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Edited Date/Time
3/4/2013 6:48pm
CR comments on crash aftermath
I think it is safe to say he wouldn't have finished 14th if he had landed on an unprotected wooden stake from that height.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
I think it is safe to say he wouldn't have finished 14th if he had landed on an unprotected wooden stake from that height.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
What happened to Kyle Regal was a bad, strange deal and we have tried to make sure it never happens again, and so far it hasn't
But just so I am clear, you don't like the Acerbis yellow stakes that are plastic, you don't like the mesh fence that they use in Europe, you don't like the wooden stakes we used and you don't like tuff blocks or hay bales or tires....
What do you prefer? I will look into it again.
DC
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DC you do a great job, keep it up.
Just saying.
What do you prefer? I will look into it again.
First off you do a lot of things right DC (good job on not having stakes in Chad's landing area!) but even the best can improve. Japan has the word kaizan for perpetual improvement.
My main angst with the Acerbis is there is significant amout of time spent pounding them in and removing them while wooden stakes are pounded in then sawed off leaving in some cases a jagged finish. Regal's father said you could see the jagged outline on Kyle's puncture.
My secondary Acerbis angst is they litter the course in places they don't belong like right next to a track side banners in the above photo from this year's Red Bud.. I also don't understand how Nationals were held all those years without the Acerbis markers but now they're essential? They're a solution to a problem that really isn't a problem....BUT this is just my opinion and others are welcome to disagree. Just guessing I think a race could be held with a quarter of the Acerbis markers currently being utlized.
It is a safe assumption that I don't like the wooden stakes.
You are incorrect assuming however that I don't like the mesh fence that they use in Europe and I don't like tuff blocks or hay bales or tires.
The above wooden stake (Budds Creek Des Nations 2007) looks a lot safer than the sawed off ones in the other shot. SX could use a little less Tuff blocks but this is not as much as a safety issue as wooden stakes.
For the record Acerbis is a great company and it is cool they've stepped up and are contributing to the sport. I am getting older and more crochety so have issues with things that don't make sense. It just doesn't make sense to me that it is 2011 and we've had Acerbis markers for how many years now while the stakes are unprotected even after Regal. This last sentence is the root of my deal/issue/whining. You know but others might not that I've been talking about this woonen stake issue for nine or so years now. What happended to Regal is why I feel the way I do. I was hoping something like that would never happen but given the nature of the sport it can happen....it happened once and there is no guarantee it won't happen again.
I am glad to hear you are taking steps to reduce the chance of another Regal incident. Can you elaborate please?
Mathes-Appreciate your contribution on this subject a lot. Thanks for sharing.
Pit Row
I still think they could be removed or less from corners and moved a little wider on jump landings...
As for steaks or markers, DC, I really think the yellow markers are fine and great, you simply have to get tough on everyone with the penalties...
If you pull up lots of people just a position each time for each infringement they'll back it down... The call has to be made at the race, so I understand that it's hard... Maybe give a few more flaggers the right to report a cheat... and let the riders know...
It'll happen a few times, cause some controversey, but then it will largely self police itself like leaving and reentering the track does...
I'd agree with Chads thought as the wooden stakes seem to be a less than safe way to hold up banners as they look solid enough that they wouldn't snap off if someone landed directly on top of one.
we never really had them years ago at unadilla the grass was the track marker
tell the promoters to let the grass grow 2 feet and let the riders cut the track in
if you want banners for TV Sponsors pick spots off the track near spectators so when the camera pans by it gets them
Reed was lucky in so may ways those plastic markers are dangerous I have picked several broken ones off the track many times
those are a bad idea.
Take offs and landing should be free of anything straights and sweepers could have stuff
where the tracks come close to each other have the track builder dig the track down a foot or so leaving a raised area between the sections of track.
S
You could go old school, use old tires, that way you reuse and are planet friendly and though not a pillow, probably not as painful as a wooden stake.
I would say the yellow plastic stakes are more aesthetically pleasing than an old tire.
Guys won't run without knee Braces but have the thickness of a shirt between their vital organs and potential hazards all around them if they fall.Track builders can only do so much but at least riders could meet them halfway,its fuckin ridiculous
How many times do you see a guys shirt out of his pants showing all his back? Go down and get hit the spine had no protection whatsoever,it'd snap like a twig and thats your lot,no walking away from that one,literally,I know its worst case scenario and you can't wrap yourself in cotton wool but for Christ sake!
OSHA is the main reason Feld has been driving the sound testing bus so to speak in SX.
For the Nationals I don't have an OSHA answer to tell you the truth.
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