VIR crash claims teenager

ALTON — A teenage motorcycle rider has died of injuries he received in a three-way crash Sunday morning at Virginia International Raceway.

Toriano Wilson, 14, of Bermuda, was competing in the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup Series race at VIR when he fell off his motorcycle on Turn 6 of the first lap and was accidentally struck by at least one other rider while trying to get out of the way. Luciano Ribodino, of Argentina, and Garet Tomlinson, of Fort Worth, Texas, were also involved in the crash.

Wilson was airlifted to the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he was pronounced dead early Monday morning. Ribodino, 14, was transported in a separate helicopter to Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., where he is in stable condition and receiving treatment for a broken left arm and broken left femur. Tomlinson, 15, was not seriously injured in the crash.

The teens were posting top speeds in excess of 85 mph.

“The AMA and Red Bull have a long history in racing and every effort is made to create the safest possible environment for all participants,” Red Bull race series spokesperson Jordan Miller wrote in a press release. “Unfortunately, racing also carries inherent risks. This was a tragic accident and our thoughts are with both families at this time.”

Virginia International Raceway public relations officials declined to comment.

Wilson’s death is the third fatality at VIR since the track reopened in March 2000 after being closed for 25 years. It is at least the fourth fatality since the track originally opened in 1957.

The 5-foot-7, 125-pound Wilson had toured the globe competing in international racing events since 2005, when he placed first in a local Bermuda racing circuit’s 80cc Class. Wilson became the Bermuda Motorcycle Racing Club’s youngest rider in 2006 — at age 12 — to participate in the 125 GP Class, where he placed fourth.

He was twice invited to Valencia, Spain, to participate and represent his country in the World Festival.

Wilson’s former coach and a spokesperson for the Bermuda Motorcycle Racing Club, Paul De Couto, told the Bermuda Sun newspaper that Wilson “was our golden child out there.”

“He was definitely destined to be a star,” De Couto said. “He had so much talent.”

The U.S. Rookie Cup Series, in its inaugural year, is billed as a platform for showcasing young road racing talent between the ages of 13 and 16 years old. Twenty-three teenagers were selected from a pool of more than 600 applicants to compete in this year’s series and were provided identically prepared standard specification 125cc Grand Prix bikes.

The Red Bull race at VIR was postponed from Sunday morning until later in the day as a result of the crash. Hayden Gillim, 13, of Owensboro, Ky., who had surgery to repair a broken collarbone last week, won the 11-lap race by 0.091 seconds. Gillim’s younger brother, Ethan, died at age 10 from injuries suffered in a motorcycle racing accident during an AMA sanctioned dirt track race at Paducah (Ky.) International Raceway last year.

Contact Jason Wolf at or (434) 791-7996.