Japanese Moto2 rider Shoya Tomizawa dies after San Marino crash

Shoya Tomizawa, the Japanese Moto2 rider, has died after a crash during the San Marino grand prix, according to Dr Claudio Costa, who is part of the motorcycling world championship's medical team.

Riders in the premier MotoGP class were informed after their race.

"I found out now, when things like this happen nothing else matters," the MotoGP 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.

"You forget sometimes how easily something like this can happen. Sometimes our sport is just too dangerous," the MotoGP rider Andrea Dovizioso said.

Moto2, the new name for the former 250cc category below MotoGP, 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