In Memory of Craig Jones 1985 - 2008
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- LiveLeak
In Memory of Craig Jones 1985 - 2008
Born in Crewe, Cheshire, but moved to Peterborough as a young boy, Jones was a successful racer in the lower ranks of the British motorcycling ladder winning the 1996 British Junior Mini-Moto Championship, the 1997 British Senior Mini-Moto Championship and the 2002 British Junior Superstock Championship before moving up to the British Supersport Championship. In 2002 Jones rode in trials at the Isle of Man TT Races for the Triumph Motorcycles/Valmoto team on a Daytona 600. Jones subsequently stayed with this team to compete in the 2003 and 2004 seasons of the British Supersport Championship, with Jones taking the team's only win in its final race, at Donington Park. Jones finished the 2004 season eighth in the overall standings. In 2005 Jones has his best year in the British Supersport Championship riding for the Northpoint Honda team, achieving seven podium finishes and second overall in the title contest behind Leon Camier. Jones' riding that year earned him wildcard entry into the two British rounds of World Supersport, where he performed impressively. Jones qualified on the front row at Silverstone and was contesting the lead when he pulled out of the race with clutch problems, and he finished eighth at Brands Hatch. Jones was also called up as a stand-in rider for the prestigious Ten Kate Honda team at Brno, where he finished sixth. Jones moved up to the Superbike World Championship for the 2006 season on the uncompetitive Foggy Petronas FP1. A solitary thirteenth place at Imola was his only points finish in the championship. In 2007, Jones returned to the Supersport World Championship category for his first season as a full-time supersport rider, riding with the Reve Ekerold Honda team. Jones suffered many technical problems early in the season, and crashed out of the lead at Brands Hatch, but a took podiums at Brno, and in the season's final two rounds Vallelunga and Magny-Cours. At Vallelunga he was leading when the red flag was thrown, but lost the race to Kenan Sofuoğlu as the Turkish rider was leading the last completed lap. The podium at Magny-Cours moved him up from 7th to 5th in the final standings. For 2008, Jones remained in Supersport, with his team now managed by Simon Buckmaster, and added three more podiums including the season-opener at Losail and again at Valencia after an intense battle with Fabien Foret. Despite missing the Monza race with a hand injury, he was sixth in the championship before his ultimately tragic home round at Brands Hatch. Jones died as a result of head injuries sustained in a fall and subsequent collision during the the Brands Hatch round of the 2008 Supersport World Championship season. The fall occurred at Clark Curve, a fast right-hand turn that leads into the home straight of the Brands Hatch circuit. At the time of the fall, Jones was in second position and challenging Jonathan Rea for the lead. As Jones accelerated out of the curve the rear wheel of his Honda CBR600RR lost traction and he was thrown across the track into the path of oncoming riders. The Australian rider Andrew Pitt attempted to take evasive action, but the front wheel of his machine collided with Jones' helmet. The race was immediately stopped by officials so that medical personnel could attend to Jones, and he was taken to the Brands Hatch medical centre where Clinica Mobile doctors resuscitated him on four occasions. He was air-lifted by the Kent Air Ambulance to the Royal London Hospital. Jones' condition was assessed as 'extremely critical' upon his arrival and he was induced into a pharmacological coma by doctors in an attempt to stabilise his condition. This intervention was unsuccessful and Jones was pronounced dead by doctors shortly after 00.30 local time on August 4, 2008. As Jones was running second in the race at the time of the race stoppage, he moved up to fifth in the championship.[9] Fellow racers Tommy Hill and James Toseland were at his bedside as he died. Four-time world champion and former team boss of Jones, Carl Fogarty, said that "Craig was one of a crop of good young riders who were the future of British racing and I took a chance on him to ride for our team in 2006 because I thought he was the pick of the bunch." Tributes The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, whose owners are also involved in Jones' Parkalgar Honda team, are to name a corner on the track after him. British Superbike rider Cal Crutchlow raced in one of Jones' spare helmets at the BSB meeting at Knockhill a week later.
LiveLeak | December 13, 2008
