Re: Motorcycle Race Accident ................dramatic video footage
- From: "Alexey" <inline_four@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 14 Apr 2006 09:12:54 -0700
pablo wrote:
That is sickening sh*t dammit.
That is exactly what happens when unprofessional, amateurish crews control a
race. A bike was in the middle of the mother%$#@! racetrack for a straight
minute, and obviously no mother&^%^%$#! flags warned anyone, there is no way
on earth anyone would have come in so hot if they'd yellow- or justifiably
red-flagged the race.
pablo, I think you might wanna check your judgemental attitude a
little. I don't know how much experience you have, but I've
cornerworked (CCS, AMA, and FIM) including Loudon and have raced there
myself. What I can tell you is that not getting the right flags up
happens much too often. As a cornerworker, your order of priorities
are as follows:
1. yourself
2. your fellow cornerworkers
3. injured rider(s)
4. other riders on the track
Red flagging a race is a bit of an artform in that the decision has to
come from the control station and the red flags must go up everywhere
simultaneously. The way red flags happen is when the workers at the
incident believe the situation warrants it, fly waving yellows and
possibly debris flags and at the same time radio to the control
requesting a red flag. Then it's up to the control to decide what to
do. As you probably know, incidents like this can unravel very quickly
and sometimes, as a cornerworker, you just have to do the best under
the circumstances.
A few years ago, I cornerworked for an AMA/FIM superbike weekend at
Laguna Seca. I was in turn 10 and we got most of the crashes of the
Saturday. There was one incident I remember vividly, where 2 riders
(Hayden and Mladin I think) came together and Mladin's bike was totally
destroyed, parts were everywhere, including right on the racing line.
Turn 10 at Laguna is a pretty fast corner (which one isn't when those
guys are on track?) and we knew bikes would be coming around fully
committed in no time. We relied on the flagman to fly waving yellows
and others to do the "line change" signals to the riders. For whatever
reason it didn't happen right away. After I got Mladin's bike off the
track, I noticed his fuel injection unit was still on the racing line
and no one was close by. So I went for it. When I picked it up and
looked up, I saw Eric Bostrom's 32 headed right at me. If it wasn't
for his quick reaction, I wouldn't be here writing about it. Would it
have been the flagman's fault? -- maybe, honestly I didn't see what was
happening there and I can't jump to conclusions. I do know that at
that moment, my teammates were giving him the "line change" motion,
though it wasn't enough of a warning at that spot -- but that was all
that they could do at the time in that moment. But I do know this: a
waving yellow by itself does not mean "slow down". It just means
there's an incident coming up and you can't pass. Even in club races,
you don't back off for yellows unless it's accompanied by a debris or
ambulance flag, or a "line change" sign.
In that particular video, a red flag should have come out sooner, I'm
sure. But it's hard to know what really transpired there. But my
point is that as a cornerworker, you rely on your teammates to watch
your back in situations like that, both literally and in the form of
flag people and the control doing their job. But no matter what, it's
always dangerous and it's a labor of love. Those guys at club races
are there all day through the rain and the sun and the most they get is
a T-shirt and lunch. You have to love it to do it. And my hat's off
to them. I always try to wave at each cornerworker station on the
cool-down lap.
I *HATE* to see crap like this, with an immense passion. Sickens me.
Agreed. It was nasty.
.
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