An inquest held into the death of a TT rider who crashed during a practice session, on the A3 road at Ballacrye, one mile beyond Ballaugh village, on Monday, May 27 has recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.
Coroner John Needham ruled that popular Japanese rider, Yoshinari Matsushita, 43, a graphic designer, had died due to multiple injuries consistent with that of a motorcycle accident.
The inquest heard evidence from James Crowe, who was the deputy sector marshal at Ballacrye on the evening of the incident.
Mr Crowe told how he was marshalling on the course from Rose Cottage to Ballacrye Road, Ballaugh.
The court heard how it had been raining and there were damp patches at the sides of the road, but away from the racing line.
A lack of adhesion flag had been held out and the practice session was not being timed due to the weather conditions.
Mr Crowe had a clear unobstructed view for about 100 metres down the road, when at approximately 7.35pm, Mr Matsushita approached from Ballaugh at a speed of around 150 to 160mph, which was not excessive for that location, with no other riders in the vicinity.
The marshal said that he saw the bike go over a rise in the road and the front wheel lift to about a foot in the air, which was not unusual. The front wheel came down and landed straight but when the back wheel came down the bike started to snake.
The bike weaved from left to right (known as a tank slapper in biking terms) and the rider tried to correct this but the handlebars kept turning.
The bike veered to the left, hitting the left hand curb, then lifted off the ground and looked like it exploded in a mass of debris as it hit something which was later established as a road sign and tree.
Mr Crowe said that he heard an impact noise, then a plastic scraping sound and saw a large shower of debris.
He pressed his emergency button and ran to the incident.
When he arrived at the scene he saw the rider was lying on the road with his helmet off and could see that Mr Matsushita was clearly dead. The helmet was later discovered to have a fracture to the left side of the jaw protector.
Evidence was read out in court from a vehicle examination report, from vehicle examiner, John Cassidy. The report showed there were no faults with the bike which had been professionally prepared for racing.
A toxicology report showed that the deceased had no alcohol or other drugs in his system at the time of his death.
Mr Matsushita was declared dead at the scene at 7.45pm with the cause being recorded as head, face and leg injuries.
His racing manager, Fumiyo Asada, who has known him for seven years, identified his body at Noble’s Hospital, and his wife, Chieko, attended the inquest.
Coroner Needham recorded the verdict of death by misadventure and thanked Mrs Matsushita for attending the inquest, he expressed his sincere condolences to her.
He added that if there was any comfort to be taken, it could be taken by the facts that her husband’s death was instantaneous, so he did not suffer, and that although it was a cliche, he died doing what he loved.
