Staying Involved
During the past season, I have done what I could to stay involved with WMRRA and motorcycle racing. My involvement has come as a technical inspector and corner worker. The most recent round was no different, although it provided an example of why I corner work when I can't race.
On Saturday morning, I did technical inspections on a number of race bikes, including going to a few paddock locations to tech bikes at the riders' pits. These inspections were generally for teams or riders who have been racing for a number of years and can be counted on to be well prepared. They were as meticulous as ususal, and I only found one set of pinch bolts which needed to be wired up. One of the teams I visited for technical inspections was a husband and wife team who race 125 GP bikes, a 250 GP bike and a 160 vintage bike. The wife rides a 125 and the 160, while the husband rides a 125 and the 250. Both are excellent riders and very fast. We got into a discussion about how a 2-stroke can lubricate itself just with oil in the gasoline. I can understand how premix lubricates the top end, at least up to a point, but I'm still at a bit of a loss to understand how the crank keeps from siezing up. It's some research I have to do, and they both laughed about knowing it works but not being sure how or why either.
During the 125 race, the wife fell off in the corner I was working. She lowsided, and it would have been a fairly routine get-off, except she went headfirst into the air fence. The air fence did it's job very well and prevented major injuries, although she was clearly in need of medical attention even before I got to her. As a person with some CPR but no medical certifications, I could only open her visor, make sure the ambulance was on it's way, talk to her, and hold her hand while it got called in on the radio. She had a very sore wrist and ribs, but seemed OK otherwise. Without the air fence it would have been ugly, but it was there. She could move everything and had her wits about her, so going into the air fence, even head first, was a whole lot better than the alternatives.
The EMTs got to her very, very quickly. I have a lot of respect for the whole organization, because the safety aspects of things are first rate. She was able to explain what hurt and managed to convince the EMTs not to cut any safety gear off of her. They usually cut everything up, from gloves to racing leathers, so keeping everything in one piece was a huge victory.
She was at the track on Sunday with her arm in a sling. It was a bit of better living through modern chemestry, as she put it, since the pain killers were keeping a whole lot of soreness at bay. She had a compression fracture of her right radius bone and some bruised ribs, but was otherwise just sore. She said it really helped to have a familiar face get to her after the crash instead of a stranger. Having her say that made my day.
I'll be doing the same thing at the end of the month, during the next round of racing.