When dumb people ride motorcycles!

[mxer842]

Alright I went out to Aztec today for practice. The track was very different as it had to be reworked to avoid all of the mud from the recent rains, but turned out very nice. With the soil so moist the track was getting very rough, not choppy, but very deep ruts in places. I took me a while to get acquainted with it but by the end of the day I was feeling pretty confident through them. Here comes the dumb part. I am running motos on North track and come around to a small step up(mind you the landing is blind until you are in the air) right before the double-double-double rhythm section; I come over in third gear and to my surprise there is a guy on a KTM cruising the track backwards. I plow into him headfirst and in mid-air and go flying a good 20 feet, flipping, and cart wheeling the whole way. I laid on the ground for 20 minutes as my friends all crowded around to my aid, my hip that I just hurt last Sunday is killing me, and I thought something had to be broken after a crash like that. The idiot comes walking over while I lay in pain and exclaims "Man, I just got here and didn't know which way the track was going, I’m sorry," and with that he takes off.

 

[CaptainObvious]

I think your subject lines says it all. I could rant for an hour on this....

...but if the dude on the KTM didn't know which way to ride, why did't he wait to ask someone, or watch for someone else to enter. ARGGHH. The step-up you described should have been a clue too!

I hope you're OK (you don't tell us that in your story). It's one thing to hurt yourself from your own actions, but when someone takes you out because they're clueless, it's just not right.

 

[Ryone]

wow, it sounds like you're alright, mxer842.
I ride Aztec pretty frequently, and I think I know which section you're talking about. Why the KTM rider was going the wrong way is beyond me. It's pretty tough to get on the North track the wrong way if you enter it by the starting gate like everyone else. What a moron. If you're not familiar with a track, wait to see how someone else is riding it. I even wait to see the direction of the South track every day I show up because they change the track layout almost every week at Aztec.

Ryan

 

[mxer842]

I'm alright now, I had a good migraine and am sporting a pretty swollen elbow and my hip still hurts, but other than that both me and the bike are fine, luckily.

 

[Shig]

Hey 842,
That's a bummer! I hope you get well soon. I saw a similar crash as yours in Grand Junction once where both riders were unconcious for several minutes. One rider ended up with a skull fracture.

I had a similar near-miss on the triple step-up at Erie a few months back. Can you believe the jerk actually copped an attitude? He acted like I was out of line because I tore into him for going the wrong way. He claimed to be a road racer and said there were no signs and nobody else on the track, so he had the right-of-way. After chewing him out for about five minutes, he packed up and left.

 

[mxer842]

I'm doing fine now, I had the adrenaline pumping so I actually rode for a little longer, but about an hour after I stopped the pain hit me like a train.

The lastest I have heard on the SRAC site is that that guy is still in the hospital with atleast a broken nose.

 

[pace]

I saw that post on SRAC forums. Didn't realize it was you. Sorry to hear about the accident, man.. could have been much worse I guess. My encounters with stupid riders are mostly usually limited to them checking and changing lines on takeoff ramps. I actually landed on a guy at Watkins who did that.

My most interesting encounter however was at Lakewood during a midweek practice earlier this year. A B-class rider actually squared perpendicular to the track and launched his bike into my front wheel, because he thought I deliberately blocked him earlier in the lap (I didn't). Some guys just aren't responsible enough to be let loose on public racetracks.

-Pace

 

[mxer842]

I have to say I've had some crashes that should have put me in the hospital but I have alwasy come out much better than I should have, I drink my milk is the best I can come up with.

Will anyone be out at Aztec tomm., I will be out there for practice and possibly to race Outlaw but we will have to see...

 

[YZ165]

Are you guy's talking about the track in Aztec, New Mexico? Or is there another track in Colorado called "Aztec"? I'm from Abq, and just wonderd if they had made changes to the track north of me. Thanks, YZ165

 

[mxer842]

Nope, this one is Aztec Family Raceway just outside of Colorado Springs, CO.