One of the most difficult things any racer will ever experience is keeping their concentration when they know they’re about to win a race. Some refuse to let the moment get the better of them until they see the checkered flag, but some just get a little too excited too soon.
That’s exactly what happened to rider Riccardo Russo who thought that he had just won a race despite having yet to complete the final lap. As you can see in this hilarious video, Russo immediately goes into full celebration mode as he crosses the line heading into the final lap, thinking that he had already won it. Despite seeing his other competitors still engaged in full race mode, Russo pumps his fist, stands on his bike, and at least according to the announcer, takes off his helmet to acknowledge the crowd, thinking that the race was over.
Unfortunately for him, he not only surrendered the win in the most inexplicable fashion, but he missed out on what turned out to be a scintillating finish that went down the wire. Even more perplexing is the apparent lack of awareness in his surroundings. Didn’t he realize that there was no checkered flag waving on the lap he thought he had won?
Anybody that has ever questioned the importance of racing helmets should take a step back and watch this video.
The scene is the British Superstock 600, where riders Josh Wainwright and Johnny Bradshaw were involved in a ridiculous crash that could’ve been far worse than the injuries they sustained - if it weren’t for their helmets.
In the 11th lap of the race, Wainwright lost control of his bike and as he stumbled into the track, Bradshaw’s bike literally clips him on the head, forcing the former to catapult out of his ride and into the track.
Read that again: Bradshaw’s bike literally clips him on the head.
If it weren’t for the helmet Wainwright was wearing, Bradshaw’s bike would have done far worse when it clipped him on his head. We all know where this story would then go.
Miraculously for the two riders, both of them escaped the harrowing accident with nothing more than a cracked rib and a broken collarbone for Wainwright and some minor injuries for Bradshaw.
If you’ve ever ridden a bike, or anything that involves needing one, heed caution and just put those helmets on. You never know when it’s going to save your life.
The all-new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R race bike has been unveiled to international press at the Nürburgring race track, and at the same time the riders for the 2011 World Superbike Championship season were introduced.
The presentation of the new bike and riders comes just before the German round of The World Superbike Championship, which will take place at the Nürburgring race track this weekend.
The new Ninja ZX-10R race bike has been eagerly anticipated by everyone involved in the Superbike racing project for a while now and therefore the Kawasaki Superbike Racing Team are extremely keen to get started with the new Ninja ZX-10R. The team unveiled the first edition of the race bike during a press conference that marked the start of the Nürburgring WSBK round, which will be held this weekend.
The unveiling of the new Ninja ZX-10R will mark a new start for Kawasaki in the World Superbike Championship. From 2011, the Kawasaki World Superbike Racing Team will receive more means and more support from the mother company in Japan.
Simply put, this is a spectacular video resuming the 2010 edition of the Tourist Trophy, a memorable year for the five victories of Ian Hutchinson. That’s a first in the 103 years of racing on Isle of Man.
High-speed curves, jumps and even saves – not to mention the crazy moves of those copilots in the sidecars – don’t recommend this video to the faith hearted.
Guy Martin was racing last Friday on the Isle of Man TT course and was doing quite well with a registered average speed of 131.108mph during the first lap at Glen Vine. But the Senior TT race was to come to a sudden end for the highly experienced rider and his Honda CBR1000RR due to a 150mph crash that ended up generating this immense fireball. The incident happened during Guy’s third lap on a fast left/right section of the course and the race had to be red flagged.
As a result of the crash, Guy Martin is now in the hospital recovering from his broken ribs, bruised lungs, twisted ankles and fractured vertebrae. That’s nothing considering the speed at which the crash took place and also two key factors that kept Guy alive consist in him separating from the bike early in the crash and wearing the D-Air airbag-equipped leather suit. He’ll be back on its feet soon.
Dani Pedrosa rode his Honda towards the win of Italy’s MotoGP Grand Prix yesterday in Mugello during the forth stage of the 2010 Championship. The Spaniard was followed by Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo (the man on top for the moment) and teammate Andrea Dovizioso. Valentino Rossi crashed quite hard during the qualifying rounds on Sunday, so he had to satisfy with the moral support shown by fans during the race as he was recuperating in hospital in Florence after his right tibia operation. Please read the race results after the jump.
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Many will agree with us on the fact that Triumph’s Street Triple is suitable for all kinds of riding activities, but we’re surprised to see it can look good as a flat-tracker as well. The Triumph Street Triple Tracker was built by German dealer Motorcorner and the bike they started from was actually an R version.
As hard as it may be to believe, changes were minimal. The engine is unchanged (but does get an aftermarket exhaust for a racy sound) and so is the chassis apart from the 17” spoked wheels.
Who would have thought that a white/gold paintjob and a pair of aluminum rims would transform Triumph’s middleweight roadster into a veritable flat-track racer? This project follows Motorcorner’s 2009 Bonneville-based street tracker. Hope this turns into a tradition.
Monster Yamaha Tech3 riders Colin Edwards and Ben Spies got into a MotoGP chitchat for BBC Sport ahead of next weekend’s Mugello race. They actually tried to make it look like an interview in which the experienced rider, Edwards, questions the newcomer, Spies, about the world of MotoGP, but the Texans actually end up talking about cowboy hats and hot sauce. See what more in the video after the jump.
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Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo imposed himself as the clear winner at the Monster Energy Grand Prix de France. The Spanish was followed by teammate Valentino Rossi, while Andrea Dovizioso had to fight his way on the third position of the podium. All in all, the race was a total success for Lorenzo, who now leads with a 9 points difference the MotoGP World Championship. Please read the race results after the jump.
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Oil is slippery; that much we know. And while its pretty dangerous to be riding motorcycles on a patch of road that’s been spilled with oil, the danger becomes much more magnified when you’re in a pretty intense motorcycle race, as was the case during a recent Moto2 race at Jerez.
The incident started when two racers - Shoya Tomizawa and Simone Corsi - got tangled up with both riders losing control of their motorcycles, which spilled a pretty significant amount of crankcase oil onto the track. The resulting spill caused a number of riders behind the two to ride straight into the patch of oil where, naturally, they all ended up sliding helplessly as well.
If there was any good that came out of this domino-like slip and slide, it’s that everybody came out of it relatively unscathed with the Moto2 marshalls also doing the prudent thing by red-flagging the entire race, which, incidentally, still had 25 laps to go.
Check out the video of the incident courtesy of the Daily Motion.
