http://www.garyratherphoto.com/141/index.html In the end the rider got banged up pretty bad. He's still in the hospital, but reports last mention is up, alert, talking to friends, and eating and breathing on his own. Anyway, it is rare such a sequence gets captured, so here it is.
Did 141 just fixate? To me it looks as if he's looking at the downed bike in almost every picture but one and could of just rolled right. [/monday morning quarterback] Sounds like he's OK and hope the best.
Yeah, looks like target fixation alright.......... I guess it must've be the Dunlop #794 is using to cause the high-side...................
You know what is funny. racers are racers no matter what part of the country. TARGET FIXATION was the first comment and is the flow of the conversation on the AFM list regarding this photo shoot. Actually, I like the FIRST picture the best. That has to be one of the luckiest moments in kodak moments. You can see the guy being tossed in the back ground (as he was not the focus of the photo at the time) From there on it just snowballs. But yea, looks pretty much like fixation to most of us. Remember boys and girls: Look in the direction of where you want to go, and NOT what you are tying to avoid.
I'll bet he was happy he had his back protector on!!!!!!!! (note contact with edge of rumble strips) Ouch.
Strange, I see all the novices were out in front with a bunch of "experts" right behind.... Which guy was the more injured one. The novice seems to have gotten up by the last pic, wheras the expert is still down after a seemingly minor fall over the front.... hope they are feeling better anyway. And who has the rights to these pictures??? Are we going to see another Barber fronts straight type thread??
The expert is hospitalized. Back protectors are required and they pat our backs to check before they let each of us out of the hot pit. Experts are mixed with novices becasue the AFM does not race them seperatly. We all race for the same trophies. Since this is the first race of the year grids are set by last years points. A novice with 1 point from last year will be gridded in front of Freddy Spencer for example if he were to race AFM. In the AFM a yellow plate means you have raced less than 6 weekends. That is all. Same goes for a white plate. It means you have raced 6+ weekends.
BIG TIME. He never moved his head once. Good leason for all. Although its easier said then done. Hope they are both OK
It does look like he broke his leg just above the knee. That would have been the one under the bike as it hit.
You are correct, it does look like he broke his right femur as he roll over his back and the right knee make a big impact as his lower body finally rolls around.......... This is not good............ Hopefully we are all wrong and that he is ok and have no broken bones at all.
Discussion is great but it does come down to making an instinctive reaction.. brake hard or lean harder. I hope the guy recovers ok!! http://ftp.saber.net/~bobkarol/750.CrashCauseAnalysis.pdf http://www.hondavfr.org/misc/crash.pdf