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Luis Salom

Luis Salom2 posts

Luis Salom was a Spanish professional motorcycle racer. He died on June 3, 2016, from injuries resulting from a crash in Free Practice at the Catalunya GP.

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4 Jun, 2016

‘We spoke about turn twelve for six years’

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Rossi says that Turn 12, where Salom died, has been discussed by the riders over the years.

We spoke about turn twelve in the Safety Commission for six years. We say that we need more run off area. Unfortunately there is some work that you can do and some that you can’t. Because of the grandstand… It’s very expensive to modify this area. We already know it was dangerous there. But if you look at the crash unfortunately something happened on the bike.
We already know [turn 12 is dangerous] because two years ago [Niccolo] Antonelli crash. Fortunately he didn’t have any physical problem but he arrived in the protection so we put in more air fence.

Unfortunately something very bad happened that reminds us of the risk of our sport. It was another crash and another problem. During the season you have occasions that if something happens on the bike there is not enough space. The crash of Salom was not normal…I don’t know. Something in the steering, something in the throttle, something on the brake. Turn twelve is very demanding on the front and you have a lot of bumps. Every lap is a lot of risk but usually you exit from the previous right. You hit second, third [gear], you enter and usually the normal crash is 35-40 metres later. You go on the right. If you open the angle and go on the right you have a lot more space. But Salom unfortunately go straight. He arrived at one speed that was unnatural. He didn’t slow down.