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Part of the reason we still do this, or are involved in the sport is found in this thread. I've made many life long great friends through racing moto cross. A few of them have already posted here.
Last weekend at Millville, I was able to help host a tour of the Honda team rig that 10 lucky winners were given. Bill at Honda was totally awesome. Trey and Kevin were in the rig after a taxing 2nd practice, but were all smiles when the group came through. I think I got a smile from mom241 as well... :-)
Fact is, our sport is changing and becoming more dangerous due to better and faster equipment as well as track design. The Millville track was in full Pro National weekend form. Prior to that, the entire track had been made much more "normal rider friendly". This came after a general rider survey was taken by our local D23 board of directors. The results were given to the track owners, and the Martin's put the feedback to good use.
We are also fortunate to have Mike Quinn Sr as a longtime chairman of our district. He just retired from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, and is very active in safety guidelines, concussion research, track safety, and helps the medic crews at local races. He headed up a safety summit last weekend at Millville with about 15 people from all over the United States, including AMA people.
Point being, there are some working diligently to raise the safety standard of our sport. This mostly goes unnoticed by, but I applaud the people out there trying to make things better for the riders.
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However, Like many people have already said you could just as easily lose your life off of the bike.
One of the most saddest memories of mine at a track happened to someone who did not ride. This old man (age 52 I believe) explained that he used to race but he had quit a long time ago. That weekend it was his first time back at a track in over 5 years. He was there to see his grandson race his first ever race. The boy was riding a PW50 and was 7 years old. For his first ever race the boy did horrible lol. Every 100-200 feet or so he would stop and look back to his grandpa (who was jogging on the side of the track following him around). After the little 3 lap moto the kid couldn't make it up the finish line area at Budds Creek, so his grandpa gave him a push. Just a few seconds after crossing the line the man fell over dead. The look on the little boys face will stay with me for life.
I just can not get myself to push hard on the track without images of them in the hospital popping up in my mind.
I still ride regularly but I don't care to take many risks anymore. And with my wife and I planning on having kids in the next few years, I might just have to give it up entirely to avoid putting my kids in danger. Just too many other ways to bond with the kids that require less risk of injury.
I don't think it's worth it to go to Glen Helen; too many stories of bad outcomes that seem to reflect indifference to safety have come from that place IMO. Not that its the only place, and people have to be smart about where they ride.
You can have a ton of fun riding motorcycles off road without racing, but you can never eliminate the risk, and that's true for life as well. It's all about managing risks.
But people die in almost any sport or activity. I was just reading about how eight people have died in Yosemite this year just being outdoors. That's what keeps me riding- and the knowledge that most deaths and serious injuries are freak things- not always, but most of the time.
I've also known people that quit racing because of the danger and were killed doing other things, like working construction.
TriRacer27 and flarider's posts sum up my position one thousand percent. Personally I don't think this is a four stroke issue (and I'm a huge two stroke fan) at all more but track related. Do I think anything is going to change though? No I do not since I don't think the enough people (or the right people) feel that track design is an issue and usually use the default "it is the Internet that is making us aware of this and the sport is no more dangerous now than earlier"
My response is: "Sure Wally!"
Look at the older videos....you saw more off cambers and rough sections back then where now today it is usually jump and whoop city. It is no wonder we have more catastrophic injuries and deaths today when you look at the difference between the eras of tracks. Today the sport is mostly about jumping.
I do agree though, There is a long list coming from the place and it makes a person wonder.
For what its worth, I haven't raced moto in about 8 years...I've been racing offroad for the past three (but I've never stopped riding).
1. Jump standardization: I know it sounds like it would make tracks more boring (probably) but how about standardizing some of the things across tracks like jump distances and angles. Say for instance that all tabletops were regulated to be at a standard angle, height and in length increments of 10, 20, 30, 40 ft ect with the distance displayed next to the jump face. Standardized whoop heights and distances with maybe 3 variations like stadium whoops, deep rollers and simple rollers. One of the biggest advantages would be that riders would know if they can make a jump or not based on previous experience, but an even bigger advantage would be that tracks and governing bodies could make changes based on crash statistics per jump type.
2. Emergency Response Education: I realized that if I was in such a situation as to have a rider seriously crash in front of me, I would not know how to react and stabilize him. Most tracks don't have an ambulance standing by during practice days so the average moto fan should be knowledgeable in basic diagnosis of heat stroke, concussion, immobilization, CPR, etc.
3. Bike Regulators: this one would take a while and be tricky but bear with me. Given the spread of EFI and other innovations that will soon be widespread through our sport, what about different settings for a rider's bike depending on his license level. In short, C Class riders would be sold electronically de-tuned bikes compared to A class riders. This should be a plug-in like the ones available for the 2012 KXF 450 that can be easily identified and verified by the race official. I know it wouldn't be as necessary for larger bikes (not many amateurs use all of the power available from a 450 anyway) but it would be great for mini bikes.
4. Chest and Neck protection should be mandatory for youth riders under 18. This shouldn't need much explaining.
Now I know I know that these would be difficult lengthy to implement and they certainly wouldn't prevent every injury out there, BUT if they could reduce the risk of serious injury they are worth serious consideration. Obviously many track owners have done a great job trying to please the riders while maintaining safety, but I think it could be taken a step farther. It's ridiculous, for instance, that you still see kids on 50s riding the same bike as 450 pro riders in some occasions.
Like others have said, if we can not regulate ourselves someone will do it for us eventually.
It was during a race when Nick's situation went down and believe it or not Glen Helen is one of the only tracks to have an actual ambulance on site for race days, most tracks have emt's yes, but no ambulance. I have run 1,000's of races at Glen Helen and had nothing but professionalism from them and their staff, including emergency crew. On top of that they are situated with all emergency centers around the facility, the response time is good. Also Glen Helen has more riders/racers than most tracks, so I think they have a higher ratio of accidents due to volume. Just my 2 cents.
S
Personally, I don't think it's fun to ride if I know there's a real, identifiable chance that I could wind up being carried off to the morgue that day. If that's the way the game works for some people, then I'm playing a different game.
On top of that basic common sense is that you do a reconnaissance lap before riding at speed. So a jump should never be a surprise.
It is unfortunate, but physics work against our sport. A sudden impact is going to hurt you/kill you no matter how much precaution you are trying to take. You can still hurt yourself with a 50cc bike that has no suspension if the planets align themselves the wrong way.
I believe the reason major injuries and deaths seem so significant in our sport is because the motocross community is a very tight knit community.
You just never know when your number is going to get punched.
Would i go back and do anything different, never ride MX because of fear of injury? NOPE, the love i had and continue to have for the sport and what i have been through, has made me the man that i am today.
(and i didnt read all the posts in the thread, just replying to what you said on the 1st page and it pretty much sums it up)
Pit Row
I'm sitting here trying to think of a sport to compare motocross to for a good example, and I have plenty. None of which can relate directly to motocross because it really is a one of a kind sport and is much more unique than most others. This is a sport we all love, and we all know the risks involved when we swing a leg over the bike. His death is extremely tragic, and should be a reminder of what can happen when you are on the track. The bottom line here is that no 11 year old should EVER be riding the same track a PROFESSIONAL rides. He's giving up several years of race experience on a track, several CC's that are badly needed to jump the jumps that the track is designed to jump, and most importantly the knowledge to know his limits as a racer.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Nick's family and friends. We can't just give thoughts and prayers to move on though. We have to learn from Nick's tragedy and try not to let it happen again. I say unless you are at least 18 you can't race an amateur race on a professional track. That would prevent kids getting seriously injured or dying on tracks their bikes and their minds are not ready to race on. Maybe we could have each track graded on a scale of 1-10 on difficulty and for a certain difficulty you have to be a certain age and ride a certain CC bike? I know some may think that idea is stupid, but I think it would help racers work their way up to the most difficult tracks instead of racing something they're not ready for.
The track I rode last Saturday (and the my first time on a track in 8 years) had one double-and it was about 10 ft across. Every other jump on the track was a table top. I liked that.
Also, a lot of MX tracks have become too much like SX tracks and when someone builds them and doesn't know the correct jump face angles and peaks the double and triple landings too much, it creates unnecessary injuries. I rarely ride tracks anymore that I view as too risky and or unsafe, it's simply not worth it.
Speaking of safe gear does anyone know what protective gear Nick was wearing?
I cant even imagine loosing a son, and being a new parent of an amazing little boy it definitely makes me think twice about having him heavily involved in the sport. My condolences go out to everyone involved.
The point here is that as adults we all know the danger and if we wad ourselves we simply deal with the consequences. I have 2, five inch rods in my neck and I have been dealing for many years.
However, when my 8 year old daughter snapped both forearms badly on a 50cc bike, I was done. There is a difference. I will never put her in that situation again. I put her in that situation and she and I are both extremely lucky because she was going head first and put out her arms.
To me allowing kids to race the pro tracks is like putting a youth pony football player in an NFL game. Sooner or later they are going to get clobbered. I don't know any answers but I do know losing a child is something I could not bare. It is our responsibility to make it safer for kids or parents will stop showing up to race and the industry will die.
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