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Great post JK. I agree with your assertion (somewhere in your post) that Sic was a dangerous rider, especially in the lower categories. I don't think, and Arrabi will have to forgive me for disagreeing with him, other high profile riders were more or less "utter liabilities" than Simoncelli. In the lower categories, we could see many riders with sketchy racing, Lorenzo, Barbera, DeAngelis, etc were on their day fairly dangerous, not to mention Marc (only one of these spectacularly torpedoing another rider after the flag, but lets shelve that as people seem to be growing tired of the fact). These riders also displayed many challenges adjusting to the MotoGP class. You have noticed how people have rationalized the magnitude of the impact to somehow conclude the severity of the "danger" is related to the amount of force, but frankly a mistake (willful or otherwise) leading to a collision causing a crash is self evident. When Sic caused Lorenzo to crash, it was him crashing out first, not actually t-boning Lorenzo, while say Buatista's straight torpedo of Lorenzo and Rossi (and a fleet of Ducati's at Valencia) was worse but also deemed a "racing incident"--a lazy excuse for people to place blame. I'd say Bautista is more of a liability than Marco was in MotoGP. And, if we are to give this ........ argument that somehow magnitude of the force when colliding is especially more egregious than less force with the same effect, then certainly Marc could be exonerated and Bautista lynched; which should highlight just how misguided is such an argument. Bautista has a slight reputation, though isn't no where near on the radar that Simonchelli was, while Marc this year is celebrated and or apologized by expert and spectator alike for his collisions and near misses.
Where I think I differ with your opinion is that I also had a sense that Sic was becoming more mindful about being on track. It was a sense that I got from his podium, where I think him standing up there perhaps might have clicked something in his mind that this was the way to have success--steadily. That certainly was not a linear curve, but rather a general consciousness that he needed to make adjustments, is why I perceived at least. The crash that ultimately took his life can be attributed to his willingness to press early on cold tires as you say, but something must also factor in to the freakishness of the accident itself. And this is why its important for riders to be mindful, as the unexpected can occur, as for example did with Marc's now infamous destruction of a sensor cable.
We will never know where Marco Simoncelli was headed in terms of adjusting to track etiquette, but I just got a sense he was headed in the right direction. Regardless the lesson was loud and clear, roadracing is dangerous without the need to take unwarranted risks, which makes the apologies for similar antics today rather disturbing.
