When does racing hard, turn into racing stupid??

If you race, then you’ve either been involved in a tight situation, or caused one. But when does hard racing, turn into racing stupid? Is it when you try a tight pass on the inside, but mid-corner find you over estimated the room? Or found you couldn’t hold your line because you under estimating your entry speed? Hey, everything looked great just before you leaned the bike in. Should you be accused of being over zealous on the racetrack if things turn messy? Whether you’re racing for first, or second to last, it’s still racing. Decisions are made in a split second, which at times can make things a little dicey.

I’m a huge baseball fan, and I marvel at how the pitchers can hurl a ball at nearly 100mph towards a small plate, just feet from a fellow human. These guys practice everyday, tossing 1000’s of pitches a week, working on the location of their pitches. But even after all this practice, batters get hit. Sure, sometimes it’s on purpose, but I would say most are by accident. The pitch just got away from the pitcher. The batter wears protective gear because of this possibility, and before he approaches the batters box, understands its just part of the game. And to those that think getting hit by 100mph pitch can’t cause damage, you’re nuts. That fact is, accidents will happen.

If you’re racing, you are going to crash. That’s just part of the game. Most of the time it will be caused by something you did wrong, bad tires, conditions, but there will be occasions when other riders will be involved. With time and experience most figure out how to limit those odds, but they will never get down to zero. Every racer is on the track to have fun, and should understand that passing someone in a turn can be dangerous. However, if riders never push themselves into attempting a pass, we wouldn’t be calling it “Racing”, but rather “Follow the leader”.

I’ll share an incident that happened to me in Las Vegas a few years ago while riding for The Helmet Harbor, LLC race team. I was mid-pack and dicing it up with a group of four. On the prior lap I had been measuring up the guy in front of me, and by the second lap I found a corner where I could get a better drive and make the pass on the following corner. Several corners before the move, I made a mental checklist. I told myself that if I didn’t get enough drive out of the corner and get even with the rider by the mid point on the small exit straight, I would not attempt the pass. However, if even, or slightly in front, and in the middle of the track, I would out brake him to the turn and go for it. I had practiced this during the two days of practice, and new I could make the turn from this point on the track.

As I hoped, I had a better line through the turn and found myself slightly ahead of the rider before the next turn. Every check on my checklist had been met, now it was time to make the pass. I got on the brakes hard, and unlike the practice sessions, the rear tire came up. I adjusted, got the rear tire down in time to get the bike leaned over, but I had gone slightly deeper than I had planned. No big deal, and I thought the pass was made. Just as I settled in, I was hit from the outside, knocking my bike to the ground. My bike slammed into the track, then taught and high-sided. The second rider involved recovered, but ended up riding off the track, only to crash after hitting a ditch in the run-off area. Later inspection of my bike showed rear tire marks on my bikes front fairing, wind-shield and fender. It appeared I had been clipped in the front at full lean as the other rider crossed in front.

What happened? Plan and simple, a motorcycle race. I had my plan, and the other rider had his. He apparently was looking to take the corner wide, allowing him to square it off and beat me out the other side. Great plan, but two great plans can lead to a crash. I wanted the pass; he wanted to stay in front. Could I have waited, and attempted the pass in another corner? Sure, but when would that pass appear any safer? Could the other rider had let up, and attempted a pass later? You bet, but again, he thought his plan, at this corner, would work.

Now I’m not advocating reckless riding. But short of intentional contact, where is that line drawn? Corners are where passes are made. They are also where crashes happen. As a racer, all we can do is sharpen our riding skills, and our track awareness. Get by those that appear to be possible issues, give room to those that have the advantage, and focus on having fun.