Truck in the race line Turn 12

[pnther15]

I have to agree w/ CBR on this one....if any of us in that race (I was) would have crashed, it would have been fatal.   I understand the reasoning of protecting the down rider, but what about the other 40+ that were still racing.  It should have been red flagged....  It was dangerous the us, the down rider, and the persons assisting the down rider.  I think the safety of the sitiuation was neglected to keep up w/ the time schedule.  Anybody who saw the truck, I think would agree. 

Dave

[Suzy]

Only other thing I have to say is that you train to go around an ambulance when on track in your schooling, the situation is no different from that in my opinion.  ;D

[spyderchick]

Actually, it is different, because they display an ambulance flag to us when they are on the track. In a turn, we only get Stationary yellow, waving yellow, or debris, so although we are never sure why those flags are displayed, generally a truck would not be expected.

Granted, an unusual situation. I would advise anyone who has a concern to take it up with Bill Ritger, He generally has reasons for why they do things, and takes the safety of all riders seriously. If there is a concern for the future, it's best to be handled now, so if there needs to be a change in policy, they can fully review it.

[Suzy]

But I did have ambulance flag shown and waving yellow. ;D

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Yes Suzy they make you go around the ambulance during LCR, but since I started with CCS in 1999, I can only remember seeing the bambulance on track during a race 2 or 3 times at BHF.

Alexa, apparently this was RA's crews call on this. I understand doing this with cars are racing, but not with bikes. If it was that dangerous to retrieve the rider the race should had been stopped.

[Suzy]

hahaha, I say that race is over, let's look forward to the next one, everyone else is ok, expect the rider that went down (hopefully he's doing better now), next time we'll know better, OTAY!! ;D ;D

[Stinger562]

The RA safety crew and cornerworkers are often putting themselves in hazardous situations to insure the safety of downed riders and should not be subject to your opinions concerning a crash that you can't asess from a riders view.

I hope that the next race is safer, and I'm sure that something was learned unless you promote this yahoo who thinks racers should have no opinion on their personal saftey!

[G 97]

At Road America, those trucks are owned by and controlled by the track.  The Safety Chief has turret mounted cameras at every turn.  It was not a CCS call to put that truck there.  Your bitch would be with Carson, the Safety Chief of Road America.

Hmm.  You sure about this.  Yes, it may have not been CCS's call to put the truck in this specific position but I G. D. guarantee you that CCS was given other options that would have prevented the truck from being parked on a HOT track with bikes circulating.   In the end it was CCS who approved of the situation.  Carson only does what the renting organization, in this case CCS, informes him to do.   CCS should have called for a red flag plain and simple.  But the schedule must go on. 

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Garth, I like and respect you, but must disagree.  I've actually worked as the voice of control in the tower at Road America for a CCS racing event, and know the procedure firsthand.  Carson works seperately from CCS, and calls his own shots concerning the dispatch and recall of his safety vehicles, pausing only to wait for the CCS workers to get the necessary flags up.  CCS DOES NOT dictate ANYTHING to Carson.  (Who also happens to be a buddy of mine.)
About the only aspect CCS had control of once that vehicle rolled was that they could have red flagged the race if they didn't like where the ambulance was sitting.  I didn't see the incident, but have experienced similar situations as a racer, a worker, and as the wounded rider twitching in the gravel pit.  In this type of incident, the racers are responsible for seeing the flags, assessing the situation, and riding through the scene accordingly.  Those are the rules as taught in Learning Curves.  Like it or not, this whole situation sounds like proper prociedure to me!

[motobenco]

 It seems that this incident (it was a truck that was on the racing line in the exit of the corner, not an ambulance) has brought several things to light.  First of all having been in that race, I believe the truck could have been placed 10 yards in either direction and it would have been a safer situation. Fortunately, no one ran into the truck or tucked the front trying to avoid it. In other instances when there has been debris or other items on or near the track I have seen the cornerworkers waving racers away from that area.  However due to the placement of the cornerworker on the inside corner of the track this may not have been feasible.  I also want to give credit to the racers around me for adjusting their line. I also wasn't racing for a podium in this race and may have a different viewpoint from the leaders.  Although this event is over with, it is quite possible for the same circumstances to occur again.  I feel that presented with a similar situation that all racers should take matters into their own hands and demand that a red flag be thrown.  I don't recommend that we do this in a Miguel / Road Atlanta sort of way, but raise your hand and point out the situation to control. It is our race when we are on the track and deserve to have the safest race possible.

[Super Dave]

This is just a no win situation.

First, we're not paid riders.  So, we have no specific, huge contracted obligation to race.  However, there are enough racers that do support this, and other racing programs, with their money and/or money from the support of others.

I have been in two specific situations where I had to make a decision that cost me a race, but I felt that if I didn't stop, I could be hurt.  Inspite of the pleas that I made, things went on.  On one occasion, a sponsor of mine did race in a race that I refused to restart, and it got him a helicopter ride. 

I always struggle with "it can be done better next time".  I'm not sure that works when you're the one that is in the helicopter or your friend is in the helicopter.  Yeah, someone needs to call it, but it needs to be done.  As racers, yes, there are times when you take a chance and use those opportunities to gain advantage.  But it is with risk. 

My opinion.

[Super Dave]

More to that it can be done better next time...

Racing has been going on for years and years and years.  Figure out the longest circumferance of a radius for a corner and draw tangents from there....that's where you're gonna hit.  If it was in the line, it poses a specific and immediate danger to racers.  This isn't new.  And it isn't like there's a championship that is so important to contracted manufacturers or other sponsors that the risk of changing the outcome of a race because of a safety situation would have any merit in this case...or even an AMA race?