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ADELAIDE, Australia -- A 27-year-old V8 touring car driver
died Monday, two days after he was injured in a race crash. Ashley Cooper, from Ulladulla in New South Wales state, was
critically injured when his vehicle hit a safety barrier at the
exit of a corner at more than 120 mph. Cooper was attended to by senior medical personnel at the
Clipsal 500 support race and was taken by ambulance to Royal
Adelaide Hospital, where he remained in a coma and on life support
until his death. He was married and had two young children. Race officials said Cooper had severe head trauma, swelling of
the brain and internal injuries following the accident on the 11th
lap of the second and final series race of the weekend. Cooper made heavy, side-on contact with a safety barrier at the
eighth turn. The initial contact was to the driver's side of the
vehicle before the car veered across the track and hit the opposite
wall with the rear-end. It was the second fatal accident in less than two years in the
support series for Australia's premier auto racing competition. In October 2006, New Zealand driver Mark Porter was killed
following an accident during the Bathurst 1000. He was 32.
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