page_title: Shoya Tomizawa
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Shoya Tomizawa / Death
context_page_description: Shoya Tomizawa was a Japanese motorcycle racer. After a successful career in the All Japan Road Race Championship, he switched to MotoGP and competed in the 250cc class during 2009. In the 2010 season he rode in the newly created Moto2 class. Tomizawa won the first race of the new class, at Losail in Qatar, winning by nearly five seconds from Alex Debón and Jules Cluzel. Tomizawa died after sustaining cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma at the San Marino Grand Prix.
context_section_description: Tomizawa was competing in the eleventh round of the inaugural Moto2 World Championship, the San Marino Grand Prix at the Misano World Circuit on 5 September 2010. On lap 12, holding 4th place, Tomizawa fell at the Curvone, a fast right-hand corner, when he was forced wide and lost grip in his rear tire. He was then struck by the motorbikes of Scott Redding and Alex de Angelis, and suffered cranial, thoracic and abdominal trauma. He was initially taken to the circuit's medical centre, before being transferred to hospital in Riccione. He died from his injuries at 14:20 local time in hospital, aged 19. His death was announced at the end of the MotoGP race. The podium flags were lowered to half-mast, and the podium was celebrated without champagne.
  Tomizawa was the first on-track fatality at Grand Prix level since his countryman Daijiro Kato was killed in the senior class at Suzuka in 2003. Tomizawa had placed Kato's racing number 74 on his left shoulder as a tribute to him.
  Questions have been raised about the treatment of Tomizawa in the aftermath of the crash. Both he and Redding were hurriedly removed from the scene and bundled onto stretchers; the stretcher carrying Tomizawa appeared to be dropped in the gravel trap before he was removed. MotoGP Doctor Claudio Macchiagodena explained that "Many times it is very important to quickly have support. In this situation if you remove quickly, in my opinion, you have more possibility [to help the patient]" - a statement which ignores the possibility of spinal injuries. Alex Hofmann originally reported on German TV that neither Tomizawa nor Redding had suffered life-threatening injuries; he had apparently received this information from Dorna themselves.
  It was reported that Rimini's state prosecutor, Paolo Giovagnoli, would begin an inquest that might involve criminal proceedings against as yet unnamed individuals.
caption: Jorge Lorenzo wore a replica of Tomizawa's helmet at the 2010 Aragon Grand Prix as a mark of respect.
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