Corner Workers at Fault in Hayden Crash @ NJMP?

[pontifex]

Hayden is saying the corner workers missed the water on the track that resulted in his brutal high side.

Just glad to hear he wasn't more seriously injured. It was a horrific crash to watch.

From Cycle News:

Y.E.S./Graves Yamaha's Tommy Hayden will be forced to sit out next weekend's AMA Daytona SportBike race at Homestead-Miami Speedway after undergoing surgery on Monday to repair the third-degree separation of his right shoulder, the injury coming in Sunday's race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Hayden flew to Dr. Arthur Ting's office in Freemont, California, on Sunday night and the following day Ting performed the surgery in which a screw was used to stabilize the damaged shoulder. Ting also found that Hayden had suffered two fractured bones in his right foot from the crash and he was also given a CT scan to determine the severity of his concussion. The scan showed that Hayden hadn't suffered an intracranial hemorrhaging and the effects of the concussion should subside.

"At the very last second, I saw that something was on the track, but my front wheel was already almost there, so all I could do was hope for the best at that point," Hayden said of the crash in New Jersey. "The water and dirt caused my rear tire to break loose, and I don't remember much of what happened after that, but I went down really hard on the top of my head and my right shoulder. I didn't even know I'd broken bones in my foot till Dr. Ting discovered it.

"It sucks when you crash, and it isn't your fault. I don't know if the corner workers didn't see the water in that corner or not, but hopefully, somebody's looking into that situation and comes up with a plan so something like that doesn't happen again. I'd heard that someone ran off the track on the lap before, and there was a bunch of water and dirt that got flung onto the track in that corner. I'm really not sure why no one saw that. Four riders went down in a split-second, and it shouldn't have happened."

Hayden is currently fourth in the AMA Daytona SportBike Championship.

Hayden's teammate Cameron Beaubier was also involved in the incident at NJMP, but he escaped serious injury. Beaubier had won the first of two Daytona SportBike races the day prior in New Jersey. He is currently third in the series point standings.

"Right now, I'm just really sore but, if things don't improve in a couple of days, I'll go and get myself checked out," Beaubier said in a team release issued today. "That was the biggest crash I've had so far in my career."

[union]

I dont think you can blame the corner workers unless the actually pushed the water onto the track. They cant control everything. Sometimes shit happens. Some areas of the track are more prone to being wet then others. We get water in the bowl at Loudon even after the track has been dried.

Haydens crash was scary to watch and Im glad he was ok. However it appeared he was out in no mans land compared to what everyone else was doing.

[Brendin87]

Anyone know where to watch it?

[WordTooYoMamma]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UonfIPTK3eE

[SRTie4k]

Ouch.

[fromario]

Haydens crash was scary to watch and Im glad he was ok. However it appeared he was out in no mans land compared to what everyone else was doing.

+1 and I don't see how you can blame the corner workers for that... did he not see that on the warm-up? Also, where were the docs and med staff?!

This would be an example of shitty corner workers 99' WSB Round 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2UzxvVYUE

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted

Wow. He could have been killed. His head was inches from the other bike that crashed.

Blame the corner workers? No way.

[Pittenger5]

If its anything like Loudon (as far as I know) Cornerworkers must be instructed to throw flags by race direction. Thus, if anything its race directions fault.

[mzdagrl]

If its anything like Loudon (as far as I know) Cornerworkers must be instructed to throw flags by race direction.

Not necessarily correct. The only flag that is directed only by control is the red. All others are corner-based decisions. Many flaggers, for instance, can throw a yellow before the downed rider call is even made. Debris (such as this case) is more difficult to judge, especially if the debris is determined to be off-line. I am not sure of how other tracks do it, but I know Loudon is unique in that control can see most of the course from that vantage point, and many tracks are "blind" to control.

[a13x]

A bike ran off track on Lap 2, splashing that water onto the track.
It was pretty far away from two CW stations and tough to see.
Pack came around on Lap 3 and that happened.

Sucked.

Glad TH and CB are okay.

[tsorfas]

This would be an example of shitty corner workers 99' WSB Round 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si2UzxvVYUE

i dont get what happened here

[Jim]

Alex, i saw you in the background in one of the races with the Monster crew.

[fromario]

i dont get what happened here

Oil spill into turn one for almost the entire race without so much as a debris/red flag to clean up

[kb1]

WOW - ouch! He did seem to be way off the line, and is damn lucky he didn't get more hurt. As far as the corner workers I don't know enough about what their exact responsibilities are to comment.

[a13x]

Luckily my guys are winning and byproduct is cameras are around always.
Caught stuffing my face (pic via FB call out)

[FirstDuc-1098]

Luckily my guys are winning and byproduct is cameras are around always.
Caught stuffing my face (pic via FB call out)

[Yknot]

I've never been to Jersey but how far are the CW from the location he went off? Seems that he was rolling around for quite awhile before CW/medical showed up. I guess I am used to being spoiled by the NHMS crew. Glad he wasn't injured more severly, that was a big moonshot. Scary stuff.

[nt650hawk]

the entire race all the riders kept their line below the water/dirt. Hell you could see somethign off color at that area lap after lap. They had to know it was there. It was when he went off line form the previous laps that he go to the wet stuff.

I was was out setting up cones on the track Sunday morning and saw the area that bit the riders. IT was a large area that was still stained from the water/Mud debris. It was still pretty visible from the apex prior. Even if it was wet it would have been very pronounced.



Yea the Bus station is over 1-1.5 miles away from that end of the track. I have always thought that there should be another station on that far end of the track. It takes forever to clear the track and roll out the crash truck and bus to get to the rider.

[smokinjoe]

I dont wanna point fingers but who else besides the CWs are supposed to check the track surface? I immediately blamed them when I saw the race. Aferward they cleaned it up and it caused a huge crash so yeah. It was their fault.

If not them then who? Its not like someone called a meeting and explained the hazard to the riders like Eric does with us whenever possible. Sorry but they fumbled the ball on this one.

[CBR929RE]

I dont wanna point fingers but who else besides the CWs are supposed to check the track surface? I immediately blamed them when I saw the race. Aferward they cleaned it up and it caused a huge crash so yeah. It was their fault.

If not them then who? Its not like someone called a meeting and explained the hazard to the riders like Eric does with us whenever possible. Sorry but they fumbled the ball on this one.

it happened DURING the race when another rider went off track on a previous lap. I've never seen a corner worker out cleaning the track when its hot.