210mph crash won’t stop Essex biker from racing
Danny Cockerill survived a horrific crash less than three weeks ago. He’s already planning his return.
A biker who hit the deck travelling upward of 210 mph a few weeks ago and lived to tell the tale is recovering and already vowing to return to the track as soon as possible.
Essex-based racer Danny Cockerill crashed at Santa Pod on 17 August, having just completed a personal best astride his Suzuki Hayabusa drag racer. Exactly what happened is uncertain but Cockerill lost control just after the finish line.
“The bike was on a good run, it was a personal best run,” Cocklerill told BBC Essex. "I went through the finish line at 210mph, but by the time I came off the motorcycle it was more like 219.”
Cockerill is an experienced hand, having raced both cars and bikes for a number of decades. Up until the crash, he had been working toward the goal of having achieved a 6-second pass with both car and motorcycle. He’s already ticked the car box, but had a little way to go before claiming the same on his ‘Busa.
The pass that sent him to hospital was clocked as 7.01 seconds at 210 mph.
"I travelled down the finish line, barrel rolling, sliding, crashing and banging – I didn't think it was ever going to stop,” Cockerill told the BBC. "I saw daylight and darkness, and every time I rolled over it hurt.”
Cockerill suffered numerous broken bones, including a broken rib that lacerated his liver, and several scrapes and burns where his leathers wore through.
"I was alert the next day - it's a miracle, really, that I'm still alive,” Cockerill said. “Even the hospital couldn't believe how well I was, not long after the accident.”
Most people would take all this as a good reason for the 56-year-old to hang up his racing boots. Take the L, as they say, and be happy with the fact you’re alive and have a story that’s almost certainly going to top everyone else’s at the pub.
Cockerill, though, isn’t so sure.
“Life's for living,” he told the BBC. “[I am] contemplating getting a bike back together to go and race next year.”
After all, there’s still that 6-second goal.
"My wife and daughter apparently spoke on the Sunday night (the evening of the crash). I was trying to achieve a goal and didn't quite get to it,” he said. "They were discussing my future and didn't think I'd be ready to quit without running a 6-second pass.”
They may be right.
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Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
