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We left our camping site early and hit the road as we headed off to the tiny town of Coriano the birthplace of the MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli who was killed at the Grand Prix of Malaysia in 2011. We had followed Marco for some years and it looked as if he was going to be the hope for the future as the Doctor Valentino Rossi was coming to the end of his MotoGP career.
The accident had left a hole in GP and we had always promised that we would go if we had chance and were in his part of the world to pay homage to him at his place of burial.
Corriano is a small town and we drove around with only one idea of finding the church and the cemetery. The church was easy to find as it was quite modern and imposing. The cemetery was behind.
We parked up Suzy on a large car park and headed for the cemetery. It was the usual sort of Italian cemetery, very neat with coffins placed into niches on the walls. We didn’t have to look far – we expected to find a memorial but what
Corianno
Marco Simoncelli museum we found was a sign saying the family asked for respect and Marco’s remains were not in the cemetery at all. We have no idea where he was but were directed to a memorial in the town gardens. Alongside the war memorial we found a seated area with flowers and tributes and a number 58 in Perspex. We had found it. All the town shops displayed a number 58 which was Marcos racing number in their windows. A fitting tribute to a fine young man who probably would have won MotoGP in the future.
Across the road from the memorial was a museum dedicated to Sic as he was known. For 7 euro each we could see his leathers from each of the classes, his gloves, his helmets and the seats he sat in at races. Photographs of races lined the walls and glass cases held trophies from his wins. It was a sad place – a life lost so young. A life with so much promise taken at such an early age. A loss to his family and to the world of motor bike racing.
Number 58 we will never forget you.
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