Andrea Antonelli, a motorcyclist who was competing in the World Supersport race on Sunday, died from his injuries after being unseated from his bike during a crash.
Antonelli reportedly lost control in the wet conditions and flew off his bike, and fellow racer Lorenzo Zanetti was unable to avoid hitting him with his vehicle. Doctors raced to save Antonelli’s life, but were unable to revive him. He was taken to the medical center at the course but his injuries were too grave to risk transporting him by helicopter to the nearest hospital.
“If a rider is hit in the skull by a bike that weighs 160kg at 250km, what can you do?” said Dr. Massimo Corbascio. “He has gone to keep Marco Simoncelli company. We tried to revive Andrea immediately, but there was absolutely nothing we could do. In these cases, even if you intubate someone and take them to the intensive care unit – he remains a body attached to a machine with no brain, there’s just blood in the brain.”
Worldsbk.com released a statement regarding the accident and the 25-year old racer’s death, saying:
“During today’s FIM World Supersport race, at 1.32pm Italian rider Andrea Antonelli (Team Goeleven Kawasaki) suffered a serious accident on the straight between Turn 14 and Turn 15 wherein he sustained critical injuries. The race was stopped with the red flag and the rider was immediately taken to an ambulance where the medical staff worked to resuscitate him. Despite their efforts, Andrea sadly succumbed to his injuries at 2.10pm local time. FIM, Dorna and YMS Promotion decided to cancel all activities scheduled for the rest of the day. Everyone involved in motorcycle championships extends its deepest condolences to Andrea’s family, friends, team and the Italian Federation at this tragic loss.”
Image: Heavy.com
