All fault/blame/legality stuff aside, that was a terrifying video. So glad no one was killed. I think this event will be (and should be) brought up at every riders meeting for the next year or so just so we can all get the lessons learned. I'm not familiar with Roebling, but this also shows a glaring design flaw in layout that should be fixed. There's gotta be a better way to enter/exit track interior than that.
I should have prefaced that... I was at start/finish on a red flag and was pushing my bike to hot pit exit and got scolded and counselled to STAY ON THE TRACK in 100 degree heat. Then when I said my bike had a mechanical... they wanted me to wait for the crash truck pickup at the end of the day... yeah no thanks. I got my tech sticker pulled...
Not going dark, going home - I haven't posted a thing to social media. No we're not going into details at this point. Yes it happened. Yes we are looking into the specifics to make sure something like that won't happen again.
We can start a conversation about recent donut events if it will buy you some time to get the details.
even having a bridge going over the track invites it's own issues.. like a bike going off track and hitting the embankments. (think NJMP, Summit point..don't know if it's ever happened though) but many tracks have the pit areas inside the track. everyone agrees this never should have happened, but it was human error that allowed it to happen. who/whom was at fault? maybe we will hear more on this, or maybe we won't. But not having a marshal at the gate, in charge of never allowing the gate to even be raised when the track is hot.. is a start.
Yeah man, you can write a 25 word post while the engine warms up and you're punching the address into google lol. It DOES look bad that y'all couldn't say something professional and vague like that on all the socials and even starting a thread here with the same message ,if you want to go above and beyond, before rolling out of the paddock. It's not a huge deal, but it goes pretty squarely into the "oopsie" column on your part.
This just highlights the need for everyone to be situationally aware. For sure crossing a hot track like that lends itself to potential issues, but I've seen it happen many times in the past. If the race isn't red flagged, then at the very least there should be additional communication with corners and crew to get the ambulance across the track. I can recall a fair number of instances like this at Grattan, where the ambulance came up the road from T3 and needed to cross. Exit speed off the last corner put bikes at the exit road pretty quick, but IIRC there would be a call from the corner workers monitoring the hairpin that there was a safe gap. Wasn't there an issue with Mladin at Road A, where he almost hit an ambulance? Even though you're on a closed course, you still have to keep your eyes open for unforeseen things in your path...turtles, birds, snakes, ambulances.... watching that video, you can see the ambulance creeping out, and he's still on the throttle. I'm sure he's not expecting the thing to cross in front of him, but would you make that assumption on the street? I assume everyone is out to kill me, or at the very least, doesn't see me. The problem is, we get focused on NOT shutting off....I've been caught up in wrecks where I saw the risk, but didn't want to lose time, so delayed my response till I was out of options. I'm not saying it's the fault of any rider btw....I'd be beyond furious. Just that stupid things happen, and there's usually an opportunity to learn from our own responses to it. Thankfully this didn't turn out to be a fatal incident.
We covered the incident at the riders meeting at the track for the riders and teams and families who were there. Riders involved are important, people at the track are important, social media is not.
IIRC someone passed away from hitting the Summit Point bridge/embankment and someone else seriously injured around the VIR bridge too
I'm not sure about something like that happening back in 1999/2000, but that video and incident was from 2009 when DMG had control of things.
I dont know where the ambo was parked this time, but every time I have been to Roebling, the ambo had been stationed between the infield gate and the track.
As horrific as it is to watch, it came down to human error. It sucks but it happens. All the assholes who are threatening legal action are just that. Assholes. Yeah, get lawyers involved, that solves everything.
WERA has well established protocols for this situation, based on many years' experience. One or more weren't followed here which is why at least two riders to put in serious jeopardy. I suspect we'll eventually learn where the fault lies. Someone lifted the gate on the infield side of the track, the driver drove across the track slowly and without activating the lights or siren, and someone(s) may have directed these two things to happen.
That’s why you need some fail safes when humans are involved, no different than getting on your bike after say, swapping a front wheel. I used to put these tags with alligator clips on both my gas tank filler and brake lever. One said fuel and one said pump. Fuel was first thing I did after putting it on the stand and brake was always with my front change tire tools (always kept separate tools for wheel changes as I’m pretty anal about doing it a certain way and sequence every time, May sound odd to some but it’s always been my way to make sure I don’t miss anything. Is it 100% fail safe, no but it was just a way to try to ensure I don’t go out and asspack someone in T1. Always makes me so nervous when someone’s changing a wheel and someone comes to talk to them , they stop what they are doing, stand up and start talking for a while. Where it gets hairy is when they’ve been talking for a while then all of a sudden it’s first or 2nd call then they rush.
Shit, didn’t know if there was a gate or not. I’m very confident from a WERA side of things they will get to the bottom of this one as well as check with the other tracks. Once again I’m just glad everyone is relatively ok, could have been bad not just for the rider but people in the ambulance as well. I’m game if anyone wants to set up a pool and buy these two some lottery tickets, not joking on that one either.