schwantz and his n ° 34 were entitled to this honor during their lifetime).

Finally, in his latest report on, Randy Mamola – after talking about some great times spent with Marco – hopes that the crowd will be present in Valencia for the season finale, "in order to give Supersic the tribute it deserves".

"I expect to see many afro wigs among the crowd to say "Ciao Marco", a guy who was not only one of the great leaders of MotoGP but an exceptional young man.". Can’t wait for next Sunday, may the show continue !

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