Italian racer Doriano Romboni died after being struck by another bike racer in an annual racing event.
The former World Superbike and GP race winner attended the “Sic Supermoto Day” event in Latina, Italy on Saturday. It is a gathering of bikers who will race to raise funds for the Marco Simoncelli Foundation. The latter was a famous international professional motorcycle racer who died a couple of years ago.
Simoncelli got involved in a crash with another Italian rider Valentino Rossi, and American rider Colin Edwards in the Malaysian Grand Prix held at the Sepang International Circuit. During the accident, he sustained trauma in the head, neck and chest, which caused his death.
According to Eurosport, Romboni ran onto the grass during a practice session but gripped on to his bike. He swerved back onto the track and into the lane of Gianluca Vizziello, former Italian champion, who couldn’t do anything to thwart the collision with Romboni.
Romboni, a father to three kids, was quickly transported to the hospital in Latina by a helicopter. However, later in the afternoon, the official motogp.com website, declared that the 45-year old rider was dead due to the injuries he sustained from the accident.
In 1996, Romboni competed in the Aprilia factory in the 500cc engine class – now called MotoGP – riding a motorcycle with a V-twin, a two-cylinder internal combustion engine. He has won six times in the 125cc and 250cc engine categories. In the 1997 season, before Aprilia factory withdrew the project, he finished the race in the 10th place. In 1998, he competed for the MuZ (Motorrad und Zweiradwerk) team, now MZ (Motorradwerk Zschopau), in a single race.
In the following year, he moved to the Superbike World Championship aboard a private Ducati. During a race at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, he had a crash with Aaron Slight, another motorcycle road racer, and hurt his leg. He took a break and briefly returned in 2000 and in 2004.
Meanwhile, The Sporting Commission of the FMI (Italian Motorcycling Federation) has decided to cancel the Sic Supermoto Day event.
"After the fatal incident that led to the death of Doriano Romboni - said FMI President Paolo Sesti - the cancellation of the event is the right and proper decision in respect of Doriano and his family, with which we share this sad moment. In Doriano we lost a valuable rider, a person of great worth and an esteemed technician, who was loved and appreciated by the motorcycle racing community."
