I spent the weekend racing motorcycles at Road Atlanta. During one of the first sessions on Saturday morning I was approaching turn 5 which is a left hand corner going up a hill. As you exit this corner you are at the top of 2nd gear and when you come up over the hill the bike starts to wheelie. It's a blind spot and you can't really see what's in front of you until you shift into 3rd. As I went through the apex of that turn I just happened to see one of the corner workers picking up a red flag. I eased off the throttle and moved slightly off the race line to the right and when I came over the top of the hill I saw shattered pieces of a bike and a rider lying face down unconscious in the middle of the track. If I hadn't moved off the line at that instant I would have put my front tire right into the top of his helmet at about 70mph. They took him to the ER in an ambulance instead of a helicopter which is a good sign but nobody seems to have any more information other than that.
I've been participating in extreme sports for a long time but this accident really got to me. If I hadn't seen that corner worker picking up the red flag out of the corner of my eye I would have killed him. It all happened in a split-second but I just keep thinking about the image of that guy lying there in the middle of the track. The crash ripped the visor off his helmet and I could see his face with his eyes closed. I really want to know if he is okay but I don't even know his name. I'm assuming that they took him to the trauma center at the hospital in Gainesville. Is there any way to find out who he is or how he is doing?
I've been participating in extreme sports for a long time but this accident really got to me. If I hadn't seen that corner worker picking up the red flag out of the corner of my eye I would have killed him. It all happened in a split-second but I just keep thinking about the image of that guy lying there in the middle of the track. The crash ripped the visor off his helmet and I could see his face with his eyes closed. I really want to know if he is okay but I don't even know his name. I'm assuming that they took him to the trauma center at the hospital in Gainesville. Is there any way to find out who he is or how he is doing?