I'd volunteered to cornerwork this WERA weekend at Roebling Road Raceway. I wasn't sure what to expect but it turned out alright....
I showed up at 0645 which was about an hour too early but we got our assignments by 0800 and I headed out to my assigned corner (#3) with an experienced worker.
The flags were a piece of cake to learn, my main role was to clean up crashed bikes and help downed riders. The morning started out slow, it was pretty damn chilly and I was a bit underdressed and by 0900 I was hungry enough to eat the ass off a dead horse but I couldn't really leave my station so I sucked it up.
Roebling Road is a pretty fast track, it's 2.2m and a quick lap takes about 1m15s. Our turn 3 is a fast left turn that the fast guys never even slow down for and drag their knee the whole way.
The first couple of sessions went well with no riders down but then about 1030, a rider had a pretty nasty highside. He got his bell rung and I could tell that he was out cold before his limp body left the track. He and the bike slid to a stop 100' off the track. The bike wasn't too bad, I made sure it wasn't gonna impact the riders on the track and sprinted to the downed rider. First thing I noticed was the ragged breathing and frothy red blood coming out of his mouth. Somewhere in my noggin, I remember that this is not good. I gently tried to roust the fella but he was out cold. I stood and signalled for an ambulance (hands clasped over head in a crude "A") and knelt back to the rider to say a few things to him. A minute later the ambulance crew showed up and they were very concerned about his breathing. After about 5 minutes the ole boy woke up and started struggling with the workers. Not good. He complained of a bad headache, Boy Howdy! He got his bell rung BIG TIME! His Arai helmet looked pretty rough. They loaded him up and transported him to the hospital. I helped get his bike loaded and went back to my station.
The other sessions were uneventful. Lunch was the expected concession stand food and I finished it with a short nap in the ole Lumina.
The afternoon session was a WERA 4 hour endurance race. Hour 2 had a rider high-side pretty violently and cartwheel off the track. Again, I sprinted over to check on him. The rider was alright, just a hurt ankle and generally beat up. He laid on the ground for a moment (we were 100+ feet off the track) and he decided to get up with my help. Just before he got up, he glanced over at his bike....well, what was left of it. It was pretty nasty. The front end was about 50 feet from what I reckon we'll call the main heap. The frame broke 8 inches back from the steering head. The tank was also 50 feet away and destroyed. Airbox was somewhere back there as was a bunch of other pieces. Ole boy was pretty tore up when he realized that the forks and front tire had broken cleanly from the frame. The carbs were still attached to the front end by the throttle cable! We put a strap through the exhaust headers and dragged it onto the crash truck. I picked up as many pieces as time would allow...this was a full on endurance race bike with Marchesini wheels, Brembo brakes, aftermarket triple tree and rearsets, etc. Hell, even the rear shock remote reservoir got ripped off.
A couple of observations:
-wear good quality gear. That set of leathers, gloves and boots for $400 in the mags may not be such a good deal after all.
-wear expensive boots. The second fella had a pretty nasty ankle injury that he could've skipped had he worn something like the Frey Security boot.
-don't go to the track like a cowboy. Always take someone, as no one expects to ride in an ambulance.
It was a good day and I got a point of view from the "other" side. The bonus was I got paid $50 too!
Tomorrow are most of the racing events and I'm looking forward to it!
1st day as cornerworker....
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