Improved safety must be Simoncelli's legacy

Marco Simoncelli was a character and a great aggressive rider who was willing to give his all to the cause, even if it meant crashing out of races, or causing controversy.

But his talent and success on the track, which included a 250cc World Championship should not be his only legacy. Safety must be improved significantly to prevent incidents like the one in Malaysia.

I know present and former riders have said nothing could be done to prevent this disaster, but we must not have this attitude if we want to prevent riders from dying or being seriously injured in these terrible accidents.

Helmet standards must be improved to make sure it stays on a rider’s head even when involved in a heavy collision, and strong enough to absorb a heavy accident, whilst protecting the head from any sort of injury.

Tyres I think need to have a little less grip and/or a slower warm up period to ensure that the rider and bike go down straight away if the rider loses the front or rear end of the bike, instead of gripping up and running into the path of traffic.

For all of us, our goal must be to ensure that Marco Simoncelli is the last fatality in motorcycle racing, period. A rider who was loved by so many people deserves a legacy like this.