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Thanks ML for bringing the truth to the surface. I know RICH and he is straight up. He has given his life to this sport as a rider and promoter of it. To anyone who would doubt his love for it is a fool. I surely hope that Cooksey gives an statement of retraction for the false statements of his podcast. I wish the TAYLOR family all the best during this difficult time.
mxxcdez quite literally made me laugh out loud. You sir likely have never been more wrong. Like I stated in the other thread, I've seen people get a settlement after looping out their ATC on the asphalt road between tracks while wearing shorts and flip flops get paid out for their claim.
Here's a funny story I was reminded of yesterday that displays the difference in character between a guy that sue's tracks and one that takes responsibility for themselves. One guy for funzies was trying a jump backwards on Shadow Glen track at Indian Dunes on a regular open ride day, and he nailed another guy head on. The guy that was going the right way and wasn't at fault, ended up breaking his collarbone and leg, and was knocked unconscious. The guy going backwards was injured as well and he sued Indian Dunes and got a settlement. Despite Indian Dunes having multiple waivers signed from his multiple times at the park and him knowing the correct direction, he sued for their not being "enough one way signs" and got a settlement. The guy that was going the right way did not sue and, while he came back to Indian Dunes for many years after he healed up, my dad pretty much comp'ed him for life on gate fees.
I hate to advertise this, but cashing out doesn't take much more than an injury and a willingness to sue in this sport. The only thing that keeps our tracks open is the fact that this sport is filled with people that understand personal responsibility, and the reluctance of people in the sport to sue. The shame that comes with suing should be enough to keep someone that profits off the sport from suing a track, but it says a lot about RT's character that he was able to push through the shame and grab the bag.
So the fact his OWN statement shows there is nothing grossly negligent isn't enough for you to "throw him under the bus?"
You are correct, there MAY be that .01%
Taylor himself just told the world this ain't that .01%
lol!
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The moto media is no different from any other media or people in general these days. Follow the money, it NEVER lies.
Who remembers RC tumbling down the hillside at Glen Helen in 2001?
Around 0:50... and replays later.
I just want to say this whole thread reminds me that this corner exists at one of the local tracks here.
https://www.tiktok.com/@bryanpetro/video/7002300218381225222?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7280608597843068462
Old guy here that has a 38 year old that still races. I could Never go as fast as my son and many times he scared the crap out of me when he rode. He broke his back jacking around on private property one day. I never ONCE thought about suing and after reading this thread it should scare the daylights out of any track owner. Anyone can sue but to do so over this is wrong and being the caliber rider this man's father was/is is even more damning. I wouldn't want this man or any of his family anywhere near a track private I owned. Matter of fact maybe there should be a question if you have sued on every entry form/release.
That double/step up looked like it was way out of his skill level lmao.
Funny how the AMA makes changes to the track to safeguard their riders but not at the local level. Why should it be so different ? And will we ever see a track walk before the event starts? I hope a money grab is not in their minds. Don't hate the player, hate the game !
Thank you. I didn't know I was that funny. I am surprised by how many experts are here, including myself. Anyway, you clearly have something out for this person because every one of your posts is negative and full of assumptions and not many facts. I'm still blown away that people can continue to bash and undermine someone over an action that most of you might have taken yourself if your kid was seriously injured; I am assuming, though; shame on me. This is not an argument about "the risk we all take and assume." Like most of us, I've been hurt plenty of times, blah, blah, blah, too, and I knew the risks I was taking at those moments. I am also aware that my injuries don't even compare to their' Son's; this is a different story, not mine and not yours. Using some case-by-case logic and thinking is appropriate to evaluate both sides. It's unfortunate that there are so many negative comments and a sheer lack of compassion. Our sport is better than this. I'm struggling with wrapping my head around why are "some, and only, some" people only compassionate when a death occurs. Did death have to occur that day for this to be justified? I hope not. Why are we waiting for things like that to occur possibly? Again, we know the risks we are taking, but as humans, we also know how to improve and mitigate risk even more so. Like many here, I have seen far too many Go-Fund Me's and Tribute numberplate decals... it's disheartening. For those throwing rocks, I can't imagine it was easy to follow through with something so potentially polarizing. At the end of the day, no one is "winning," but there is possibly some silver lining that offers us the abilty to talk about track safety so we can continuously improve our tracks and minimize potential design errors or rider errors. We all want to see our tracks thrive and also continue to ride at these beautiful places. Stay positive.
For the record, I’ve had zero interactions with Rich Taylor. Nothing good nothing bad and most of what I’ve heard about him is good. I’m not sure I’ve even met him. This is simply about someone who sued a track for a race crash and cashed out big. You would see the same comments from me no matter who was suing a track for a race crash, the only difference in this thread is that people are protecting their money and defending him.
It's really not that extreme or difficult. But he was probably going slower than he needed to in part because of the immediate turn behind it that doesn't need to exist.
I'm not saying it's worth suing over, because it's not. But I will say that if I owned the facility or any facility I would do my best to minimize the amount of immediate drop from the side of a MX track. However you can only minimize the risk so much if someone "whiskey throttles" a berm. Anytime you make a jump where there isn't one there's likely to be bad consequences.
oh stop. All the moto "media" has told me I just am being ridiculous calling them out for refusing to ask ANY hard questions and that they are just doing their honest best to deliver "news" to us. Of course, they couldn't ask Jett about the JA incident, can't ask DC about the flagger incident, and hell, they have no idea what was in Davi's locker. ;-)
This occurred right at the start of covid. Courts weren’t hearing these types of cases due to a number or reasons.
What it allowed for was plaintiffs attorneys to keep the fee clock running. Every day lacr didn’t settle meant the asking price increased.
plus the young adult would be a sympathetic witness on the stand. Projected years lost working etc. It all adds up to perfect storm and not in favor or defense.
Why don't you jump in and show them how it's done then?
You run your mouth constantly about how bad they suck and how much better it could be done. If you're such an expert, why don't you just do it then?
Excuses and backpeddling in 3...2...1....
Read the posts in this thread. A LOT of guys have been seriously injured, I'm sure they've had kids injured, or family members. Nobody else has sued the track. So your absolute BS statement of "most of you might have taken (this action) yourself if your kid was seriously injured" is just that, BS.
The majority of people on this board who've raced have spent nights in the hospital. Let's get a poll on how many have sued the track where it happened.
this might be the biggest meltdown thread ive seen on this site so far.
Pit Row
Agreed.
For someone making a living from motocross, who has ridden the track, walked the track, who has allowed his kid to race the track, a kid who has had practice and a moto immediately before hand without issue and decided to continue... there is something fundamentally wrong with suing the track when it goes wrong.
As said before and others also said, short of plain fuckuppery like heavy equipment on a live track, you know the risks and you deemed them acceptable until those risks developed.
I'm still so sorry to hear the extent of your son's injuries and I am sure anger, sadness, guilt on your own part, etc, make it hard to think straight... but finding people here (who aren't on the payroll or just scumbag lawyers themselves) who think suing the track was ok is a tall order.
We're all just going in circles now, most of us can't see any justification for this.
Thankfully the Taylor family doesn't race hard enduro.
You are still missing the point. I forgive you though. I addressed getting injured. Saying it's a BS statement is just your semantics. You have know idea what you would do if you were put in the same situation, nobody knows. I do know It's easy to talk crap about it all day long. We are not talking about a broken arm suffered from a jump here. Re-read the letter and maybe you'll see the extent of the injuries again.
LOL yeah let's track walk Washougal or Hangtown before we race it. 2 hours later, half the field is lost in the woods, the Vets are scattered all over Horsepower Hill having heart attacks, and there are more injuries than if we'd have actually been racing. I've only been to one track (PiR) that has track walk prior to racing, and it's got a 55 second lap time. Hell, you don't get a site lap even when you are moto 35 on the day at anyplace I've raced.
This whole thread is a mess. Moto is dangerous. You can track walk it, site lap it, hay bale and safety net the shit out of it, and you can STILL get hurt trying to ride your bike into your truck at the end of the day.
Edit: I've never sued any track, and we've sure had our share of ER visits over the years. Not a single one was due to track negligence or poor design. Every time was a racing incident or caused by changing conditions. But I'm not gonna judge this situation from my desk/keyboard. My son's never been hurt like this.
I haven't seen a cliff like that on a track in 20 years.Why would Rich need to walk the track? Rich Taylor probably hasn't seen something like that in 40 years in the sport on 3 times the tracks we have seen. Not walking the track is now negligence because now we need to look for cliffs?
For the numerous people who are behind a keyboard and scared of moto tracks closing, its quite easy to bag on a guy who almost lost his son because a track owner made a bonehead decision to create a literally cliff on his track.
It is a really selfish position to take solely because you don't want you poor track's insurance to pay someone. LACR is doing just fine by all accounts. Rich's son will not be, likely for the rest of his life.
It's not semantics, I literally said PEOPLE HAVE BEEN INJURED and haven't sued. You're just picking and choosing based on your closed-minded position. That means people HAVE been put in the same situation. Some have been put in WORSE situations. There are guys on this board in chairs because of motocross.
To the other dude who mentioned the cliff again, where are the pictures of this cliff? Was it dangerous? Sure. Was it flagrantly negligent? Doesn't seem like it since it was one of the last motos in the day when it happened.
if this berm was truly a cliff. someone explain to me how the hell the damn berm even held up.
I’m wondering who this mcccdez is that signed up today just to inject themselves into this post. This happens every time we have a thread like this.
7 pages and there still seems to be some major confusion over the feature of the track where the crash occurred. I see the word "cliff" used several times to describe it. Was there in fact anything resembling a 30' vertical "cliff"?
Question: if you rode slowly up and over the berm in question would the average rider have any trouble riding down the "bank" on the other side to the flat ground. I am under the impression that the average rider would have little problem ... or at worst a minor front wash out if the bank is really soft. Not exactly falling off a cliff ... but someone correct me if there really was a vertical cliff there.
Now, if you hit the same berm full throttle ... yeah, you're going to launch way out to the flats below. Maybe upside down when you hit? But if that's the criteria, you could pick dozens of spots - on any track - where if you hit them too fast / out of control you're going to get eff'd up. Hence, the waiver we all sign. How can the track be responsible for the trillions of scenarios if you are out of control?
So was the "30' cliff" description just typical attorney-speak to inaccurately convey something to their advantage?
If it was to dangerous in his opinion then don't race! We're lucky the track is still open...that lawsuit could have easily closed another track here in socal! If I seen something I felt was to dangerous for my kid the last thing I'd do is send him out to get hurt and then sue. Crazy
Kind of like how you just showed up after years of absence?
Piru closed because Steve (owner) got tired of trying to please everyone who rode there. It was either too deep/ not ripped deep enough, too wet, not enough water, etc. there’s no money in running a Mx track.
Zaca Station closed because the owner got tired of the complaints and Ed was forced to stop holding practice there.
neither had a single thing to do with EKS or Rich Taylor.
I’m not defending Rich’s decision to sue LACR over negligence, but let’s not pile on him with senseless and inaccurate comments.
Post a reply to: Statement from Rich Taylor (LACR Lawsuit)