Holmboyz
PR Addict
http://www.vurbmoto.com/news/3299/2011-world-mini-grand-prix-safety-report-wrap/
...and interesting comments following. In particular, "Concerned" comments stood out to me.
Concerned wrote: "I agree with this 100%. I raced back in the late 80's and early 90's and we did not have the amount of riders getting hurt back then. I blame it on the promoters not building safe tracks. Why is it necessary to have big doubles and triples for the average rider to try and clear it to be competitive. My son raced for the most part in 09 and some of 10, but I have come to the conclusion that it is not safe for him to race anymore. Back in the day we had fun with a bunch of singles and some table tops and long beat out straights to go fast on. Why don't we take a step back in time and be safer and have some fun."
Personally, my racing background is w/go-karts. We had injury's but NOTHING like MX and those that did occur weren't as severe or frequent. I know we're talking apples and oranges here, between the sports, but I very much agree w/"Concerned" and his view of the current state of MX and the tracks, particularly at the local level. The problem I have is I don't have anything to compare the tracks to. I haven't been around the sport long enough to know if what he says is true or not - have tracks really changed that drastically over the years to the point where the safety of our kids and even the adults are at risk or are we just hearing of the injuries more and more because of technology?
This season will be the start of my son's fourth year racing and as each year passes my concerns have gone from, "I hope he doesn't get landed on" when he wasn't doing the 100' + triple to "I hope he doesn't land on someone on the other side of that jump".
Just from my limited experience over the past several years, I've seen some local tracks change things up and add some VERY technical sections that seem to have added more yellow flags and medic trips than what they are probably worth.
I know it has to be an impossible balance for the track owners - you don't want boring but w/the majority of riders coming in below "A/B" riders, it would seem they'd want to tailor it more toward safe vs. the extreme.
I don't know...to me, there's nothing better than watching someone drag their bars and executing picture perfect turns and winning races based on overall ability vs flying 100+ feet over a blind jump while the 13 year old flagger texts away on her i-Phone!
Would like to hear from some "old schoolers" who have seen the sports progression over the years. What are your thoughts?
I love this sport but the frequency of serious injuries is nauseating.
....and don't even get me going on the "are neck braces safer or causing more damage" topic!
...and interesting comments following. In particular, "Concerned" comments stood out to me.
Concerned wrote: "I agree with this 100%. I raced back in the late 80's and early 90's and we did not have the amount of riders getting hurt back then. I blame it on the promoters not building safe tracks. Why is it necessary to have big doubles and triples for the average rider to try and clear it to be competitive. My son raced for the most part in 09 and some of 10, but I have come to the conclusion that it is not safe for him to race anymore. Back in the day we had fun with a bunch of singles and some table tops and long beat out straights to go fast on. Why don't we take a step back in time and be safer and have some fun."
Personally, my racing background is w/go-karts. We had injury's but NOTHING like MX and those that did occur weren't as severe or frequent. I know we're talking apples and oranges here, between the sports, but I very much agree w/"Concerned" and his view of the current state of MX and the tracks, particularly at the local level. The problem I have is I don't have anything to compare the tracks to. I haven't been around the sport long enough to know if what he says is true or not - have tracks really changed that drastically over the years to the point where the safety of our kids and even the adults are at risk or are we just hearing of the injuries more and more because of technology?
This season will be the start of my son's fourth year racing and as each year passes my concerns have gone from, "I hope he doesn't get landed on" when he wasn't doing the 100' + triple to "I hope he doesn't land on someone on the other side of that jump".
Just from my limited experience over the past several years, I've seen some local tracks change things up and add some VERY technical sections that seem to have added more yellow flags and medic trips than what they are probably worth.
I know it has to be an impossible balance for the track owners - you don't want boring but w/the majority of riders coming in below "A/B" riders, it would seem they'd want to tailor it more toward safe vs. the extreme.
I don't know...to me, there's nothing better than watching someone drag their bars and executing picture perfect turns and winning races based on overall ability vs flying 100+ feet over a blind jump while the 13 year old flagger texts away on her i-Phone!
Would like to hear from some "old schoolers" who have seen the sports progression over the years. What are your thoughts?
I love this sport but the frequency of serious injuries is nauseating.
....and don't even get me going on the "are neck braces safer or causing more damage" topic!