Track riding, and especially racing, is never risk-free, but the danger presented by riding a motorcycle flat-out on a race track in even the safest-possible circumstances means that any added risks must be avoided.
Unfortunately, that is not always the case, and certainly that reality has been highlighted by a video posted online by a motorcycle racer in the US.
The video has been shared fairly widely by now, including by 2022 Daytona 200 winner Brandon Paasch, who wrote on Instagram “This actually might be the craziest thing I’ve seen in a while,” and that “this kinda [thing] is why the Europeans don’t like racing in America.”
It is a truly crazy video. As the rider, identified by Road Racing World as Daniel Alexander, makes their way onto the front straight, everything seems normal, and they accelerate up to over 130mph as an ambulance pulls out onto the circuit. Alexander reacts in quick enough time to avoid hitting the ambulance, but his own Instagram post says that his Yamaha R1 track bike is “totalled,” even though he himself avoided serious injury.
On a separate post, of the same video, made by Ricky O’Hare, Ken Friedl commented, saying he “watched” the incident happen, and that another bike was also involved, out of shot from the on-board on the Yamaha R1. Friedl said the bike on the right side hit the ambulance and caught fire, but its rider was able to get off the bike before the impact. Road Racing World has identified the second, unseen, rider as Dwayne A. Brown.
Both Brown and Alexander were racing in the Novice class of the Open Superstock Expert and Novice WERA National Challenge race at Roebling Road Raceway in Georgia. Fortunately, both riders are reportedly okay.
A press release issued by WERA reads as follows:
"On March 19th in the Open Superstock race at Roebling Road Raceway, there was was an incident on the front straight involving an ambulance and two riders. The ambulance was leaving the track to transport an injured rider from an earlier incident. Due to a miscommunication between the ambulance driver and race officials the ambulance crossed in front of two motorcycles. Both riders did fall but walked away from the crash. WERA is investigating what led to this incident and will be instituting any necessary changes to prevent the same thing from happening in the future."
This article was originally published on 20 March 2023, and was updated on 21 March 2023 with the names of the riders involved, and the above press release.
