A few years ago we knew a rider who grew his hair almost the same length as Marco Simoncellis. This guy fell of at, I think, Snetterton and his helmet came off while he was rolling on the tarmac. Surprisingly the helmet strap was still fastened !!!

He was lucky not to lose his life and the full analysis report of the accident showed that:

"The helmet was too large for the skull size of the rider and literally floated on the riders hairstyle. When the guy hit the ground the hair compressed and allowed the helmet to slip off."

The helmet was a 62 worn by a guy whos head size AFTER he had a haircut was 56 !!

It is early days to identify the cause of Marcos death but I remembered this precedent.......That rider who survived, subsequently had a very close haircut and invested in a proper sized helmet.

I'm sorry to submit this so soon after this accident but the previous crash came to my mind.

Do scrutineers check that helmets fit snugly...? I'm sure they do !