From Pasolini to Salvadori, 50 years of tragedies on the track

Another tragedy in the world of motorcycles. The motorcycle champion and famous Youtuber Luca Salvadori, following an accident during qualifying in Germany for the final stage of the Irrc. The sad fate of the Milanese pilot lengthens a list of deaths that symbolically starts on 20 maggio 1973We are in the world championship, in the fourth liter, and at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza Jarno Saarinen, reigning world champion, and Renzo Pasolini are fighting for the victory. At 15.31, in an instant, due to a terrifying fall after the start, at the big curve, the 35 year old from Pesaro and the 28 year old Finn lose their lives.

Staying in the world championship, Sol Levante is in mourning twice within ten years. Still in the intermediate class, on May 1, 1993, in Jerez de la Frontera the official tests of the Spanish GP were scheduled. The 25-year-old rider of the Suzuki Noboyuki Wakai, traveling at 150 km/h in the pit lane, he suddenly found himself facing a fan from Forlì, 28-year-old Fabio Ravaioli, a friend of Loris Reggiani, who shouldn’t have been there. Wakai tried desperately not to hit him but failed, hitting his head against a wall. Taken to the hospital in Seville, he underwent surgery to remove two large hematomas on his brain. But every attempt to save him was in vain.

In 1997 the same track, this time in Superbike, was fatal for the Scotsman Graeme Ritchie while two years earlier the Japanese Yasutomo Nagai lost his life during race 2 in Assen. On the Misano Circuit, during the first Round of the 2014 Italian Cup, on April 13, he died Emanuel Cassani, 25 years old, originally from Faenza. The accident occurred shortly after departure.

He died in Barcelona on June 3, 2016. Luis Salom, 24-year-old Spanish Moto2 rider, due to the terrible trauma caused by his Kalex that fell on him after bouncing on the air fences following his exit from the track at turn 12, during the second free practice session. The attempt to save him with surgery was useless.

On May 30, 2021, it was the turn of Jason Dupasquier. The Swiss rider of the Pruestel team in Moto 3 died at the age of 19 due to the consequences of the tragic accident in the qualifications of the Italian Grand Prix on the Mugello circuit. The Swiss had lost control of his bike at the Arrabbiata 2 curve, being hit first by the Japanese Ayumu Sasaki and then by the Spaniard Jeremy Alcoba. Dupasquier’s conditions immediately appeared serious: the rider born in 2001 was promptly rescued on the track and then transported by helicopter to the Careggi hospital in Florence but there was nothing that could be done.

On September 25, 2021 the disappearance of Dean Berta Vinales, 15-year-old driver, cousin of Maverick, who died following a serious accident on the track in race 1 of the Supersport 300 at the Jerez de La Frontera-Angel Nieto circuit. The race was interrupted at the beginning of the 11th lap due to the fall at turn 2 that involved, in addition to the 15-year-old Spanish driver of the Vinales Racing Team, also other riders.

On October 8, 2022, the serious accident, again in Supersport, for the 22-year-old Dutchman of MTM Kawasaki, Victor Steeman who died three days later in the hospital in Faro. “Something you always feared as a parent of a motorcyclist has now happened,” reads a statement from the family, “our Victor could not win this last race. Despite the unbearable loss and pain, we are extremely proud to share with you that our hero, through his death, managed to save five more people by donating his organs. We thank everyone for the way you have lived with us these days. Our Victor will be greatly missed.”

Steeman had been enjoying a superb 2022 FIM Supersport 300 Championship season and came into the Pirelli Portugal Round with a chance of clinching the title. With four wins, five podiums and three pole positions to his name this season, he has scored 12 points from 14 races. He also put his name in the history books with pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, becoming the rider with the most pole positions in the World Supersport 300 class.