VIDEO: Slo-mo and frame by frame analysis of Simoncelli's fatal crash in Sepang

The death of Marco Simoncelli at the Sepang round of the MotoGP shocked the world of motorsports.

The young Italian rider, best known for his entertaining, some say aggressive, riding style lost control of his motorcycle on the second lap and began sliding towards the centre of the circuit when two following riders, Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi slammed into him.

Photo sequence of crash and video after the jump

Simoncelli Sr being consoled at the track medical centre
after his son was taken there following the crash - NST pix 

This slow motion video of the crash shows how Simoncelli was just hanging on to his sliding bike and Edwards and Rossi simply had no room to avoid him.

Edwards slammed hard into Simoncelli's back and at that time the Italian rider's helmet could be seen flying off after contact.

It was then quite clear that the front wheel of Edward's bike went on Simoncelli's neck, explainig the black tyre marks on his neck that was shown to millions of shocked television viewers as he lay motionless on the circuit.

As simoncelli slid, face-down on the tarmac, Edwards flew over his handlebar and slammed his helmet on the Italian's motorcycle which was semi-upright from the impact.

Rossi tried to flick his bike to the right but there was not enough room and he glanced the right side of Edward's bike and was almost high-sided in the ensuing tank-slapper.

The sight of Simoncelli sliding motionless is quite disturbing so I would advise viewer discretion.

I am quite sure some difficult questions will be asked about how Simoncelli's helmet could have come off in the accident, was it too big for his head?

We know that he wears helmets that are one size too large to accommodate his big afro hairstyle, did this contribute to the injuries?

Was there a manufacturing defect on the helmet? Was the helmet strap improperly fastened?

I am quite sure millions of MotoGP fans are curious to learn more about the tragedy and I hope the orrganisers and FIA will come up with a clear report on the incident soon.