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MotoGP: Assen circuit safety in doubt

Questions raised over ultra-fast left-hander following third bone-breaking smash in three years

Posted: 1 July 2008
by Mike Scott

JOHN HOPKIN'S terrifying high-speed crash raised new safety questions about the fast left-hand Ramshoek corner, one of few remaining sections of the old track. The same corner had earlier accounted for Capirossi, putting him out of the race.

Last year Toni Elias suffered a fractured femur there after after tumbling through the gravel, and the year before Rossi broke his wrist there, though he was able to take part in the race.

The gravel trap was reduced and the tarred outer run-off area installed for this year as a result of Elias’s tumbling injury (the same system has been put in round most of the circuit). However the tar merely meant Hopkins failed to slow down enough to avoid hitting the barrier.

The next morning, air fence had been installed at the corner, but questions were in the air as to whether this last fast section would need to be slowed for safety.


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marq101
Motorsports are inherently dangerous. If safety can be raised without altering a track, that's ok. We should be very cautious with altering a track everytime someone crashes. Assen is the best example of that. The track has been made safer but they ruined it in the process. Ask the riders what they want. In case of Assen I think they would have asked to leave it alone
Posted: 01/07/2008 11:19

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