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I was pissed at Indy this weekend with the lack of awareness from multiple flaggers.
The biggest example of this is when Tapia went down hard on the landing of the finish line jump in one of the timed qualifiers. First of all, I hope he is ok it was absolutely nasty. Secondly, there were two guys who hit the jump and came really close the landing on him while he was down. The flagger had no clue because he wasn't watching the area after him. Instead he was watching the turn before. If he was paying attention to the track after instead of before his standing point, the riders would have had plenty of time to acknowledge nowhere Lamay was down without getting dangerouly close.
Similar incidents like this happened in a couple the rhythm sections as well. Yes I'm bitching and no one actually landed on Lamay but I feel like this is unacceptable. Are these idiots trained?
The biggest example of this is when Tapia went down hard on the landing of the finish line jump in one of the timed qualifiers. First of all, I hope he is ok it was absolutely nasty. Secondly, there were two guys who hit the jump and came really close the landing on him while he was down. The flagger had no clue because he wasn't watching the area after him. Instead he was watching the turn before. If he was paying attention to the track after instead of before his standing point, the riders would have had plenty of time to acknowledge nowhere Lamay was down without getting dangerouly close.
Similar incidents like this happened in a couple the rhythm sections as well. Yes I'm bitching and no one actually landed on Lamay but I feel like this is unacceptable. Are these idiots trained?
The Shop
I certainly preferred them a over a lot of the young riders that thought they knew everything but wouldn't concentrate on the most fundamental duties that flaggers are there to do.
Rickyisms, did your friend have to sit through a class or anything before accepting his duty? Could you get us some more insight on what these people actually know when they step on a supercross track other than "here is a flag, wave it when someone crashes"?
You can bitch about the lack of this and that, or you can bitch about AMA membership prices and entry fees, but you can't do both. AMA isn't exactly rolling in cash
...and Feld will never intentionally increase their operating costs until their hand is forced by regulation, mutiny, or dwindling sales that are directly related to the issue at hand.
The safety of the riders is their own responsibility. This is not a federally regulated industry. Feld will continue to support any safety measures, as long as they don't cost them any money.
how many flaggers do you need?
which entity pays them, AMA or Feld?
do you train one group, or a group for every venue?
are they employees or contractors?
Can you rely on an employee or contractor that works one day a year for less than $100 total income per year?
If you hire a crew, what do they do during the week?
are you flying them or driving them? putting them up in hotels? paying "per diem"?
so, do you think they are gonna go and drop a 150K per SX season when right now they're doing it for about 15K for day laborers.
stop telling others how to do their job. no one goes to your work and knocks the dicks out of your mouth, do they?
One are the ama flaggers. Most of the same guys work every enent. They have yellow and blue flags and man the finish line. Full face helmets. Do mot touch bikes.
One are the local flaggers who normally come from a local club. Most have flagged sx for years. They only have yellow flags. Half helmets and a head set. Do not touch bikes.
The other are the ops guys who run on the track to pick up the bike and protect the rider so the medic can attend. Full face helmets, work every race.
The local flaggers are trained before every event.
There is a head flagger who is in touch through the headset with a person overlooking the track and relays information to the local flaggers. Ama guys are a seperate entity.
What I am sure isn't apparent is just how fast things happen on the track. You have to not only keep a eye on the bikes coming at you, you have to watch your section for downed riders and tough blocks. If you only watched down track you'd get killed.
Are mistakes made? Yes. Is one mistake too many?
Yes.
But cut these guys some slack, I have never seen anyone who didn't take it seriously.
The yellow flag mean use caution. It does not mean slow down, don't jump or anything of the sort.
The red cross flag, or red lights, mean don't jump and those are only operated by the ama officials.
In the case of Lamay at the bottom of the finish line the ama official would put out the red cross flag and turn on the red lights.
Then it's up to the riders to obey them.
I have been recruited to work as a flagger too,years ago, and was given no instruction whatsoever , paid almost nothing. Greedy moron promoters need to get real
BYW- Several members on this board have flagged SX for many years and are anything but commen senseless !! On the contrary, they are very knowledgeable of this sport, let alone life. So your comment is falling on deaf ears. When’s the last time you donated your time flagging ?
Pit Row
How many flaggers are needed? At least 2 per section
Which entity pays them? neither
Do you train one group, or a group for every venue? Simple, train whoever needs it! Just like a riders meeting. It takes 15 minutes.
Are they employees or contractors? neither, they are volunteers
It doesnt cost anything. Feld wouldnt dish it out if it did anyways. We all know that. But it sure as hell doesn't take much effort to have a meeting with all flaggers to tell them where on the track to watch.
You seem butthurt. Perhaps you were a flagger after you realized you couldn't win the faircross championship in the C class.
As far as the other guys comment on the radios on the flaggers... I was informed that every flagger has a 1-way radio in their helmets that the FELD spotter can talk to them. This is relatively new and has helped get the flaggers attention, if he’s not in the correct position to properly flag.
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