MotoAmerica my perspective.

I am a long time fan of road racing and loved watching the AMA in the heyday of the series. Like many, my interest fell off the map with the DMG era and the loss of both local races and TV coverage. Laguna WSBK is the first time I watched a MotoAmerica race live and maybe the second since they got TV coverage. We only caught the superbike/superstock races.
I only have one negative thing to say so let me get that out of the way. I touched on it in the WSBK thead but want to repeat it because as a fan it could have and should have been done better. At the start of the race there was an incident in turn three where two riders crashed leaving one rider not moving in the gravel near the impact zone. The safety car stopped on track, nearly on the race line. The corner crew was working feverishly tending to the crash, downed rider, etc, that was excellent. Unfortunately the car was still sitting in the track while bikes circulated the track. As the bikes hit turn ten I and many around me began to worry that they hadn't red flagged the race. When they hit turn 11 I really started to worry since the start finish would be the best place to show the red. I was shocked when the riders went past start/finish and they were still showing green. It wasn't until turn two that the red flag was shown while everyone was still at speed. If you've ever ridden Laguna you know you can't see through three until you've arrived. As riders came through three a few had to take some evasive action (nothing major) and signal to let others know the car was there. My issue with this is that if there is a car stopped on course in turn three, the earliest it can safely pull off is in five. Factor in the stopped car vs bikes at speed and there is no way that race could have kept going without a stoppage. Race direction should have called it BEFORE riders hit S/F.
With that said the first superbike /superstock race was amazing. Both lead groups were fighting like crazy, and I really enjoyed it. The second race was good, but not quite as good as the first imho. I am troubled by the lack of superbikes. I think it is hard to take a class which basically consists of four bikes and say we are anywhere near what the rest of the world is doing. It seems almost better to ditch the superbikes in favor of one class with more people having a chance to compete for the win. MA really needs to figure out how to get more superbikes on the grid if they intend to keep the class.

My overall take, I enjoyed the races as close competitive racing. I thought it ran well with only a delayed call from RD. If there was another local round, like there used to be, I would try and attend.

 

I saw that too... The driver of that car needed to GTFO!.... Drop off who you need or Park at least off line.... I mean really? Park right on the Race Line??? Brings back memories of the AMA Pace Car @ Daytona.... Just Why???

 

More teams can afford Superstock. I was also concerned about the car on the track and I was watching on TV. This all happened so fast and I only blame the car driver. They should be taught to never stop on the racing line. Either put it in the dirt and shield the downed rider or park it across the track. He served zero benefit being parked where he was.

 

The superbike/superstock combined race thing is stupid. I heard more than one person at the track trying to figure out who was in what class and who was actually winning or on the podium. Just make it all one class so there are enough riders to fill a grid.

MA put on a good show (superbike races at least... I ain't getting up for a 9:30 am 600 race sorry). The penalty stuff seems shady but then again it doesn't matter much to the fans cause most of didn't even know there was a 2nd race going on.

 

Who's driving those cars? MA personnel or track personnel? I notice the WSBK cars are all Alfa's so that's clear, but I've seen several different safety cars in MA, leading me to believe it might be track personnel. Also, where the car is parked is going to be a compromise. It could be placed as much to protect the emergency crews working on a downed rider as anything.

 

Where that car stopped, served zero purpose to anyone.

 

The car was a Mazda so probably owned by the track and staffed by SCRAMP. The car was shielding the downed rider as well as track personnel. The fact the car was stopped should have been communicated by radio as soon as it stopped. Race direction should have then started assessing the situation when the bikes hit turn ten the car hadn't moved and race direction should have called it then that would have given enough time to get the flag out at SF giving the riders the most time to react. There was no way racing could have continued with a car on course. It is race directions responsibility to know that and to make the appropriate call in a timely fashion.

 

the car stopping on track was insane... there were bikes coming through there at a pretty good clip, and i was just waiting for someone to hit it or take evasive action to NOT hit it, and possibly run into another rider.

the combined classes ? i don't see such a big problem with till there are enough bikes on the grid to make for an entertaining race.

 

I remember when the AMA ran classes
Like 250gp. They killed those classes due to
Low participation although the grids had way more bikes than there are real superbikes. I guess the question is superbikes a viable class and would the show be better if everyone was on some type of Evo superstock bike?

 

I don't see a problem with where the car stopped necessarily. The car would only be on track during the first lap, for the reason of getting medical treatment to downed rider during a first lap incident as quickly as possible. All the driver should be thinking about doing is getting the medical personnel in his car to the crash scene as quickly as possible. I haven't seen the race, but if the driver was assisting the medical personnel, then it would go to race control to throw the red flag. Also, if there is additional medical equipment in the car that the medical personnel might need, the car might need to remain in place for that.

However, I would think that there would already be something in the "How to run a race" playbook that goes something like:
If a car / rider / chunk of air fence / canopy / significant debris are stopped on track, we need to throw the red flag at least 3 corner worker stations before the point of the obstruction if not clear by then. I believe that this would have put the red flag out at the station exiting turn 11 (start/finish and turn 2 being the other 2 stations). Of course once you get into a race and things get strung out, you would pretty much have to throw the red flag immediately for anything blocking the track. After the first lap, the safety car would not be one of those things unless something has gone really wrong.

 

Watch the race then get back to us.....

 

The car was at the back of the grid for race start, and stopped where the accident was. When bikes came back around to where the car was, the red flag had been out for some time,hadnt it? It didn't strike me as an issue.....

 

No. The red flag didn't come out until bikes reached turn two at speed. The car was stopped at turn three.

 

The first rider to react to the red flag was Hayes, who threw a leg out entering t2. The front runners were fine but there were a couple of mid pack guys that swung out wide at t3 and had to cut back to avoid the safety car.

 

The safety car parked on the race line at the exit of turn 3 after they waved the red at turn 2? That could have been really bad IMHO. As the op mentioned it should have been thrown at the finish line.

 

Slightly off topic, does anyone here drive a crash truck or work with one?

The image of Rea's bike being towed back after WSBK race 2 with what was assumed a chain or sprocket issue made me realize that I may have weighed my options if I wanted to return that bike or spend an amazing rest of the summer club racing in Mexico.

 

The car parked immediately after it arrived moments after the crash. It sat there for the majority of the lap and it wasn't until turn two that the flag was thrown.

 

Someone have a link? The broadcast times got changed and it didn't record on my DVR. Comcast doesn't give privileges to the BeIn web, so I am out of luck unless it got posted somewhere else.

In any case, it sounds more like the problem wasn't with where the car was stopped to render aid to the fallen rider, it sound like the bigger issue was red flag not being thrown in a timely fashion. What if that was 3 bikes and a couple of injured riders on the race line instead of the car? Same safety concern and race direction should have thrown the red sooner.