I have attended exactly one flat track motorcycle race in my life and it was a riot. These crazy riders and their equally crazy bikes put on one heck of a show. Like a two wheeled cousin to the World of Outlaws, the racing involves hard charging sprints down the straights that end up with slideways, dirt throwing, shoulder to shoulder action in the corners.
The race I attended was with some friends after a day at the drags and they knew one of the racers so we had a rooting interest. Just keeping track of who was in what position and where they were on the track was enough to make a guy dizzy…and that was before I slugged down a couple of cold ones. Anyway, one of the guys told me to always be paying attention to what was happening in front of me because he had seen motorcycles with stuck throttles get away from their riders and make a break for the crowd. While that sounded exciting enough, I didn’t really think much of it. The races were run, the night was a blast, and we went back to drag racing the next day.
All those memories came flooding back when I saw this video of exactly what my buddy was telling me about. You will see a rider lose the bike and before anyone knows what is going on the motorcycle is heading back to try and kill the guy who was riding it seconds before. Worse than that, it makes a direct break for the throngs of people watching the race. Busting through a fence and literally bearing down on the crowd, the thing takes a lucky break and stops before it harms anyone. This must have been scary as hell for the people in the path of this demonic flat track motorcycle!
Ta viva a bichinha
Posted by ADRENALINA MX on Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Actually this is speedway racing, not what most folks would call traditional flat track in the USA. Mostly popular in California, but huge in Europe. 500cc single, no transmission, burning alcohol. In California they run short, 1/8 mile or so, bullrings, but in Europe they run long tracks, 1/4-1/3 mile.
Here is a video with some hard crashes out of Europe;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tdDsIAc7DM
I use to race methanol burning racing go carts as a kid and one Saturday evening two teamates were running close and one driver behind them hit one of the teamates cart and in doing so shoved the one teamate over the other and as you know in open wheel racing chaos pursued. The cart took off side ways up a small hill and through the fence close lining the driver off and the cart rolled into a competitors trailer. Thankfully no one else was hurt but the driver that was closelined off was sent to the hospital. I was fearing the worst when I saw the accident and the force that pulled the drivers helmet off. We were all releived to hear that other than a broke collar bone and some scrapes and bruises the driver was ok. There were a few more incidents like this but for the most part, It always looked way more worse than it could have been. Glad that everyone was ok, there is always room for more safety precautions no matter what you are doing.