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http://kdka.com/topstories/local_story_182171137.html
DO not know who they were, but hope they are okay.
great way to promote the sport!
It’s time.
Yea, BMX made the news…’cause we get medi vac’d out.
Dammit.Can you see someone sitting around the TV in that area, “Hey honey what kind of bikes are those our kids have, oh good there not BMX bikes, caus that looks dangerous.
Or kids wanna free helicopter ride, lets go race todayFirst, a note to the NBL. They should do up a bunch of T-shirts that says “I survived South Park 2006”. Yeah, it was that crazy.
I raced Friday night and yesterday. When I got there Friday my first thought was “Holy Sh*t, you gotta be kidding me”. My next thought was “and we bitched about the dubs at CJ?”. Finally, I thought “it’s time to retire (again)”.
Everything Ant wrote is 100% true, but you had to be there. Me and Chris Gulich were watching the Pros before staging for cruiser motos in the first round, and we just couldn’t believe what we witnessed. First, we saw Bill Madden’s wreck. South Park has a 30(?) foot gap pro section and I guess Bill cased his front tire and he went down in such a crumpled mess, it was just plain ugly to watch. He was unconscious for at least 10 minutes. His bike resembled one of those fold up bikes, when they are folded up.
Then a couple motos later, in A pro, the whole moto was just full out carnage. Going over the step into turn one, one pro lost control, and Jason Carnes just stayed out of that wreck as the guy bit hard. In the next turn, two pros hit the step into the turn, and as soon as you saw them take off, you knew they were going down in flames as they caught each other and went sideways, and Carnes couldn’t escape that one, and got sucked into the wreck. So the guy who got around all this comes out of turn 2, but not at full throttle, but because he’s a pro, has to hit the pro section, and 2/3 across, bails out and slams his body right on top of the landing jump. It was so ugly to watch that both me & Chris turned our heads at the sight of it. Yeah, he left on a stretcher too.
We saw at least two to three bikes get launched (no clips of course), and least 5 riders I saw get hurt in practice and had to miss the race (including Maninno). I was told that 8 ambulances pulled out of there yesterday plus I saw the two med-vac helicopter.
Rumor had it that the sheriff’s officer in charge got the phone with someone and then the announcer confirmed it as they were fixing the monster dubs in the second straight after the first round. A high ranking city official told Bob T. do something to reduce the wrecks or we are shutting you down. So, they went two motos (except UCI) and worked on those dubs.
Still, I saw at least one more prominent girl racer got out on a stretcher in the mains, along with several spectacular crashes. Still, there were some ballsy kids, as far down as 13 expert, who used that pro section to qualify in the semi’s. There were several crowd pleasing jumps that put people into qualifying position and drew ooh’s and aah’s and applause.
Oh, and how did I do? 7th in 35 Novice, but only because someone wrecked me in the main after I ran 2nd in motos. Now I gotta go rehab a shoulder. Ouch.
But, I camped and hung out with Chris Gulich, Legend and Lisa, Haller, Bellavista, the Tidey’s and some dude named Adam, and we had an awesome time. Thanks guys!
@CrazyCraig wrote:
When I got there Friday my first thought was “Holy Sh*t, you gotta be kidding me”. My next thought was “and we bitched about the dubs at CJ
That is what I have been trying to explain to everyone
I would have loved to have been there Thursday to practice, I might have considered jumping more of the stuff out there. I know this much, I’ll be faster the next time I hit CJ and will jump the dubs.
Javier Colombo (Elite Men) on BMXMANIA Friday – “There is going to be a lot of crashes”…you think!?!?
However, he also said:
Javier – I think it’s really good. I’d like to get this track as a home track. It’s really challenging. This track, you’ve got to give it 100% focus
Also geraldo eccheveria from Pa. went down in the UCI and suffered a concussion and some bruised ribs. The 17 y/o actually broke his neck and jaw. was released today. After they fixed a spot on the 2nd strait the crashes practically ended. It was a tough track especially for the k**s (phew, I almost called them kids), the younger, smaller riders.
Remember back in…. f it, I should post this in the OLD FARTS Forum 😆
i quit racing nbl..pittsburgh was fun.. but a complete diapointment.. 2 moto transfer on a saturday????? you have got to be kidding me.. waaaah, the track is to hard..its NOT supose to be easy..such crap..no longer will i support bob t..ill go to the tracks and help out.. but i will not give the nbl any more of my money
even tho i had a blast at the race
60 something beers were drank by yours truly
hella
another thought…. just from experience to parents out there who tend to push their kids( i used to do this so i can call you out if you are one of them)
we went to pittsburg race( against my best judgement) being my son only had 1 nat under his belt since his surgery….. so i was outvoted and we went…left early enough to get in as much practice to make sure he could “dial in” before the race. as far as the 2nd straight and pro jump goes riders have to race within their ability…regardless of the “adrenalin rush” or whatever pushes them to do things they dont have the ability to do… but the parents pushing the kids to jump the pro( i heard it over and over) because “everyone else in their class it doing it” is just plain stupid. i had the same thoughts when after the 1st day my son ( who is 16)didnt jump it… he had enough sense to decide on his own he could get past that section faster with less chance of crashing by not jumping it… so i am thinking WHAT?? as i watch some 14 yr olds clear it…then some did not… then all the bikes started splitting in 2( from the ones who thought they could clear it and only 50/50 the landing i think i stopped counting at 6)….the more i keep my mouth shut the more i learn… even after 11 yrs in this sport i have to remember the rider has to decide not the parent/ or peer pressure or whatever.. some riders did get hurt and i saw both of the bad ones… after watching the older fellow land and twitching from the waist down as they had him on the stretcher i thought to myself i was glad my son didnt try to jump it…. even if he was one of the few kids his age who didnt do it…. he did make his main on sat and he was happy… all in one piece and i was very proud of him for making the right decision this time. maybe another race or different circumstances he would have jumped it but for some reason he chose not to do it and we as parents have to accept that.
on friday during practice in the 14over there were parents standing on the fence in front of our tent who were screaming at thier kids who didnt jump the pro…. i watched a kid in dans moto who crashed 3 times and still raced(although not to his potential due to injuries) kids were yelling “jump it” to their friends and some were trying to jump it who had no business even attempting it.
anyway my point is as a parent sometimes we have to leave the riding to the rider and accept the fact that they are on the bike not us and unless its the opposite situation( dangerous with no common sence) we need to think twice before pushing our kids past their ability.
btw the other 17 yr old who had the bad crash…when he hit the ground in the 2nd straight his helmet flew off so hard and far i dont think he had it strapped on at all.. dave made several announcements about this as it happened over and over. riders didnt have thier helmets strapped and i feel that contributed to the injuries big time…when the mayor/county officials and police showed up before they “changed the 2nd straight” i think that parents and riders started to re-think their riding style and have more common sence when racing… jmo
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