Thoughts on Technical Tracks

[MXJeff]

This is really sad, two pro's in less than a month hurt like that. RC had a similar get off at St Louis that looked pretty bad.


This brings up a thought to me. I have noticed in the last 5 years of racing that, many of the scary parts of the tracks have been tamed. At the local level. Now we have had two children die in this time frame that I am intimatly aware of which started this tameing I believe. But as RC and Bubba have been complaining about at the pro level. I think there is a comon thread here.

If the tracks are easier, it gives riders with perhaps less experiance the ability to go faster and put them selves in places that they normally would not have, if the tracks were harder. I think this may be why so many this year in supercross have gotten hurt. It is just my crack pot theory though.

I know in my personal experiance at the local Nor-Cal level (bearly out of the beginners class) I used to have to work hard on atleasts one jump at every track to hit it right and land far enough to make a smooth transition. Now in exapmle the carneigie race 3 weeks ago. It was all I could do to scrub enough speed and let off enough not to flat land most jumps there. I feel my possibility for injury is higher over jumping something than not quite making it.

OK enough of my rambling on at lunch time. Gaitlin5's comment sort of got me thinking!!

Happy Wednesday to you all~!!!!

[MXJeff]

Hey John, back and forth we go. hehehe. Yes I was responding to your post on MFN while you were responding to mine over here. we are pretty much on the same page on all of this!!! so that makes two in Nor-cal. Just qa few weeks ago I was at the club and little kids were coming onto the big track at the same time as the big bikes. Maybe if my last name was Mcgrath I could feel safe, but since it is not... I really felt like the whole thing was a safety risk for everyone. If the kid that is on the ground does not get hit by the rider such as myself it may be because I hurled myself the opposite direction to avoid him. (I would do anything regardless of my safety to not hit a child) I can easily see broken bones in many peoples future by having the little ones on the big tracks!!..

On race day they run only a tame 2/3 of the track or so. Why do they run the whole thing on practice days..hmmmmm

[Wysong]

Hey Guys,

This is a great topic. My biggest concern is during practice when small kids on 50cc and 65cc bikes are on the track at the same time as larger bikes. I have personal experience with this problem when my 8 year old son was hit by a larger bike and suffered a head injury which left him in a coma for 3 weeks. He is doing great now, but will never ride motocross again. My wife and I have talked with other families that have had small kids injured for life in these type of practice sessions and now are unable to even remain with there families because of the severity of their injuries.

The problem is at the local level with the track owners. They don?t have the resources for flag men during practice sessions or the desire to stand up to the majority of the riders that don?t want to sit out and not ride while the small kids have there own practice sessions. Separate tracks for small kids would help also, but many local tracks don?t have the room or the desire to maintain the kid tracks.

Somehow we must educate the parents of the mini rider as to the level of risk that exist when the small and big bikes are on the track together. I ride and have ridden for years, but so many of the parents of mini riders don?t ride and don?t realize the risk.

Hopefully as the riding community becomes more involved in the RiderDown Foundation and therefore becomes aware of the massive amount of injuries to small kids, we as a group can force some changes in the way local tracks operate.

David

[Wysong]

John,

It looks like we are all on the same page in regard to this issue, now how do we force a change in the way the local track owners conduct their practice sessions around the country? It?s going to be a big job that must be done to save our kids, the future of our sport and it will require a massive effort if it?s going to be completed in our life time.

Just thinking out loud??.Wouldn?t it be a good start towards fixing the problem if we took all the RiderDown Volunteers that are coming out of the woodwork right now and had them show up at random at tracks in there area around the country to educate the track owners and parents by giving out brochures, wristbands and telling stories of injuries that could have been avoided with a few important changes. As the awareness of our cause grows by the shear number of volunteers, any track owner that does not operate within necessary safety standards would sweat in fear at the mere sight of a RiderDown Volunteer at their track. Not unlike the way an unsafe builder fears the sight of OSHA on their job site. Be safe or else??.I guess the only real teeth in our bite would be if the parents and riders themselves would refuse to ride in an unsafe situation or we establish a program where our Volunteers adopt a track and they never let up on the track owners until a safe operation is established.

Okay, I better take a break now before who knows what comes out next.

David

[Wysong]

I totally agree, kids on 50cc bikes don't get hurt during the race when they are out there with other kids on 50cc bike with flaggers and Dad's running all over the place. The problem is that during practice there are no flaggers and big bikes on the track. With no flaggers even the big guys get hurt when they go down behind a jump or something. It's a problem that somebody or some organization needs to attack in force. There's so many small tracks around the country and we will need lots of help to make a difference. With the RiderDown Foundation and Moto Family News coming together on this issue, we may be able to put together a large enough group to make it happen.

[Wysong]

My thinking cap is on too.

I just now got off the phone with Bruce and we happened to be talking about the Brett Downey Safty Foundation and he said that he has sent them 2 emails regarding RiderDown and the possibility of working with them, but they have not yet responded. We'll keep trying.......later.

[MXJeff]

My thinking cap is done busted by friday afternoon but how ever I can help I am in!!!!

[Gatlin5]

Just back from Daytona.

Great stuff guys, you can count me in too.

Joe