24 Oct 2011

Stoner stunned by death

12:10 pm on 24 October 2011

Australia's world champion Casey Stoner says he felt "sick right through" after Italian rival Marco Simoncelli was killed in a crash at the Malaysian MotoGP.

Stoner says that when something like this happens you remember how precious life is.

The smash occurred just minutes after the race at Sepang began when the 24-year-old Honda rider lost control and veered across the track into the path of riders Colin Edwards and Simoncelli's compatriot Valentino Rossi.

MotoGP medical director Michele Macchiagodena says Simoncelli suffered "very serious trauma to the head, neck and the chest" and later went into cardiac arrest.