"Sic for me was like a youngest brother," Valentino Rossi, nine-time Grand Prix World Champion, tweets in memory of Marco Simoncelli, who is fondly called Sic in their circle.

Simoncelli, 24, lost control of his Honda motorcycle on the second lap and ran across the paths of Colin Edwards and Rossi on the track, causing him to fall off his bike and suffer massive head trauma, which quickly resulted in his death.

Edwards' shoulder was dislocated, but has since been repaired and he is now recovering. Rossi was unharmed.

Rossi, 32, who is not only Simoncelli's compatriot, but also his friend, mourned the young racer's death on his Twitter account in English and Italian.

Valentino Rossi is both a compatriot and friend to the late Marco Simoncelli
While both fierce on the tracks Simoncelli and Rossi were good friends who understood each other's passion for speed on motorcycles. Race enthusiasts saw them compete in a race earlier this season, when Simoncelli put Rossi in a pickle on the tracks.Rossi was a good sport throughout, even joking about it to the press."He took advantage of me while I was struggling... but I'll have my chance to respond in my own way," Rossi laughed off the incident.Reuters reported Rossi was in tears at the track in the poignant long minutes before the announcement of Sic's death.

In May, Simoncelli collided with Dani Pedrosa in the French GP, after which he was quoted as saying he needed to be more careful. Asked for comments on Sunday, Pedrosa also grieved SImoncelli's death.

"In a tragedy like this there is not much to say. I just want to give my condolences to his family and all the people who love him. I've been with his father and all we could do was to hug, nothing else matters."

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