At Silverstone this weekend, the infamous highside crash has claimed another rider: Hiroshi Aoyama. After crashing during the warm-up session, Aoyama was eventually taken to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where it was confirmed that the Japanese rider had fractured his T12 vertebra. Aoyama will be moved to Barcelona, Spain tomorrow, where he’ll see another specialist and get a second opinion on how to treat his condition.
There’s no doubt that Valentino Rossi’s injury at Mugello not only left a hole at Fiat-Yamaha garage, but also created a noticeable void for MotoGP racing as a whole. Perhaps one of the greatest GP racers of all-time, Rossi rarely crashes, and has never been injured so extensively before in his career. And for all the parties involved this incident, it is an untimely disaster that has financial repercussions.
But as the old marketing maxim goes, any press is good press, and with all the coverage that’s surrounded Rossi’s crash, a sizeable amount of “buzz” and media attention has been garnered for the associated parties. What is all that media attention worth? According to internet market research firm eXtrapola, just over 8 million in US dollars (over €6.5 million).
Target fixation can be the bane of both novice and veteran riders alike. Occurring when a rider fixates on an object, usually something they want to avoid, it often results in the opposite intended result: riding towards, rather than away from the object. This is because motorcycles usually go where you look, and riders freeze up when they should be taking action.
Just about all motorcyclists have a story that goes something like, “I was coming around the corner a little too hot, and I saw that the hill came right up to the shoulder of the road. I kept watching the hill get closer and closer, and the next thing I know my bike was crashed and I was being flown-out of the mountains by a helicopter.” Yeah…you know what I’m talking about, and in case you don’t, here are two video’s showcasing this neurological phenomena (video after the jump possibly NSFW).
You gotta love Erik Buell. Say what you will about his motorcycles, but the guy and his team live outside of the box, and it’s awesome. When Geoff May had an off at Miller Motorsports Park, and launched his Erik Buell Racing 1125RR into the air, the result was this busted PVM forged magnesium rear-wheel.
While most teams would throw it into the scrap heap, EBR is instead auctioning it off on eBay to help raise the funds needed for a replacement wheel. That’s entrepreneurship at it’s finest folks. The only thing that makes this auction better, is the description that follows.
Valentino Rossi has had a horrific crash today during practice at the Italian GP at Mugello. Highsiding in Turn 13, Rossi has sustained a compound fracture to his right shin. He was flown by helicopter from the circuit to Centro Traumatologico Ortopedico in Florence where he underwent surgery on his leg. The surgery was successful in repairing the fractured bone, and Rossi is expected to be in the hospital for the next seven to ten days, and likely not to return to racing for at least six weeks. Video of the crash after the jump.
Alex de Angelis had some rotten luck last weekend while competing in the Moto2 race at Le Mans, France. Minding his own business, de Angelis was unaware that wildcard Xavier Simeon had crashed behind him. He was also unaware that Simeon’s bike hadn’t crashed, and was careening straight for de Angelis. The rest writes itself, check it out in the video above.
Alvaro Bautista found himself at the wrong end of a nasty highside during FP2 at Le Mans this race weekend. The Spanish rider was already suffering from a broken collarbone, an injury he had surgery on only a week ago, but looked ready to ride Le Mans despite this injury. However after crashing today, Bautista has now retired from tomorrow’s race, complaining of pain in his shoulder. Rizla Suzuki is not looking to replace Bautista for Sunday, and expects him to make be ready to race at the Mugello in two week’s time. Video of Bautista’s crash after the jump.
Catching the nastiest crash to come out of Race 2 from World Superbike at Monza, Italy this weekend, one spectator has posted this YouTube clip of the crash that took out three riders. With one rider heading to the hospital as a precaution, another seeing his second race crash for the weekend, and the last rider crashing too often this season, it’s safe to say no one involved wanted this result for Race 2.
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No one doubts that Johnny Rea is a talented rider. Unfortunately for the Brit, this weekend at Monza wasn’t the best outing for him, nor his Honda CBR1000RR. Rea, always putting his best foot forward, still pandered to the crowd, and made his CBR disappear in this great magic trick that boggles the mind. The trick was so good, even Rea thought the bike had disappeared. Look closely and you’ll see the sleight of hand at work.
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A crash caused by Shoya Tomizawa and Simone Corsi sent riders tumbling yesterday in the Moto2 race at Jerez. Colliding in the apex of the corner with Corsi, Tomizawa’s Moto2 race bike spilled oil onto the Spanish track, which saw eight other riders hitting the tarmac. With nine bikes in all falling victim to the oil slick, the Moto2 race had to be red flagged and restarted. Watch the bikes fall like dominos in the video after the jump.
Last weekend Tommy Heimburg, owner of ERIDE Motorcycles crashed his Zero MX at Motocross Wohlen track in Switzerland. The frame of the Zero MX broke behind the head tube. It seems this failure may have caused the crash. The history of this Zero bike is unknown as it was owned and race by a private party but obviously there is concern that this could happen to other Zero MX motorcycles and may cause a risk to owners.